Well I am going to answer this question a little differently. I too began my audio journey many years ago but taking a step back and thinking about significant audio equipment it was mostly technology and services....
1982-first CD player CDP101 made by Sony and bought in Germany
2000-Next was Limewire- and sharing music files and exploring music
2001-Next was Itunes and the Ipod- music on the go and downloads and more exploring music
2008-09-Next was Spotify and streaming music service- huge exploration of music
2014-15- Next was Tidal and CD. FLAC and MQA files- tremendous step up in SQ.
2024 -Both Tidal and Qobuz are my current favorite music streaming platforms
Biggest surprise to me was the re-discovery, re-manufacture and re-packaging of record albums and turntables. I never would have expected that in 1982-1990.