Points taken. He’s talking about units with $5k worth of parts that get fancy chassis that then charge $20-$30k.
@jond Good point. I think the reason he’s making this argument is *not* because he doesn’t understand the factors you mention (he is in the business, so he’s aware) but he’s saying that there are some companies that do all that for a fraction of the others, and the others he’s calling to task are putting cheap boards in theirs. I think we’ve basically hit all the main points on this topic, and I’m not sure we’re pushing toward a point beyond those we’ve exhumed.
Another way of simply identifying what he’s talking about would be to leave him out of it and ask a simpler question -- e.g., "Are there any streamers or servers out there that are way overpriced for what you get?"
It would be hard to imagine the answer to that question could be "no." And as it was pointed out near the start of this thread (basically, calling out why I started the thread at all), if we answer the question "yes," then the response is, "So what? Just don’t buy from them if it offends you." His larger point, I think, was simply to say, there’s no quality/sonic reason things *have* to cost exorbitant amounts.
