Of all the rentals I’ve driven, VW Phaeton sounded the best. BMW 7 series a close second.

Pet Shop Boys (especially the ballads), Jarre, Air, ABBA, Dire Straits, Pomplamoose, Tanita Tikaram, random dark industrial, …

Me too. I occasionally buy 5.1 mixes of albums I like.

I wasn’t happy with the Chord Mojo 1 (wasn’t bad but didn’t wow me as I had hoped) and ended up selling it again, fortunately for the same price as I had bought it so no harm done.

Bayz Audio Counterpoint 2.0. Loved the design when I first saw them, and was elated to witness that the sound is otherworldly too. Unfortunately I only got to hear a few tracks before they shuffled the next group in.

Second best were the Sonus faber Aida 2 which I got to play with for almost an entire day when my local dealer had them. Most interesting was that they first had them in a small side room while making space in the large room, and even in that provisional setup they sounded amazing.

Second on my list. Most people/shops pair them with McIntosh gear.

May be frowned upon among audiophiles and not be for everyone, but for me (YMMV) 80 bucks for a used “aural exciter” improved the sound significantly.

Other than that, I often buy used, and almost as often even make a profit if I sell the gear again when I upgrade.