I’ve also been through that but I have a far more modest pre-amp now compared to my previous set up. Digital is so good now that you don’t need to spend thousands upstream.Yes speakers make the biggest difference - but it's still garbage in garbage out. So if you change you speakers and notice a big change because you have larger woofers for example - it's still the same shit feeding your new speakers .
My listening experience with a Grimm Audio MU1 tells me the source is where you get it right first - and then change your speakers. This is my experience of course.
Vinyl is probably different but we all now that price doesn’t always equal quality.
I think the key difference is the interface between amp & speaker - active speakers go a long way to solving this.
My system has never sounded better.