Why Is Hi Fi Gear So Darn Expensive?

Today Hi-Fi is a niche.

The heyday of Hi-Fi was the late 1960s into the early 1980s.   Sales volumes were relatively large,  build quality was excellent and prices were moderate considering what you got.

Today, there's so little product sold; the companies are literally guys in a small shops either building them by hand or having them built in China.

And to sell them, you've got to take out ads in niche publications, show up to small trade shows, send out review copies to people on the internet all of which cost a lot of money.  And of course you've got to have guys who service, answer the phone, and give the appearance that you're a real company.   That overhead has to be recovered somewhere, and it's the price of the product.

I tried really hard to get the best sound i can afford. I did not have a big budget so i ended up with USED but "like new condition" items.

Aerial 5T with Pangea stands, Parasound Hint 6, and a new Bluesound Node (new model) with a Tidal hifi subscription. Paid a little north of $5k for all of it. I think it sounds great, and i couldn't be happier at this price.

I often buy used but a while back I commissioned an amp to be built.   It was about twice my original budget but from the feedback of other owners it will be worth every penny.  Hopefully that will be true.   My kids are grown,  have high paying careers so now that I have no obligations I said screw it and had something special built.

@oddiofyl you have some dang nice kit now.

Thanks !  I should have it pretty soon and hopefully be done for a while .