When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?

I don’t think it takes months of break in, and any decent dealer will make sure things are properly set up and functioning and not use break in as an excuse.  It is true that it is hard to do meaningful auditions; to some extent experience helps in extrapolating and getting meaningful information from an audition.  If something sounds good in a particular system, you know it is possible to get sound from your target gear; if the audition goes poorly, you cannot rule out the component because it may not be at fault.  This is admittedly complicated, but, in time you will get better at finding what will suit your taste and system.

you paint a utopia that few seem to be able to find. And older speakers can sound a lot better than newer speakers

Ok First of all I have heard 100k amps, 50k amps and 40 k amps as well as stuff 300 to 16k.

The best sounding gear I HAVE EVER HEARD was Pilium…you never heard of Pilium because you have not been to enough places.

Audionet is also good as well as some of the new D’Agastino stuff.

I use a 9000 Luxman integrated now that replaced $16,000 class D Mola Mola Kaluga monoblocks. I am saving for a $40,000 Pilium Leonidas integrated that sounds better than some 100,000 amps I have heard. It is not just price it is sound quality I am after. You probably just heard a lot of budget stuff under 25k most of it is trash. You have to seek things out. By the way Magico who has an unlimited budget voices their M9 speakers that are $750,000 on Pilium amplifiers.

For me, it is really a matter of sonic preference and not so much on price. The Mola Mola Kaluga is a no no for my ears. The D'Ag is also a no go for me. I heard that gear with Dan demoing it with $250K Wilson gear, no thanks. Magico for the most part, another no go, except for 1 model.

I've never known anyone silly enough to spend 40k.