i have seen studies that show that even though people can only distiguish x number of colors or audio samples, with training or repetition they can tell the difference between x and z even though z should be out of their capabilities.
i have very good hearing, i take care of my ears with ear plugs (i worked in a pressroom for 13yrs) and i dont listen to loud music, but i really dont care about audio quality. i have an aureal vortex2 sound card in my pc from 1998 that i have had in every pc ive put together in the last 10 years because it gets the job done.
monitors on the other hand are a totally different thing. i use crts. my hdtv is crt because i specifically went out looking for one after comparing all the crts lcds dlps and plasmas. i perfer crt. i havent found an lcd i like because the color is wrong and the purity is terrible.
of course i spent over a decade matching color on a printing press.
looong story short, i think there are tiny differences between audio systems and there are people who care enough to pay for what they want. i could have gotten a crappy lcd for cheaper (and lighter)
