We live in interesting times.
In audio, there has never been a better time to be seeking and buying audio equipment, for many reasons. The web has made information available to everyone with a smartphone at every level of the industry not previously possible, but particularly from end users where experience of new products at the end-user level was previously difficult, commonly only by word of mouth, sometimes filtered through dealers who may have had their own interests in mind when it came to sharing information. New producers in China and elsewhere have added novel and competitively-priced equipment that introduce new considerations to the value proposition. Buyers rightfully question whether the prices asked for some gear represent a fair return for the price paid both in performance and reliability. Support for costly gear becomes a legitimate question for dealers who are the intermediaries to the end user and who really should be prepared to support the customers effectively, especially for goods priced well above mass market products. That means having an efficient and capable local service facility and cultivating relationships only with producers that have an effective parts and service network for their products.
"Hate" for high-end products is wasted emotional energy. In consumer goods, Veblen goods have always existed, exclusive by being expensive, attractive because of exclusiveness. Unmasking some of those goods as poor value in the WWW by product analysts and testing reviewers restores a balance to what was once a very assymetrically-informed market. That is a good thing. At the same time, recognizing that some factors in pricing gear at the high end are a necessary part of a functioning economy: domestic (e.g., USA) production requires skilled people making attractive-enough wages, companies that have resources to devote to new product development and to support their end users and dealer networks. Everyone needs to eat.
