I couldn't resist buying the $88 Lepai/Dayton system that Steve Guttenberg endorses in his Audiophiliac column: https://www.cnet.com/news/this-start...y-good-for-88/. I figured that $88 would be worth taking him up on for the amusement alone.

In the end, I think "outrageously good" is an overstatement. I will say that $88 buys a lot more than it did when I last listened to this caliber of equipment when I was a high school student. I won't pretend that I didn't feel anxious to get back to PS Audio and Magico. I did feel anxious. I found the sound (especially highs) to be fatiguing after a pretty short interval. But I guess it is nice to know that a person can have a serviceable, performance-oriented stereo for so little money. I wonder what a power supply upgrade would do for the system. Of course, I'm already partly rigging the game by using my Lampizator Dac as a source. There is little point in propping up a cheap device with high-end ancillary equipment. (It is kind of fun though.)