That itch is finally gone, after over fifty years. Since then, I've gone through a number of different manufacturers of electronics and speakers, with the constant itch that we all have to trade up all the time.

Like I said, it was just about the same time that this thread started. That started my own return to analog and a search for great quality. When she came home and listened to the new digital HT system, she was appalled, 'Why does that sound so different from what I hear on my own system?' I'd sent a mid-80s Luxman receiver with her to school. Sent one of my kids to Caltech with a stack of music CDs that I'd made for her (Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Puccini, Barber, Ralph Vaughn Williams). I'd been building Heathkits since the early 70's, adding mid-80's Luxmans to the mix, finally going digital HT in '99. About the same time that this thread was started, I experienced a paradigm shift. I think your premise is erroneous, except for the parenthetical fudging that they might not 'admit to it'.