Here's a link to an article about bikes, which I will twist into stereo equipment, because the unifying theme is that the means outweigh the ends

I like this post about old-school steel bike frames. Which, as my title promised, reminded me of my stereo. I am a stereo geek, and that's not admirable. Whatever.

I'll be brief, then. One, good stereo amplifiers are heavy. They are heavy because they have large power supplies, which are heavy because they have large 60Hz transformers in them. That's just electrodynamics there. So I love the fact that my old school McIntosh amp, which is older than me, weighs a lot. It's like cookware: A large mass, or better yet, surprisingly high densities are good signals here.

Second, if you're buying solid state gear, open it up and look at the op-amps and dacs. Basically, they should be Burr-Brown.

Third, the acoustics of your listening room matters as much, if not twice (2.123212) as much, as the quality of your stereo equipment. Do not worry about capacitors and speaker cables. The room acoustics can be adjusted with bookshelves, drapes, and rugs. Right now, mine are horrible.

Forth, the point of a stereo is to listen to music which makes you happy. The point of bicycle is to take you for a ride that makes you happy. Remember that when you're fetishizing the tools.