Are audiophiles still out of their minds?


I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1
The power of numbers and an all-too-obvious human nature that is preferably obscured; clothing stores aimed at younger women (and I'm sure age, gender nor type of product is hardly the deciding factor here) have seen significant rise in sales just by raising the price of the same(!) items. More expensive must be better, right? That is, more desirable to own by virtue of higher status and self contentment. Actual perceived sonic differences aside (with emphasis on "differences") in regards to audio gear, the importance of before mentioned is not irrelevant, to say the least. 

The classic example of upside-down demand and supply logic (used in some basic economics classes) is that of Perfume: the higher the price the more demand. I cannot comment on cables per se, I really do not know enough, but the last comment by whart is about right: if it makes you happy ...
However, the more exaggerated performance claims sometimes do go a little "over-the-top".
I guess we're at least at our mid 30's or even 40's now. Whenever you have the money, just buy whatever that makes you happy. Life is really short to spend on grumbling why people do what they do. Before we need hearing aid, satisfy our ears with anything we 'think' best regardless of its cost.