Bad news for audiophiles?

Hey, if you enjoy drinking a $90 bottle of wine more than a $10 bottle, who am I to criticize you?

I worked as a salesman at a high-end audio shop in DC, one of the early adopters of an "electronic A-B" system, that allowed the customer to compare amps, pre-amps, sources and speakers.  I setup a custom with a McIntosh MC2200 solid state and a high-end tube amp, handed him the "clicker" and let him relax and compare the amps.  He told me that he thought the tube amp sounded smoother, ordered it from me.  Later the repair tech asked me if I knew that there was something wrong with the "electronic AB" system, some problem with the connection to the tube amp prevented it from being connected, so the customer was actually listening to the MC2200 the whole time!

Interesting.

You probably should have patented that A/B switch.

Being interested in the source of information, I suggest you look at this: 

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ

To be specific, start at 13:15...

Absolutely true that some people are swayed by the higher cost of two items, sometimes they are right ...usually it does't matter as long as they believe it. In some cases, it is also fraud. 

It is also absolutely true that two capacitors, or resistors can perform the same function yet sound remarkably different in the right application. Buyer beware. Nothing new here, why the uproar? ...Don't trust your own senses? Can't be confident in what you experience and need validation in the form of a higher price tag? I have run into everything from the fraudulent to the divine in some things that others had entirely different responses to. I am happy with my personal results and don;t need you to tell me I "made the right choice" because I bought the same device (or wine) you think is the best.  

By the way, I am an accomplished wine drinker (aka, high-end wino). I have shared incredible wines at ALL price points, sometimes the price is a function of a wine with a track record that goes back hundreds of years. Sometimes it's a function of a ridiculous winery visitor tasting room that impresses the money out of the gullible. Yes, it's a great wine but there is another one that is in the same league but unknown and costs almost nothing.

maybe the $10 bottle is like a very hot trebled up stereo that sounds good initially but fatigues you quickly

or ... it is just confirmation bias, aka 'placebo effect' something that has plagued audio for decades

Expectation bias is actually a quite different phenomenon from placebo effect. Both are frequently used as "the real reason" why audiophiles hear certain hard to swallow tweaks or expensive cables.