Did your system getting better the more money you spent or more experience you gained?

Mmmm, by situation I've had to make the latter work harder later on; but have gained such that I can make the $'s work better when I opt to do so.

If I had more of the former, I could make better choices.

Not necessarily Super SOTA, mind you....just ones' that would scratch my particular 'itch' in their places... ;)

calvinj

Both.   Happy Listening!

Both

@jafant @jl35 both is perfect. Knowledge and resources. 

Experience saves me money. Ultimately I can get better sound if I spend more but I have found there’s an upper limit to my ability to enjoy. Once the sound quality reaches a certain threshold I’m basically there, so no reason to push it further. Mostly what drives me to try new things now is just curiosity. What will it sound like if I do something novel? Even if I limit myself to moderately priced components, experimenting can get expensive quickly. And that’s where experience comes in again. I’ve learned to think more and build less. Think about every reason why I shouldn’t try something, and be as sure as possible there’s not a better way to do it before I actually start ordering stuff and cutting wood. Thinking about assembling a new system can be as much fun as actually doing it! Meanwhile I'm blissfully enjoying my current system, occasionally trying a minor tweak that doesn't require me to buy anything.