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

Ultimately, it is a matter of taste, and it is entirely possible for a much cheaper amp to fit one’s taste better than an expensive amp and that is not a knock on the expensive amp.  This Saturday I talked with a shop owner who just completed a sale after a customer auditioned various amps and speakers.  It came down to a comparison of two amps, and the customer preferred one integrated over the other.  Throughout the audition, the customer did not know prices.  The amp he outright preferred cost something like $9,000.  The “competition”? That amp costs $60,000. The dealer was not surprised by the preference, although he did think a different set of tubes might have flipped the preference.

@invalid 

No. That’s not what I’m saying. 
Example would be PS Audio’s BHK600 monoblocks. $32,000 per pair, I believe. Paul says it’s full of expensive components. Maybe. But 2 well selected monoblocks at $20,000 per pair can sound as good from a different manufacturer. Like all things, you have to do your homework. Perhaps 2 monoblocks at $10,000 per pair can be equally as good in your setup.

Does my Pass XA-25 contain expensive components? It seems like it might. Would a D’Agostino’s 4 or 5 watts (which is what my speakers require to put music into my earballs) into my 99 db speakers sound better? 5 to 10 times better? Are they better watts? I actually like D’Agostino’s designs as a sort of "steam punk" esthetic, but otherwise think the prices they require from hedge fund managers are sort of silly...like a 2 million dollar watch (Richard Mille...nice, and I collect watches, but the market is down so that one will wait). Some think a Schiit Aegir is in the same class as some very expensive amps, and 2 run as monos are real cheap, relatively speaking. But I can only assume their watts aren’t doing what a $10,000+ amp does, which is satisfy expectation bias all day.

Preamps and power amps have been transparent to the source for decades. Amplifiers will exhibit sonic differences when driven into clipping - but who wants that? Beyond a basic level all you are paying for is bling.

I have had about 10 amps in the last 2 years and they all sounded different at volume levels no where close to clipping. I sold my KRELL amp yesterday and only have Benchmark AHB2 monos left. Both of those 2 amps are very different sonically. I usually connected my amps to my very revealing and quiet Benchmark LA4 preamp. So it was mostly the amp and source I was hearing.

My next amp, for a second system, is supposed to be a $40K amp, but we will see if that is a pipe dream or reality next year. The reason to spend that much is because it will be sonically similar to an amp I owned and sold but it lacked the power I needed. The $40K amp will have much more current and power than any amp I have owned before. My next speakers can make great use of that current.

I have owned cheaper very high current amps but they were nowhere as good as what I am looking to get.

A lot of that cost is also bling though that is not important to me.