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

I’m at the extreme other end of the spectrum, with a great value Chinese DAC (Gustard), a fantastic 600$ active crossover (Sublime Acoustic), "gadget" priced low power Chinese class D amps (those cost the price of a meal in a decent restaurant), a great vintage preamp (with too much gain for my system and soon to be replaced with a DIY Pass B1), DIY fully horn loaded speakers (probably around 2000$ global investment as I bought the bass horns ready made second hand), AliExpress cables, Russian capacitors, second hand JMLab subwoofers...

BUT I’ve spent 20 years putting the system together and fine-tuning it.

Are those cheap components as good as high end components? No, of course they aren’t. It would be completely foolish to expect them to be.

Does it feel like I’m listening to a high end system when I sit in the sweet spot and play my favorite records? To my ears, yes, and I do have friends with proper high end stuff that I listen to regularly (and conversely, they listen to my system) and visit hi-fi shows as much as I can, and I don’t feel too frustrated. it’s not only how much you spend, it’s what you make of it, and I’m sure a poorly assembled system of very expensive elements could probably sound much worse than what I own.

While I do envy the ABILITY that some have to purchase the best electronics, I no longer barf in front of that forever unattainable gear.

@ps 

I must have watched the Ron Carter special at the same time you did.  An excellent presentation and it filled in some gaps for me.  It also prompted me to pull out a number of my CDs and LPs featuring Ron Carter and enjoy them all over again. I then found a few other recordings via streaming including what is now one of my favorites—-“Chemistry” with Houston Person. 
 

As far as Ron’s stereo goes, I was a little surprised that he seems to use CDs almost exclusively but I was more than a little surprised he was playing them on a boom box instead of through the nice looking speakers shown in the video.  I later found out they are Tetra 606 speakers which sold in the $30K range.  Not too shabby!  I’ve never heard the Tetras but I bet Ron’s bass sounds great on them.

"How many people have actually experienced listening to a $40,000 amplifier” 

I am listening music, not the amp. Amp is just a one piece of sound setup I have selected for my home. my current amp cost  $10k and it is driving pair of $4k speakers. max power I typically use is 10W, amp rated 100W. amp was matched together with speakers, speakers' position, cables, for best time response, decent FR, and to minimize distortions. amp has damping factor of 800, and power BW of 5Hz-300000Hz. 

I am doubt $40k amp has higher value other than prestige, expensive look etc., please provide me model # to check. 

True Class A amplifiers require large power supplies, huge heat sinks, have many output devices, consume lots of electricity, and generate a lot of heat. They’re expensive to build. My Colosseum has 48 Sanken bipolar transistors and can generate 160w at 8ohms and 1250w at 1 ohm. It’s all Class A. There can be no crossover distortion because the transistors never turn off. I think the sound is glorious and that there is no substitute for Class A amplification.

@larrykell wrote:

True Class A amplifiers require large power supplies, huge heat sinks, have many output devices, consume lots of electricity, and generate a lot of heat. They’re expensive to build. My Colosseum has 48 Sanken bipolar transistors and can generate 160w at 8ohms and 1250w at 1 ohm. It’s all Class A. There can be no crossover distortion because the transistors never turn off. I think the sound is glorious and that there is no substitute for Class A amplification.

That’s one massive beast of a Class A amplifier - not to mention the power bill it produces..! I know, because I too am very fond of true Class A amplifiers. There’s this effortless smoothness/liquidity and natural warmth to a good such amplifier that’s addictive. The Class A amplifier I’m using is only 30W/8ohms, but it also only handles frequencies from ~600Hz on up, actively, while looking directly into a 111dB sensitive compression driver and its associated horn. Suddenly 30W gets you a long way - if it even outputs more than a single watt or two, indeed typically only a fraction of it and with all that entails with regard to miniscule distortion levels. With a closer to "normal" 91dB sensitive pair of speakers, passive at that, one would need 3kW to - on paper - equate the SPL-scenario of the 111dB/30W combo mentioned, driving a passive full-range load at that. One shivers by the thought of a 3kW true Class A amplifier...