Has anyone heard the SAT XD1

Yes, I’ve seen the pricing, and I have no issue with it.
If I could afford it and it was the best, based on my own in home audition, I’d buy it.

I'm with @dover on this, I think the price is high but I might buy it if I could afford to.

It interesting to speculate what is an acceptable price for pushing the boundaries of what is possible with hifi and sound quality. If they employ one person or a few people and had to spend around 2 years to create this tt (a guess) and possibly buy expensive machinery to do it it may very well cost a few hundred thousand dollars to make it. And if they then only expects to sell a few the price must be high. 

I really wish they could make it much less expensive but I can't really say that I don't want them to sell it at the price they have if that is what they think is needed.

As for the money grab comments, I still doubt they will be very rich from this and if you read the Stereophile review Fremer seems to think this is one of the best turntables in the world. That might make it worth the high price for those who can afford it.

daveyf

... Here's the issue, that continually seems to be either a) misconceived or b) considered irrelevant.. and it's this: The price asked fails to live up to the tech, the complexity, the R&D required or any other parameter ...

That's an interesting claim. Please tell us about your experience with this pickup arm. How did it sound in your system?

First, let me say that my opening remark was not meant as a condemnation of the SAT products per se just on the basis of their very high cost.  I try not to do that or think like that.  The turntables and tonearms might be very very good, maybe they are the very best in the world, for all I know.  I only meant to say that they may as well not exist for me in my frame of relative affluence.  As to whether Mr Gomez is wise to cater to the super rich, that is his business and was his marketing decision apparently.  His financial success or failure, eventually, will signal whether he made a good decision or not.  (It was obviously a conscious decision NOT to be another Rega or Music Hall.)  If you search the internet for ultimate cost stereo systems, you will see that there are dozens of speaker systems that cost more than $250,000 and even $1M is not unheard of.  Buyers of such systems are also candidates to buy SAT products.  Such persons do not care a fig about cost, depreciation, or resale value, and yes most of them seem convinced that cost is proportional to sound quality.  Mr Gomez seems to want to appeal to that audience, and with the stamp of approval afforded by Mike Fremer, he probably will.  There's nothing wrong with that. The rest of us can go on about our business, and I don't think we need to feel deprived.

@cleeds Do point out where I am talking about the tonearm..
vs. the table in respect to the Formula 1 car example brought up by dover.

@lewm One maybe has to ask where the pricing structure that seems ever more prevalent in this hobby becomes...’comical’. Sure, to some that number is not ever reached...or is it??
One could ask Marc Gomez why he didn’t price his table at multiple millions of dollars--- after all, why not?? Do you see my point?

daveyf

@cleeds Do point out where I am talking about the tonearm..
vs. the table ...

Oops, my mistake and I am sorry. I should have asked about your actual experience with the turntable. Please tell us about it.