It's like this in *every* world, not just the water and audio worlds.
Part of it is the setting ... these diners are set up to react the way they do. What man is going to object to his date's choices negatively? Who wants to feel like a rube in a fancy restaurant?
I say "date" because that is how the diners are reacting ... they don't act like veteran married couples, and I would expect if they were, the long-suffering husband would say something, in that case, because he's not invested nearly as much in impressing his wife as he was when they were dating.
All the bottles are filled at the same time from the same source, but if there was a difference in storage, the waters could taste differently, since temperature plays such a large role in the taste of any water; a few degrees difference would affect most people's taste reaction.
I happen to live in a city with extremely good municipal (tap) water; it is pumped from a large river, it comes from a mountain source, a few hundred miles away, and there are no other cities between there and here, and no communities with untreated sewage along the way. Yet bottled water is still sold everywhere here.
Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Costco all have a number of brands of bottled water where, at most, they add an ionizing filter stage to municipal tap water. They even print information about the source right on the bottle. Doesn't hurt sales, even though it's priced higher per litre than gasoline.
If the water is good, and much municipal tap water is good, it's going to taste good. It's more an issue of if there is no negative taste, it's fine.
There are places in the world where you are advised to drink the beer or the wine instead of the water. I couldn't tell you for sure, but I would not be surprised to learn the water, chilled, tastes just fine. It just makes you sick, or gives you Hepatitis.
I don't mind Perrier but that is carbonated water. At home, I have a spritzer bottle that I can carbonize tap water with CO2 cartridges, and generally if I want a more refreshing drink, I use that (I keep it very chilled, around 34F; and it's awesome mixed 50:50 with Orange Juice for breakfast; like Champagne and Orange Juice* without the alcohol).
Naturally it's much cheaper than Perrier, and yes, tastes the same.
* The fancy term for Champagne and Orange Juice is Mimosa. Like a lot of trendy things, the term is applied these days to Sparkling Wine and any Fruit Juice.
