There's some truth in this... But human hearing can also be very forgiving and adaptable as well. Even with comparatively poor-performing gear sometimes.
Once you've heard gear that is better extended and better balanced tonally, with most of the unwanted peaks and dips removed and all of the notes and timbral info that's supposed to be there, and what that can do for a well-recorded piece of music, it can be harder to go back to something which does a poorer job of meeting or satisfying that criteria.
Once you've heard a speaker (or a headphone, or sub-woofer) that extends more deeply into the sub-bass, for example, I think it'll be a little more difficult to go back to something which is not. Because from then on, it'll feel a bit like something is missing from your music. That's what I've found in my own listening anyway. And it's probably why all the headphones I've purchased in the last 10 or so years have been closed-backs, with pretty good extension in the sub-bass frequencies.
The open headphones also have different qualities that I like as well though, which can often be more lacking in closed-backs. So there can be some tradeoffs with both kinds of technologies. Once heard though, the defects in sub-par gear (and recordings) are often more difficult to un-hear.
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