Part two of my reply starts now, Steve and I'll be honest. I have been through the constant swapping of gear to arrive at where I am at now. At times, multiple pieces and/or configurations at a time just for experimentation or to try something new out. Once I reached the conclusion that a KISS is what I preferred, I honed in more on that and since then I feel that I have achieved a slice of audio heaven here on Earth. One thing at a time lately though, so that I can get a good grasp on what the new component has to offer...or not offer.
Personally, I feel that we will never reach true audio reproduction. Close and with the utmost of pleasure with some rigs but realistically, it just is not going to happen. At least in our lifetimes. With that said, I have been more than satisfied with the offerings my rig brings me on a daily basis. Audio nirvana with regards to music has been touched on within my earlier post within this thread.
Somebody had mentioned a quote here on this forum I ran across days or weeks ago that made perfect sense to me. I have actually modified my signature for this reason. My old signature of 7 or 8 years [Not this forum] used to read "In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference". You can look down and see my new signature. I tried to find where I had read what actually gave me the inspiration to change my signature but could not do so in a timely fashion. Point being that the quote I had read on this forum has everything to do with answering part of your original post.
Many a great comment comes from those who have had the chance to hear my rig. Many a great comment comes from myself. That said, the comments as to the deficiencies may be few from others but they are still there and they most definitely do exist. I can honestly tell you that I have more gripes with my rig than many of you admittedly have within your own rig combined. I am extremely analytical in all aspects of the musical reproduction within my rig. Of course, this has nothing to do with the enjoyment or toe tapping and the amount of goosebumps that occur but IMO, there is nothing wrong with holding yourself [your rig] to a higher standard. Even if that standard may not ever reach your goal.
So, to address your question......I have reached audio nirvana everyday I have the pleasure to listen to music [please refer to my first post]. I wouldn't say that I have "restless" energy to continue to swap equipment in and out of my system but I can say that I have slowed down considerably. That said, I will continually try to improve what components or recordings I have to try to catch what's in my signature.
Will I ever reach it? No. I might just catch excellence though.
