@mistermuddles appears to be a distillation of every subjectivist argument one encounters on 99% of audio related forums and groups. I'm not sure that he is not, starting with his User ID, a very subtle and imaginative troll. If concrete reality is immaterial to perceptual experience, then why not simply take hallucinogens whenever listening to music? And reliance upon the placebo effect to improve the audio experience (or any experience for that matter) is no better than the charlatan "faith healers" and televangelist who promise healing to those who will "only believe". It is the very definition of being a con artist and abusive.
Also, over the years what has dawned on me, and why audiophools seem so adverse to the concept of Benefit Cost Ratio - it is because they are not
really music lovers first, but they are gear
collectors. They don't listen to music, they listen to their "systems" and they don't put together a system to enjoy the music (though they may tell themselves they do) but because they love the gear itself. Like a car collector who can't actually drive all the cars he owns, it's not about the driving but about the THING itself. And collectors really don't care about the cost of something as long as they can afford it and get it. I'm on a number of groups where people brag regarding having not just every release an artist has put out, but every PRESSING of each release as well. Arguments ensue on what pressing is "critical" to own and which sound the best. It's not about the music, but about owning something. It is, perhaps, a relatively benign form of OCD though it can become far less benign when people start spending money they don't have in the pursuit of their "hobby".