Well. Gosh. If you accept as fact the premise that money spent equates to better audio quality, that is surely your right. There are, however, many rational explanations for why some folks might not accept that premise as fact (none of which require the reader to accept far-fetched things).
Stubborn? Ok. So, let them be stubborn. "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still." My dad is in his 90's, and to him I'm still a punk kid. In his eyes, I will never grow up, no matter how old I am. Should I feel bad? No, I don't think so. Fortunately, I no longer live in his house, haha
Cheap? That's usually my excuse, lol. I prefer to think of myself as frugal. Mostly because I give away 1/3 of my paycheck to my ex wife every time I get one. I'd love to be able to throw money around like it grows on trees, but I can't. So I strive to find gear that is "good enough for now", and make notes for the day when I get to stop paying child support
Should I feel bad that I can't trade my Modi in for a Bifrost Uber, and hear this astounding difference? No. I don't feel bad at all. I consider myself fortunate to be able to purchase an inexpensive DAC that is quite fine for the money I spent for it.
Can't hear the difference? This is the reason I'm writing this post. I don't mean to cause a stir. I just think there are all sorts of reasons why people either can, or cannot, hear the difference between any given component. Sometimes a person is older, like me. Should I feel bad if my 50+ yr old ears can't hear the same level of detail as a man in his 20's? No. I honestly think it pays to look at someone's profile to understand their frame of reference.
I also believe that people's perceptions can change depending on what they listen to, and when they listen to it. This phenomenon explains many things to me, and I have proven it exists, at least to myself. When I swapped around my work and home setups to run a little comparison recently, my perceptions of all of my gear changed dramatically. I decided that a particular iPod DAC was too damn bright to listen to any more, so I removed it from my work setup. After a week or so, my perceptions of my gear returned to normal. And this was with gear that had been in use for some months (and should not be changing, if you happen to believe in that). This also explains (at least to me) why people think gear "breaks in" after a period of time: their minds and/or ears are adjusting to the sound. I tend to think that our minds and ears change more than a few pieces of solid state equipment (or even tubes for that matter).
Then there's also the phenomenon of not being able to hear the difference, simply because your setup just isn't good enough, or some component is affecting the SQ. If you've spent a few thousand bucks on some fine gear, maybe Blue Jeans cables will make a difference for you. However, if you've spent a couple hundred on budget-fi gear, I kind of doubt they will matter. Is that the "fault" of the person who didn't invest in better cables? No. On the contrary, I think it's kind of silly to spend 50-100 bucks on cables, when you only spent 70 bucks on the amp, and are driving it with an iPod. I felt bad enough spending $15 bucks at Radio Shack, haha.
I tend to think that knowledge and understanding someone else's point of view, will alleviate much of the arguments over significant, or petty differences. After all, there's no point in getting mad at someone for having a cold. Honestly, there is enough hate being spewed by politicians and governments these days, that we should probably try to avoid that here. I like to think of this as something fun to end my day.
Peace.
R
