A $2500 microphone sounds about ten times better than a $250 one. A $5000 reverb unit sounds about ten times better than a $500 one. A board with really good preamps sounds a lot better than any home D/A unit. An engineer with 15 years of full-time experience will quickly and intuitively get a better mix than an amateur will, no matter how long the amateur fusses with it.

Yes, you can now make a decent-sounding recording at home. You can still make a substantially better one in a studio. I can always tell the difference.