Obviously, as we are financially able to upgrade our rigs, and assuming we have some clue as to what we are doing, our recordings are going to sound that much better. I am sure we could all recommend one or more "dream" rigs to every newbie here, but in practical terms, each person has to live within their own budget at that time. I wish I had my new rig years ago, but I didn't, and neither did anyone else taping most of the shows I was at, since I was usually the only taper. So the best recording is my recording. If I could do it again now with my current setup, of course it would sound much better, but then again, I just upped the cost of my rig by a factor of five, something I could not have afforded then.
Everyone has to start out somewhere, and the most important part is starting out in the first place. We should help people between a choice of mic A or B (with of course 1,001 divergant opinions) same with this pre vs. that, and what deck should I buy in this price range. There will always be (or almost always) a "better" something, for more money, out there. But, everyone has a budget, and we should try to offer them answers that will be within the realm of possibilities. It may be, "save your money, and don't buy that, and put it into better mics," but should not always be buy only the best piece of equipment on the market, because most people, including me, can't realistically do that.