WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HATE FOR THE HIGH END GEAR ON AUDIO GEAR?

Pardon me for not taking out a 2nd on a home I don't own....😏

I don't hate mega$ audio items at all; 'pushing the envelope' is pretty much expected in any serious ventures.  Look at SpaceX, they just lost not only a booster (I think the 'hot' option in stage separation is not a great concept...imho, but I'm not a rocket scientist, and will applaud if it can be made to work....but would likely say 'no' to a free ride for the foreseeable....) but the spacecraft itself.

But that's how Musk & Co. go....

As for personal audio, I'm essentially pleased and OK with my 'junk'.

It makes pleasant noises to my ears, as f'd up as they are.

You're more than welcome to come on down for a sess, given that any rudeness will be tolerated for as long as you might expect.

"I don't like it." will be enough, but will require some detailed observations.

Meanwhile...'run what you brung'....

While I am impressed with the myriad of gear available and it's advancements in audio sound I can't bring myself to pay these abhorrent prices for so little gain. I'm in my middle 60's with substantial hearing loss due to listening for years at high volumes. I have dabbled for decades in audiophile equipment, but honestly, can't hear the difference between a $2000 AVR and $10000 in separates and I've owned both. The difference between $1500 bookshelves with a good sub and $5-10 thousand towers is so minute it doesn't justify the cost. I'll stick to my Marantz Cinema AVR with Kef and B&W speakers and be extremely happy with the result. The rest of you keep posting and I'll keep reading. Thanks for the hours of enjoyment

I believe the 'hate' is more to being uninformed or worse...  I am not wiling to pay stratospheric prices (e.g. $10K network streamers, $10K speakers etc) but I have no issue with people willing to pay that. It's their own monies.   This is called the FREE MARKET at work.  No different that cars that cost $40K vs $400K and up...  

I'm a aerospace engineer working with a bunch of electrical engineers. I trust them that they know what they are doing. When it comes to audio gear, I asked them why two things (tubes or say capacitors) with exactly the same measured electrical values sound different.  They smiled at me and said, "We are engineers. We can only measure what we can measure, but sometimes that isn't the whole story". 

If the people at ASR measure something they think that is the Bible, but not really. It is only the beginning. 

People generally are jealous of those who can afford high end gear at whatever price point they consider that to be.  Then they want to rationalize that their gear sounds at least as good or 95% as good at 1/2 the price.  In a few cases they might be right. But we all know that *sometimes* you do get more for your money. 

My system is about $15K now (soon to be $20K next year) and that is the limit I can comfortably spend, but would I love to have a $100K system.  Hell yeah!  I simply say, more power to you and enjoy. Life is short. Jealousy is a waste of time. 

First and foremost is you are dealing with MEN. "My cables bigger than your cable". With many years of marriage to the right woman along with having wonderful daughters I became a human being. OP, you are dealing with the same problem women face on any topic, men are annoying and eventually resort to all caps. :>)