Did a satisfaction threshold exist under 1000 bucks ?

Perhaps it is true...

Without the 35 years old Sansui alpha nor unique 45 years old hybrid AKG K340 i will be far from where i am now...Especially without this headphone i think... Or i would had pay way more...

Then my question did not have the same meaning ...It takes very refin3ed past products to reach some minimal acoustic satisfaction level...

Sub-$1,000 quality systems disappeared during the 1970s.

I dont think for sure that someone who spend 100,000 dollars is deluded at all....

There is priorities to see BEFORE upgrading for sure : acoustics and ele4ctrical and mechanical embeddings controls but upgrading is ALWAYS possible...

My question was and is about a defined minimal satisfaction threshold defined objectively by some acoustic characteristics and for sure very important subjective factors which are linked to our sound and personal music history ....

No one is the same....Our needs too constraint our choices; i am alone and dont need a room for the family and friends for the enjoyment of music... Costs and gear are then different...

Or, one can try to convince oneself that everyone else who can spends more is deluded. (That’s hard, too. Better equipment -- room and gear -- does yield better sound.)

Happily i never give up about the idea of good sound nor about the way to reach some satisfying level...It takes me time and trials and experiments but i am more than happy now...

I can forget sound easily and focus on music because my basic acoustic needs are satisfied:  Imaging , soundstaging, holography,  timbre, etc upgrading is possible but a real upgrading  but will be very , very costly...It will cost at least ten times the cost of my system...My last upgrade was a disastrous and cost me two times almost the cost of my actual system...

Or, one should give up the idea of better sound and just focus on music only, not sound. (That's hard.)

I think that it is an interesting metaphor thanks...

It correspond to my feeling about my acoustic journey...

So, does a satisfaction level exist under $1,000? Absolutely. If you cannot afford more… or if you are compulsively frugal and can afford more.

I went to Outward Bound and after having no food or water for three days, being rained on for a day, snowed on for a day, freezing my butt off, with no tent or sleeping bag and having a trail biscuit and hot tea was one of the best meals I ever had.

I can recall many highly emotional and satisfying moments with "lesser systems." As my knowledge and awareness of "better sound" pursued an upward trajectory, each time a layer was peeled back revealing the complexity and nuance (and, yes, bone-jarring impact) of the performance my appreciation for the music, and those boxes and cables that made it happen grew exponentially.

On a long commute to a business interest years ago, I was scanning radio stations and came across a sermon that caught my attention (good preachers are excellent teachers). The message went something like this: "We are merely ants on a Rembrant seeing textures and colors change beneath our feet as we scurry around, unable to appreciate the masterpiece has been put together in front of us."

This hit home with me on many levels, including the reproduction of music. As we work our way up the "hifi scale", there is a transition from merely seeing (hearing) colors and textures (changes in tone and tempo) to a level where we can more fully appreciate the masterpiece that’s in front of us.

There’s a statement: "You don’t know what you don’t know." Which is to say that many (most?) don’t know what is missing from their musical experience at home, and are quite satisfied with what they own. Do we audiophiles provide musical inspiration to others, or are we bubble busters?

I just saw a dedicated room in HiFi magazine that easily cost over $500K and it seemed delusional, like this person was living like a czar and wasting money because he had no where else to spend it.