Don't get me too wrong, I can sometimes kind of enjoy listening to iphone when I have nothing better at the moment.
Yes, this is audiophile forum and standards should be high enough. $10k is not much really.
@inna ...This is more along the lines of why i started this thread. In my case, i've never been able to enjoy the sound coming directly out of a phone DAC....with some dragonfly or similar dongle...maybe.
I am no longer able to enjoy music in a car. The noise floor is just too high. I recall being able to enjoy music in a car once upon a time.
But, there are a handful of things around a 1000ish dollar budget i am still able to appreciate when i hear it.
Assembling a great sounding system with a big budget shouldn’t be that hard. Synergy between components and the room matters but at 5 figures and up you are probably going to get some decent sound even if you throw darts to pick the components.
Building a satisfying system with a modest budget is a much greater challenge
@mahler123 +500... I ended up spending an arm and a leg on the former before i knew enough to build the latter. I think most guys who've already spent an arm and a leg tend to stay there and probably never investigate any modest gear (pricewise) thereafter, unless if it was for a secondary rig or something. I can think of a few reasons why.