If we were ALL billionaires or multi multi millionaires, how would we approach this hobby? Build a house from scratch incorporating a massive state of the art room designed exclusively for SOUND [and VIDEO], hire an elite high end boutique audio designer to outfit this space with megabuck components made of the finest materials money can buy and then after all this was said and done...we'd still be at the mercy of the Major Record Companies and/or 'boutique' reissue companies to supply us with music to power this extraordinary audio space!
And how do we REALLY discern what is THE BEST replication of a particular piece of music????? BOUTIQUE MoFi One Step Vinyl, 180/200g Quiex vinyl, Direct Disc Vinyl ....... or in the case of digital Streaming, MLP DVD~A 5.1/Stereo/SACD/BD~A, all those Japanese SHM, UHQ, Blue Spec RBCD formulations, JVC's XRCD 24/32 b RBCDs, FIM 99.99% PURE silver RBCDs [mastered at 32 bit} et alia?
And then what do we play these discs on and through: And here is where it REALLY gets STICKY: Do we spend $100~125 on MoFi One Step Vinyl to play them through an under $1K TT/tonearm/Cartridge combo plugged directly into a receiver with at best, a VERY mediocre phono stage or do we have one of those megabuck TT with pricey step up transformers plugged into a SOTA pre~amp equipped with a SOTA phono stage .......and in the case of digital, Universal Players costing under $2K plugged into a receiver or a highly regarded pre~amp into a SOTA set of amps [in the case of ATMOS ...MULTIPLE high end amps? Or do we have separate higher end components for SACD, DVD~A...but still depending at that under $2K Universal Player for 4K, BD~A video/audio. AFAIK, there are NO Megabuck Universal Players to do ALL of the above in SOTA!
And of course, there is a question of speaker choice..... bookshelf or full range .....do they ALL match for center, rear, side and ATMOS? Are they properly imaged front, side, rear, overhead ...... and most importantly.....can they be played at extremely loud levels and still sound incredible even at low volume?
But after all is said ... and done...we still have to return to that ultimate query: What is the DEFINITIVE replication of our very favorite piece of music? Is it the original Vinyl/CD pressed upon release, remastered vinyl/RBCDs, boutique vinyl/RBCDs, Japanese imports up the Wazoo in almost every formulation imaginable [we still haven't ascertained whether those newer Japanese formulations have any effect on the sound other than finding better masters] or lossless DVD~A, SACD, stereo and Multi and BD~A or streaming which is contingent upon what those services are ultimately supplied by the majors....and bandwidth restrictions.
My advice: instead of spending hundreds and thousands re~buying the same ole music you love .... perhaps ensure your system is properly set up and spend some of that hard earned cash upgrading said system and then replay what you do have and sometimes the answers are simple....the copy you have is FINE .... it's your system that needs TWEAKING!