Never listen to what others say and base everything on what you hear ..
Of course being a hobby and not knowing what you are going to hear until you put it in your own listing room . A Amp.speakers, Cables or DACs..ect..But we all have too start a baseline and that all starts with how much money we have for this hobby..6k tube amp vs 20k or 250 dollar vs 5k speaker cables..And when you build your base for a while you are happy but always chasing for better sound..But you have to experiment and that comes down to your dollars you have and willing to experiment ..And age and hearing quality play big part in all this and at older age how much hearing have I loss ..I am still blown away with my tube Amp and oldies songs and what I hear that I never did with solid sate and I have tinnitus and wonder my god what I missed years ago if I had this setup...I found out USB cables and 35 dollar Staple Cable vs Audio Quest Carbon 1600 and 2 other Audio Quest cheaper cables and what a change in sound..Had to experiment to find out with my own ears what I could or couldn't hear.. But I am not going to find out about 5k or more speaker cables for just do not have those funds for that .. So I have to be happy with what I have ..Enough is enough..