That is an interesting point. No-one has any idea of how rapidly...

That is an interesting point. No-one has any idea of how rapidly the quality of the sound drops with increasing loss of pixels. You have made your sentiment clear, but it is not backed by any real-world knowledge. It may just as likely be possible that a chip can sustain pixel loss up to 5-10% without the average end user noticing any difference in quality. Most people cannot tell the difference between uncompressed music and lossey mp3 compression with loss of 5-10% of information.

Anyway, because they are chips, they will be binned according to quality and used in applications they are appropriate for. e.g. Highest quality for high end stereo systems where sound quality is premium, low end for open air PA systems.

You are also correct that the customer will determine what chip qualities get used where.