answer 1
Gold, as an element, is much more conductive than copper or whatever else might be used for wire and coils in a cheaper set of ear-phones. The extra conductivity of gold means that there will be more electrons getting to their destination, ie., the audio signal being sent to your ears will not lose "fidelity", or frequency ranges. Slap on a few years of R&D and marketing to become a popular brand name, and voila! an expensive product with high overhead for the producer. Your large-figure income offsets the high cost of the earbuds, while allowing you the prestige of owning and displaying big-ticket items.