Does hearing the best in high end audio make your opinions more valid?

@celander 

Validation of that opinion requires acknowledgement of a reference state. 

Exactly. So, is the reference state based on price tag, measurements, opinions of self-proclaimed golden ears, public opinion, ear of the beholder, all of the above?  Is the reference state subjective and individualized, and therefore not universal?  Who is in charge of validating?

When you listen to live music in various venues or even from different locations in one you realize it is all about getting the most out of the room at hand and every room is different.

Validating?
Generally what matters is your own experience. Getting an earful of someone's 'opinion' realistically means you still have to filter the noise from what is meaningful, and relevant.For example Geoff. Perhaps out of a string of 10,000 of his words, the one message that has any meaning is the wires (may) be directional, (and thus worth it to check) that is 'filtering'. LOL

Elizabeth even once one filters out some meaning the  meaning must still actually matter.  

@calvinj  I guess I could agree that exposure to a lot of things would be a positive however I  do not agree with the, a lot of expensive things, part.  I find that once you get beyond a certain price threshold going higher in price is not really related to sound quality.  

 And my reference to experience is more in the vein of experience with how to build these things and how they work.  In my area there are get-togethers and I almost always find that guys who build their own things ( or who know a lot about electronics) are not impressed with price tags and fancy cabling. 
 And I know right off the bat that many folks will think that it's not top-tier sound because it is not commercially available. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know a guy who was in the top tier of his field of  Radio telecommunications and he has built every part of his system except for the phono cartridge.  One of the best systems I have ever heard if not the best.   And he is just totally disgusted with the high-end in general.