It's not that he's grumpy. It's that almost all phone calls terminate to or originate from the traditional Publicly Switched Telephone Network, which does not support HD audio and—for long-established historical reasons unlikely to change—uses a 3.1 KHz bearer frequency response range.

If they disable HD audio on pure-IP extension-to-extension/intra-company calling, that's stupid, though, and indeed could be done only by Mr. Grumpy.

There is unfortunately a trend to skimp on desk phones, but I think it's out of the perception that most users don't really care or use them that much.

HD Audio (G.722 & Opus) is essentially not supported outside internal networks sadly.