In the middle of a pandemic, Stereophile reviews ~ $30K equipment

erik, 
I would be sorely disappointed if I thought that you conceived this thread as anything other than tongue in cheek. Please, please assure me that you're only joking... No, never mind, you must be...right?

The people who they are appealing to are not affected in any way by the current economic crisis. 30k to them is like 30 to me. God bless them and may they stay healthy. My wife is a nurse and I can assure you that covid19 is not concerned with your portfolio. 

Wow, they are expensive.. No doubt..

I read, I didn't drink, not even a sniff..

I actually like the look of the little Freyas +, more. Its not an integrated but for that type of money....And Class Ds to boot. I don't care what it sounds like..or they spent on it, It's a class D. with a humpty dumpty DAC.  I'm liking mine way to much with that price tag.

Cost of living must be crazy in that little production town..
50 euro, beers, and 100 euro, sauerkraut, and 1000.00 euro, sausages.
All I can figure.. Narrow road access, only passable in spring...LOL

Regards

I find it interesting that some of the people decrying these wanton cash outlays are the very ones that have spent multiple thousands of dollars on senseless gimmicks, snake oil and audiophile jewelry, and who will defend their purchases with the very same word salad.

Keep in mind that reviews like this are written 99.9% for people who can only dream of owning the gear and maybe 0.1% for people who are actually likely to buy it (just like Doug DeMuro reviewing multi-million-dollar supercars on YouTube).  As such this is actually a good time for them because people are stuck at home and probably enjoy aspirational content more than ever.