I traded a pair of Isobariks for sbl's at a time when I was going back to graduate school, and would be moving frequently for the following few years, and living in small spaces. I was never really happy with the sbl's, though I thought they sounded decent active. I realized how meh they really were when I started demoing passive speakers that cost about the same as the sbl's, and sounded much better than active sbl's.
I upgraded an Ittok II with and Aro on an LP12. That was a nice improvement, but after having the LP12 for 22 years, I switched to an SME 20/2 with IV.Vi 15 years ago, which I much prefer.
I had a CDX2, and subsequently added a used XPS2. Nice combo, but the retail price new for the pair was around $10k, which seemed crazy. I sold them on once most new releases were available on vinyl, and haven't replaced it.
I demoed several Naim amps, the top of which was 252/300. I didn't think it was an improvement over my Expo 16/21, plus the 252 was about $15k. I don't recall the price of the 300, but the 16/21 cost me < $8k.