Has anyone heard the SAT XD1

What is your question or problem that others might comment on? When it comes to the SAT, nearly every one of us is in the same boat with you; we could never afford it, nor would we afford it (just on principle) if we could. 

Here’s an opinion that seems to be unpopular right now in high end audio. Why on earth not make more of the product at a far lower price and sell many more to the ’general’ public, than make something that is priced so very high that it will only be bought be a tiny minority? The new SAT turntable is a good example of this marketing strategy, along with the rest of the SAT line. Marc Gomez seems to believe that the way to his success with these products is to price them so high that they are in the ether! While this makes sense ’if’ you are trying to sell to a tiny minority of consumers, and want to minimize your production capacity and number of sales, is it realy the way to go for the benefit of your long term business...and more importantly, for the benefit of the industry/hobby as a whole??? All IMHO.YMMV etc.,

Rega builds a great tonearm and turntable.  They sell them buy the boatload.  They are a real company with production facilities (factories), sales staff, human resource personnel and a finance department.  SAT is Marc Gomez.  He can make a tonearm, but he had to adapt another manufacturer's turntable.  That says something about SAT's overall abilities at this time.

@daveyf 3 reasons.
1. The manufacturer can pursue the state of the art.
2. The manufacturer can reside in the upper echelons of the industry. 
3. No need to deal with too many annoying humans.