Quote Originally Posted by woodman
Your post contains some granules of truth, but some complete fallacies as well .... the main one being this one:

... If it didn't sound better, then it wouldnt sell.

That is pure, unadulterated HOGWASH, and anyone that actually knows anything about the industry knows that to be so. There are a multitude of audio products being sold every day that don't sound any better than competing products that only cost a fraction as much. How something actually sounds seldom comes into play at all in this scenario ... it's the perception that since it costs waaaaaay more, then it must sound better as well that drives the sale.
I assure you I know a bit about this industry, and the people who but these players. On top of that I've actually HEARD quite a few of them in a varity of systems. the only HOGWASH that's getting thrown into the fan is that the people who but these players are buying it because they cost more.