Is it important to long demo or own HIGH END gear to have a fair accurate view about it?

The fact of the matter is most people’s rooms are not so big that it takes a massive million dollar hifi to do the job well.

The other fact of the matter is no matter what you put in there, the room in most cases will be a big factor in determining the resulting sound. So throwing money at equipment without first getting a handle on room acoustics is not a practical approach to achieve the best possible sound.

Although, it’s also true that

1) Hi end gear are luxury items so one also would naturally expect a certain amount of visual bling as well as excellent performance, so there is that, and

2) part of what goes into judging good sound is often subjective, so anything is possible there.

The more decisions are made based on subjective criteria, more possible outcomes will result. This is evidenced by the fact that few systems end up being exactly the same and often not even similar sounding, even at "high end" shows. The only thing all the gear demoed at a high end show have in common is higher than average cost.

About commenting on what one hasn't heard - I think it's ok to have an idea based the rest. It would be silly to comment about the sound, of course, but I can still read and watch reviews, specs and such to have a somewhat informed opinion.   

Re the never-ending overpricing debate -I pulled and compared data for a lot of speakers and among a few things, one is very obvious: you usually get what you pay for. With a "freakonomics" approach, I'd say that very few brands are overpriced, in the sense that some party in the distribution chain is "overpaid" disproportionately.

To me, the main thing one needs to be in a good position to make useful judgements is experience listening.  Both to live music and to as many reference systems as possible.  That is the only way to really know what is possible and set a realistic goal.  Then its pretty much anything goes from there and more power to the winners.

@mapman I agree 110% with your post and for some the money spent is pure ego stroke.

@carlsbad2 Jerry there is so much misinformation out there and regulated on forum pages it is a hindrance for the under educated. 
 

That is a good question.

Listening skills are developed over decades. Values in sound quality change over time with your listening skills (learning about both good and bad attributes) … which in turn influence what you value in terms of sound quality. Also, when you hear a system it takes a lot of experience to figure out what is doing what to the sound… like is that the amp / preamp that is cold or the speakers? Etc.

So, I would say the less experience you have with high end audio the more time you need to appraise gear. Of course, if you have only had mid-fi stuff and you bring home a high end piece it can only take a second to get it. So, lots of caveats.
 

I remember a piece I brought home early on that I thought sounded great until I heard the “grain” in the treble. Wow, that was bad… I can hear grain in a couple seconds now.