2x6,

What exactly are you getting at? Do I have to spell it out completely for you? OK then. Here are just a few reasons to buy receiver A over receiver B:

1. price
2. features
3. build quality
4. history of brand reliability
5. appearance
6. size

So, yes, even those of us who don't believe receivers sound different have plenty of reason to subjectively choose one over another. Also, you keep mentioning that our views are theory driven. I would call it data driven. You can only trust your ears to be truly objective in a blind listening test.