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/