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

Goes back to the problem of Breakin, most very expensive amplifiers are not broken in when you buy them. It takes a while. So what your hearing at the dealer if you're lucky enough for him to have a broken in higher-end amplifier that you have an interest in comes nowhere close to what it will sound like at your home. Most purchases are on faith. Gear looks pretty and expensive so I like it and I'll buy it.

Additionally if you have a large net worth spending 40 to $50,000 is all about optics. 
I suspect most of these people buying expensive gear have no idea what it is. They trust dealers and they don't install themselves. It's too damn heavy. And then they turn it on and it sounds nice. And then they go to their other homes and may not even listen to this new system they bought for quite a while. It's just a piece of furniture in the room probably a lot cheaper than the other furniture they have.
 

It's like a trophy wife, you buy the gear because it makes you feel good and you want other people to see it.  And what else are these people gonna spend their money on.  Having a lot of money it's not what it's cracked up to be. 

@mofojo 

So it's okay to spend just under $20,000 for amplifiers, but $40,000 that's too much, some people think $2,000 is too much.

I went to RMAF a few years back and brought my wife. She has a healthy amount of skepticism and calls it the way it is. She heads into a room with some vinyl she just purchased in the marketplace and the host throws it on. There was about 500k worth of equipment playing her disc and I knew we just approached the crossroads with the needle drop. It was unlistenable and after two tracks the album was politely returned to her. I found myself making excuses for a half million dollars worth of equipment. The room was crap, the vinyl was poorly recorded, high end systems reveal more of the truth, crap in crap out etc. Her take was she loved the artist and wanted to enjoy the record….. was tired of three days of well recorded jazz. 

Yup a 40k amp should sound better than a 10k amp but often doesn’t. If I bought it I would have auditioned it in my room to see if it met our very subjective definition of better. If I bought it without auditioning there is a good chance I would be cornered into making excuses. Been there done that. 

We wholeheartedly agree with jumia. We also believe the same for the digital components in high end audio systems.

Check out our Tech Blog on the topic:  How can Something that Costs so Little Sound so Great? 

Deer Creek Audio is an authorized miniDSP dealer.

@mahlman   you had me at "precious pebbles".   Indeed Audiogon gold.