I can easily hear the differences between tubes, transistors, digital amps (class D) etc. I can tell quality with my ears as well.
Even so, I'm betting you'd have your mind blown by participating in a double-blind listening session where you put this assertion to the test.
You know, you might be right. Sometimes the mind can fool one into hearing things "differently" under certain "conditions" but...
I remember people saying that all cd players sounded the same. Just ones and zeros. It's perfect, it's digital! (lol) Back in the day, I had a budget of $300.00 dollars for a consumer player. I went through 6 in that price range before I found one that sounded "decent". All sounded different. The winner? Onkyo. They made exceptional cheap cd players and now excellent HT amps. As do Denon. And fairly cheaply at that.
Axioms make awesome speakers at a ridiculously low price. But you also have to take into account the millions of dollars that went into the initial research funded by your dope smoking, socialist/capitalist government. You lucky bastards! My country would rather spend billions of research money on important technical stuff, like killing large amounts of people effectively around the world. But as usual, I digress...
In the recording world, Mackie makes decent budget priced pre-amps. But despite having specs that are impressive, they cannot compete with API or Neve pre amps for high end sound.
Do they sound good enough? Of course! Many hit records were/are made using modest gear just like that. But make no mistake, there is better. And you can hear the difference.
But I do have pretty refined hearing. It's my job! Back in the booming 90's, when big budget major label projects were the norm (typically $50,000 to $250,000), I was making $150.00 to $300.00 an hour to produce audio recordings, and yes, I was being paid for skill/talent, but having good ears is sometimes even more important than technical skills. And being able to discern very subtle auditory nuances is both a curse and a blessing that I was born with.
