Welcome Reed.
Acoustical (unamplified) live music is the gold standard to use for evaluating audio gear as the rest is simply comparing your gear with someone else's. But as listening is such a personal endeavor and a variety of musical forms there will probably never be "that perfect sound". Our audio tastes and perceptions change, technology marches on, we learn more, and hopefully pocketbooks get a bit deeper. So as you say, the chase continues.
IMO the entire system must be considered and for speaker based systems that must include the room. Seems that most fixate on gear and whenever possible "over gear" compared to the given listening space that is too small, odd shaped, poorly furnished, and/or doesn't allow proper setup for serious listening. By proper setup I generically refer to sharing the space with other functions/people. If you can't provide a decent room, be honest with yourself and drop back to desktop or headphone listening. I dare say the listening room, being smaller, is more important than the concert hall. Doesn't have to be a dedicated/designed room, but at least fit the speakers to the room.
