There is a great place in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" where the handlebars of a guys BMW were starting to get loose. The author had the knowledge/skills to fix it using a piece of the wall from a Budweiser can as a shim (aluminum is a very good material for this). The owner of the BMW was quite upset that the "exclusivity" of his BMW was violated with a scrap of discarded beer can.
Some people are Romantics and very quick to adopt the mythos associated with marketing (both direct and through professional reviews...especially without measurements). That is not a bad thing, those people make the world a better place, IMHO!
The new VW Beetle and the Mini Cooper are both great examples where the car was not the best among competitors (though both are good); however, there is a certain sense of fun associated with them that makes them more valuable than their objective measures as vehicles would suggest. In contrast, the Pontiac Aztec was a great car that did not sell well due to it being "awkward looking" (though it probably would have better sales after "Breaking Bad")!
We all fall in the strata between the extreme romantic and the cold hard logical science guy. We are biologically wired to find some things more appealing than others on a subjective basis. Thus, some combinations of audible pitches are pleasant while others are disturbing or even clash! Several studies have established that infants prefer to look at beautiful faces.
Getting to audio, I have bought a couple of Marantz AVR despite knowing that Denon represented better value. The main reasons for this are Marantz has long-term history with me(I don't know that Denon existed when I got into audio - mid 70's) and I like the look of the "Port" on the front of their AVRs. I am honest with myself recognizing that buying a Denon would have been a more logical decision, but the cost premium of the Marantz over the Denon was not very much (maybe $50?) and I knew I would feel better about owning a Marantz. If I had the extra coin to spend freely, I would own McIntosh for the same reasons - my personal fondness/memories (and it doesn't hurt that I know others covet them) and appearance - those big blue VU meters!
So is the McIntosh likely to be audibly better than the Denon (assuming the Denon is operating within its design parameters)? I sincerely do not believe so. Would it sound better in my perception? Hell yes!
We have been measuring audio electronics long enough that I believe we know what and how to measure. If properly done, if measurements do not show a significant difference, there probably isn't one. However, that doesn't change the fact that if just looking at my gear makes me feel good, it is going to sound better to me!
It's simple, it's psychological.
Music always sounds good, but it sounds better when I am feeling great than when I am sick.
Another great example of this is Bose. They have been successful even though we can measure that (most of) their gear is not up to other gear at the same price. Through marketing and sales, they have developed a "Bose is best" mythos such that many people are convinced that their Bose system sounds better. As casual listeners, this mythos is stronger than their objective ability to listen to another system and 30 minutes later objectively recognize that their system does not sound as good.
When I chose Marantz for "Romantic" reasons, I made certain that there were no measurements indicating the Marantz was audibly worse than the Denon. That would be foolish (like choosing Bose over better gear at the same price).
But I think it would be more foolish to ignore that we are not measurement instruments and other factors go into our appreciation of our systems.
I believe we know this, but don't always want to admit it to ourselves.
It certainly shows in the sales even among forum/ID products:
Tom V. at PSA developed the XS15se as high value 15" sub. I think they went for $800 ea. He also introduced the S1500 using the ICE amps at $1000. By his own admission the difference in performance between these two for the average user is minimal, but he could not get people to buy the XS15se any more! They all wanted to spend the extra $200 for the ICE amp and latest version.
I believe a similar thing happened with Dennis Murphy and the Phil2. It was an amazing product giving tremendous value (and I believe one of his fundamental objectives is to make high quality sound affordable). I believe he was frustrated at how so many people (myself included) wanted to spend the extra money for the Phil3 to get a custom cabinet and the extra 3 Hz on the low end (IIRC). While Dennis discontinued the Phil2 due to issues with Chinese production, the demand for the Phil2 was not great enough to justify the trouble of finding another off-shore provider to keep the Phil2 in production.
So most of us are willing to recognize that inaudible factors have value when we pull out our wallets! I'm not sure how quick we are to understand that those factors can also effect our perception of sound quality.
Just sayin'...
