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

@douglas_schroeder wrote: " Perhaps, as happened to me, a review of a pricey component started well before Covid-19 scare, and wound to conclusion now. Sometimes it takes months for a product to come to the reviewer! "

That (or something similar) was my first thought as well.

And give that the amount of money I have spent on audio equipment would be scandalous by the standards of much if not most of humanity, imo it would be hypocritical of me to throw verbal stones at someone who spends significantly more than I do.

Duke

This pandemic just accelerated the wealth transfer. The richer rich have to find SOMETHING to blow your dough on.

Wow, to the diverse range of responses, I say! 
I cursory just looked at both reviews and decided, NUTS 🤪.
Never mind pandemic and all.
So from my humble position here, I can more connect to Erik's point of view. I do. 
The word salad mentioned I also perceived as prime BS,... 🤢
Eh, "The world is changing... " I'm told by my favourite old pharmacist.
Of late, I'm more and more recalling his comment.
Sad and off-putting, yet...
"nothing ever stays the same" , or was it
 "the more things change, the more they stay the same"? 
Still, in my opinion those reviewed equipments suck, they even look ugly too!
I don't like ugly, humph! 
Never mind their price, never mind covid.
And now I'm going back and listening to my transistor radio. 😊 🤸‍♀️💃
M. 

Go back several years and you’ll see $200k speakers, $100k amps being reviewed every month, nothing has changed because of this virus. All the expensive audio products haven’t disappeared, you can still buy them, just like you can buy $1M cars, $40M homes, etc..
I also think it’s foolish for people to judge others that buy the more expensive gear. If you think your $1000 product sounds fantastic, great, but you shouldn’t try to convince or belittle somebody that spends $50k for a product, that’s just foolish. Some of the best gear that I have heard costs over $100k, at the same time I’m happy with gear that is less expensive, but I’m not going to try and convince myself or others that What I have is the best. The best doesn’t have to be the most expensive but it sure won’t be the cheapest either.