I think it' is just a sad truth about Hifi audio. The difference is noticeable but not significant enough to be considered mind-blowing by mainstream people.
I always tell my non-audiophile friends to just pick the the entry level gear+ dongle and leave. Never come back to this community.
That's one of the old audiophile claims that I am not sure if it is scientific or not.
The idea of headroom, and how when an amp gets closer to the minimum and maximum power, the output becomes unstable and starts to introduce unhealthy amount of distortions to the gear.
I am not sure if you 'd find it convincing or not, but here are the sources:
CogSci2022 t1_j9awmhm wrote
Reply to Headphone jack tier list, cuz why not by nopunterino
3.5mm is the best