The best thing I can suggest is to look for end of line deals, that way you get a lot of spec for the least amount of cash.
Basically high end audio costs large, always has done & always will do.
Sadly with a very small handful of exceptions the mass-market is really not high end.
When I last upgraded I bought a $2000 receiver & spent $3000 on the centre stage (L, R & C).
.....and unfortunately, if I'm being really honest, I could not seriously and in all good conscience call my stuff high-end. It's not mass-market, for sure, but it's only near the top-end of the mid league.
I just can't justify spending more (a lot more) for what do become (as you rightly say) diminishing returns.
(but I can promise you that a leap out of the mass-market is well worth it)
“An engineer explained to us that hundreds of ear impressions were gathered in the name of research, and while each one obviously boasted its own unique shape and size, one single characteristic remained uniform across the board: the entrance into the ear canal is not a perfect circle, it's an oval.”
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@ daaper
The best thing I can suggest is to look for end of line deals, that way you get a lot of spec for the least amount of cash.
Basically high end audio costs large, always has done & always will do.
Sadly with a very small handful of exceptions the mass-market is really not high end.
When I last upgraded I bought a $2000 receiver & spent $3000 on the centre stage (L, R & C).
.....and unfortunately, if I'm being really honest, I could not seriously and in all good conscience call my stuff high-end.
It's not mass-market, for sure, but it's only near the top-end of the mid league.
I just can't justify spending more (a lot more) for what do become (as you rightly say) diminishing returns.
(but I can promise you that a leap out of the mass-market is well worth it)