Hi Dave,
Interesting analogy!
I am not easily spooked by frequency domain, pre-emphasis, de-emphasis, quantization noise etc... Not sure about other people, though

And here is something I should have read (and recommend others to read) long time ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_correction

Very clear and easy to understand explanation there. ( Even better than mine )
Surprisingly, addressing many of the same issues and questions, which were brought up in this thread.