This is strictly opinion, and the only facts I have to confirm my opinion, are when the very rich got much richer by manipulating the commodities markets, and made an astronomical amount of money off the price of food and gas.
For some reason, the folks here seem to know only "audiophilia"; but be that as it may, it wasn't until after the rich got much richer; that they had so much money, they began to spend it on the most ridiculous stuff, like 33,000 dollar interconnects, and all sorts of stuff that was the most expensive, with no regard to value. As if, somehow, the most expensive must be the best
For years I came into contact with rich people through real estate, and they always had an eye out for "value"; they wouldn't buy stuff unless it was worth what they paid for it, and if you recall the most expensive gear in the past was worth the high price, not some totally ridiculous price that was all out of whack.
Now it seems that almost every major high end audio brand has something that fits that bill of having some item which has no connection to value. Before now, Grado's products seemed to be related to value, but if his competitors are selling items that have no relation to value, why shouldn't he get some of that "easy money".