When someone tells you it's a $40,000 amp, does it sound better?

I think you hit the nail on the head in the original post and everybody has rolled right over it. There is a cost for rarity - and there is an economy of scale. That is a big part of costs. Paying for design, parts, quality and the living wages throughout the distribution chain is one thing. Paying a premium because all of those costs need to be recouped on a relatively small quantity of goods - that is a waste of money. I don’t think there is anything nefarious going on here - it’s just math. If they were to sell 1000 40k amps a year, could they get the cost down to 25k? 

Does the $40,000 amp come with $40,000 ears? 

I've not seen value mentioned thus far, many variable enter into value equations. Parts count and quality, how much one company charges for R&D, profit margins, business models, these just off the top of my head.

Making objective statements as to all $40K amps being superior to those priced beneath is total nonsense. Proof is in the listening, and for comparison to be really valid, needs to be in one's own system over long term.

Too much one upsmanship based solely on price at this forum, not enough value considerations.

What’s really troubling herein is that there really isn’t any explanation as to any special part or technique that creates a much more expensive amplifier.

Further, electrical equipment which is very sophisticated requires a break in period. It takes months of listening to mellow out all the components. This is especially true with speakers where mechanics of the drivers need to loosen up.

How is anyone supposed to do a comparison within a dealer with such new products that have not been broken in fully.

And then you hear people who are upset with purchases because they don’t have the patience to break things in so they do acoustical treatments and cables and clutter up their system.

Proceed gradually and work with what you’ve got and then take a chance when your inspired to buy something new.

My next move appears to be some interconnects and maybe a better quality server to replace a nucleus. And longer-term maybe I’ll replace my speakers but they look really nice and need more to break in probably. My amplifiers are mcintosh 600 W mono blocks which go really well with my speakers so no interest in changing these out.

I don’t think it takes months of break in, and any decent dealer will make sure things are properly set up and functioning and not use break in as an excuse.  It is true that it is hard to do meaningful auditions; to some extent experience helps in extrapolating and getting meaningful information from an audition.  If something sounds good in a particular system, you know it is possible to get sound from your target gear; if the audition goes poorly, you cannot rule out the component because it may not be at fault.  This is admittedly complicated, but, in time you will get better at finding what will suit your taste and system.