Rule #1 is never buy a speaker you can’t pick up by yourself

I think it’s the wrong question. The endgame is an illusion. The perfect system doesn’t exist, nor will it ever. Every single setup has strengths and weaknesses, but that’s kind of what makes the whole hobby fun.

I don’t do this as much anymore, but I loved my system, but always got antsy after a while for something new, something “better” in some way. I’d own it for a while, maybe years and years, then something else would catch my attention.

And my budget changed, so I could afford more expensive equipment, if I wanted it (within reason and what I could get my wife to agree on).

Paul McGowan at PS Audio had a good take on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uytj1MvZMDQ

If you are chasing the quality of the studio sound the recording artists settled on, then you need that studio and system. If you are chasing the quality of a live PA performance then you need an impeccable soundboard recording and that PA. If you are chasing the quality of an acoustic performance, good luck! In that case it isn’t clear that the most accurate system is the solution given human psychophysics. Do you want to listen to the recording or the music?

I moved several hundred thousand dollars of new and used equipment out of my home in the last 2 years. I was searching for the best I can ultimately afford. I also decided to use an integrated amp and a DAC/streamer rather than separates. I ended up with a NEW Luxman L-509Z and a NEW Aurender A20. My main speakers are Harbeth SHL5 30th Anniversary I bought used. I also spent about $4K on Shunyata Venom-X cables. The sound of this system is outstanding. I listened to better amps/preamps and integrateds but even used they cost significantly more than the Luxman. The A20 is an amazing piece of gear. No other DACs or network streamers I had in house were as expensive new or used. Over the 2 years I made a nice little profit that covered some of the costs for these 2 pieces of NEW gear. I am likely to upgrade my SACD/CD player to a Luxman-D07X but I can wait for a bit and that will be purchased used, maybe. When all is said and done I will likely have $50K invested including my analog set up. Did I listen to gear that sounded better to my ears? Yes. However, I chose to pay the price for that gear new and I did not want to settle for used.

If you are willing to spend the money you likely will find something that sounds better. Some say at every $10K-$15K interval you should hear a distinct difference in the factors that ultimately define better sound. However, you must have the ears that can detect it. You will also need a properly treated/designed room. IMHO, if you can’t afford to spend more than $10K for a system you should focus more on room treatment as it will me a much bigger bang for the buck.

edit: My gear - https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/1848qoa/i_have_almost_completed_my_end_game_rig/

Maybe ask yourself when was the last time, or how often do you listen to an actual musician playing it’s instrument?

Home audio is just a reproduction of it

You’re experiencing diminished returns. As your system constantly improves, any upgrades, regardless of price, aren’t going to give you the delta in sound quality those earlier upgrades were likely to have. You’re running out of headroom and at some point you have to realise it’s a losing game in terms of cash splashed, hours wasted researching and gains achieved.

You sound like you’ve gone way past the ‘sweet spot,’ so why not be happy with your exceptional system and just enjoy the music?

i started flipping audio gear back in like 1997… until recently had never spent more than $400 on anything… eventually i got to where i’m at now… i replaced my DAC recently and that was pretty much the last piece that i had been “wanting.” my preamp and amp are keepers… as are my speakers. i’m pretty much “done” for now… who knows? a few year down the road that might change…

I know what perfection sounds like, I have heard it, I am short about a million dollars for the equipment, and then I would need to get a bigger house to fit it and then treat the room for its arrival. In the meantime, I think I have my endgame speakers and amps, will eventually change the pre amp, and will need a better turntable and phono stage.

to a point I enjoyed listening more when I had a lesser system. Yes music sounds better now, but some of the music I grew up on (punk rock) sounds terrible on an audiophile system and I usually listen to that on my wifi speaker, or if I do play it on the big system I do not sit in sweet spot, I just tool around and listen, but not intently like I do when listening to what we would call the masters.