Hi Caesar,
Your question implies that there is some mysterious statistical correlation between the price of a product and sound quality. I suspect that given the factors which influence the price of a product, this is very dubious concept indeed. Nowadays there are few serious volume manufacturers of audio equipment particularly at the esoteric level to which I think you are referring and volume is a key determining factor here. The reality is that the most important things in determining price are, volume of production, size of business fixed costs and the the amount of profit (ROI) a business needs to generate to stay in business. The variable costs such as materials are generally a much less less important part of the mix.
If you make a high end product all of these cost elements are of necessity spread over a very small number of units and therefore have a huge influence on final selling price. Regarding material costs some time ago I was speaking to the M.D. of a major manufacturer and I made some suggestions about how he could improve his product. The cost of the improvements was £200-£300 per unit. This he said would add £2000 to £3000 to the retail price - a factor of 10. What this shows that if there is any correlation at all between cost and quality it is tenuous at best.
I think this might stir things up a bit so I will retire to my man cave, don my protective helmet and close the hatch!
Kind regards
David