I don’t think this idea you have about bias being the main cause for what audio component someone might choose, it’s a sound one.
Maybe it doesn't play the main role, but if we look at Olive's sighted listening test experiment:
Even "trained audio professionals'" (Harman employees') ratings were influenced by brand biases and by size, price, materials.
In the blind test they rated the speakers differently, truly by sound. So differently in fact, that the order of them changed.
The small, cheap, plastic speaker S was less preferred in the sighted listening test, but beat the large, expensive ($3.6k) speaker in the blind test.
Bias is real. It is not negligible. It is proven to influence ratings considerably.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s at some point bought something that they liked the look of it, paid good money for it, really really want to like it, but it just didn’t work as expected, and ultimately got rid of it.
And that is perfectly fine and also largely depends on where your priorities are. It may be something as trivial as the feel of the buttons of the component, the looks in your home next to other components, or maybe you just expected (bias) it to sound different .. more like described in the reviews you read etc.
Maybe after some days of comparing with another component at your home you start hearing sound quality problems, which you didn't even notice after the purchase (again bias). Obviously, if sound quality is your priority you're most probably not gonna keep it if it has audible flaws.
But back to bias. Nobody's immune, not me, not you. I've bought crap and some of it is still lying around somewhere.
Biases exist, yes. If I’m auditioning two CD players - one is a beautiful built/designed with a price tag of $5k, and the other is a regular $500 one, I’m expecting the former to perform better - that’s obvious - but whether I’m actually going to like it, is a different matter that's based on its performance, and its performance alone.
You cannot say that without even eliminating biases. It's not a matter of conscious decision making ("this has a higher price tag so should sound better, but I'm gonna ignore that information"), but
subconscious influences on your decision making and what you perceive!
I’m afraid you’re gonna have to find some other ideas to base your argument on, as these of bias ones are getting kinda tiring.
I know that reading "bias" every couple of sentences may be tiresome, but that doesn't make it wrong.