Aesthetix Romulus Signature Upgrade Worth the $3,000 ?

Some good values do exist and you mentioned them. However, a great many others fit my description. I cannot build a car, but I can can buy a Scion for the price of some high end dac's and amps. 

I cannot build a wave runner, snowmobile, motorcycle, computer, complete kitchen appliance set up, high end washer & dryer combo, but can buy these for less than the cost of many  single high end pieces of gear. 

Demand does not outpace supply on these boutique parts. The market is very small and some manufacturers just price as high as they can to sell the relatively few buyers. 

It is just too bad the market is not bigger. 

Really hard and most likely impossible to state where high end begins. I have owned Van Alstine and Quicksilver gear and they were pretry good really. 

One observation I've had with High End is there isn't a linear relationship with cost and performance. Some expensive products sounds  sublime and some are decidedly  underwhelming. The first step is to know your  goal and what type of sound you really desire. This is what causes the many variables we encounter. What sounds better,a Kondo SET or a Soulution 700 series amplifier? See what I mean,  no right answer, just depends on an individual's taste. .
Charles, 

there are less than 20 labor hours in final assy of a Scion and they sell hundreds of thousands of units..
hi end audio is often Aerospace grade parts, engineering, etc. Jim White not only knows what a Faraday cage is but how to use it to manage RF...for example...
look at Aesthetix operating with about ten employees in VERY high cost CA...small wonder we can afford anything they make.
go pick on somebody who really is skimming cream..