@simonmoon, I fully agree.
I have limited experience with certain classes of components. I've never heard a $15,000 phono cartridge, $200,000+ turntables, $150,000+ loudspeakers or for that matter really expensive cables. The bulk of my listening to systems that are more expensive than mine are comprised of $10k to 30k components.
I am also of the opinion that most of the musical differences between systems are subtle. The difference between a table radio and a decent $5,000 system is dramatic. The difference between the $5,000 system and a $50,000 system is subtle. There are clear sonic differences, but I maintain that from a musical perspective they are overwhelmingly subtle. Maybe as audiophiles we obsess over these small differences? There's a whole school of thought about the narcissism or tyranny of stressing subtle differences. I end with the following quote:
consumer culture has been seen as predicated on the narcissism of small differences to achieve a superficial sense of one's own uniqueness, an ersatz sense of otherness which is only a mask for an underlying uniformity and sameness.