Audiophile equipment also follows the same trend. The reluctance to double-blind testing is a common sign that it isn't actually better, just more expensive.
<anecdote> A few years ago I sent one of the first bottles of wine I ever made (a Barolo, still quite young) to a friend of mine with a comment to the effect that "it's not bad, but it has an aftertaste of asphalt. Probably needs to be aged more."
He replied with a link to a review of an expensive Barolo that indicated "hints of tar." But my major takeaway from that review was how it sounded exactly like the high-end audio reviews I used to read." Substitute the word "amplifier" for "wine" and you'd never know the difference. </anecdote>
BTW: I kept a few bottles of that batch and after five years, it was delicious. Five years was all the willpower I had :-(
Right...?