I see your point on this. The fidelity of the radio to reproduce good quality reproduction and output is irrelevant. What I meant was acoustics...
However, what is the point in spending all that money when as soon as you start the car you loose the very sound that you were trying to achieve? My point was that the majority is lost anyway and that spending thousands does nothing to help.
We both agreed that upgrading the speakers is a great start (one I highly recommend) over replacing the HU. We also agreed that the stock HU is not really all that bad and the only thing it really fails at is functionality. Bottom line, we both agree. I just don't put much into my car, instead, I buy decent home systems. Either way, nothing can replace a studio.