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Because it makes the music in their head sound better. The debate is about whether or not that effect is only in their head.
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If one’s measure of sonic experience is in the head rather than in objective measurements, this raises the thorny issue of ‘audio memory’. I’ve never been convinced that I can retain a reliable sense of the ‘sound’ of an audio component for very long – perhaps a few tens of seconds at best – and from my BBC days and subsequent experience as a reviewer I’m fairly sure that a high proportion of people can’t either, even if they're experienced listeners with no axe to grind. Hence presumably the importance of carefully controlled A/B tests.
If ‘audio memory’ is generally as short-term as that, presumably any assertion that component A sounds better or worse than component B cannot be substantiated unless the comparison is made in real time. But no doubt the audiophool will reply by saying that the comparator switching mechanism will invalidate any such test.
Da capo sine fine.