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

@roxy54 , I saw on that huge thread how rudely he responded to you. I don’t care for such folks nor their wares.

The price of top end gear does not bear that tight a relationship to the cost of the parts.  The pricing is value-based.  The builder compares the performance of the gear to other gear on the market and sets the price based on how it sounds as compared to the competition.  Of course audio is something that not everyone agrees on what sounds good, so something priced way up in price might still not fit one's taste.  But, that price is aimed at someone who likes this particular sound and is comparing the product to other like sounding gear.  

Because potential buyers have limited ability to hear a wide range of gear, particularly to hear the gear in their own system, most do not even know of the range of possible sonic alternatives.  A local dealer in my area that sells only tube amplification gear, almost all of it of the low-power type, often gets in customers who have never really heard what low-power tube gear can do with the right speakers.  For many, it is almost a religious experience.  This dealer often has to make odd deals where he is getting in gear for trade that is worth MUCH more than the gear the buyer wants to swap for--meaning the dealer would owe money to the buyer; the arrangement made is usually some kind of consignment sale of the turned in gear.  At this store, it is not at all strange that the customer finds that his $40k and up amps sound much inferior to something around $10k.  But, that is not to say that the $40k stuff is a rip off--it was more of a mismatch to the listener's actual preference, a preference the customer did not even know he had until experiencing the alternative.

@milpai 

Yes, Jay was very defensive, even though I asked members (not him), the question is a courteous way. I was interested to know how many here find his advice worth paying for. After all, this is a man who just got into audio a few years ago, and now considers himself to be an authority whose advice is worth paying for. Even if he had a background in electronics or music, his opinions would still be purely his opinions, which are worth no more than anyone else's.

Of course, he's being protective of his income stream, so he immediately got defensive and came off like the bully on the playground. If I was peddling that nonsense, I might do the same thing.

Veblen Effect

Abnormal market behavior where consumers purchase the higher-priced goods whereas similar low-priced (but not identical) substitutes are available. It is caused either by the belief that higher price means higher quality, or by the desire for conspicuous consumption (to be seen as buying an expensive, prestige item). Named after its discoverer, the US social-critic Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-1929).

https://www.monash.edu/business/marketing/marketing-dictionary/v/veblen-effect

One example I've seen given to showcase this is college tuition. Colleges found that if they decrease tuition enrollment goes down and goes up when they increase it.

Another example is Campagnolo, a well-known bicycle parts brand. Rather than price according to a formula, they price according to what the market will bear.