Wich high end CD palyer?

markups in general are extremely high. rule of thumb is the production cost is about 20% of the retail cost. a dealer marks up a product 100% from their wholesale cost. when they advertise a 20-50% off sale, there is still a good profit to be made. cables are the biggest markup of all. when you add up the cost of materials and production (actual labor involved), the average high end cable that sells for over $1000 has less than $50 worth of material and probably less than that for labor. it's all markup to make people think they are getting some kind of great product because it costs more. using your food and clothing analogy only proves me right. by the way, i sold audio and video equipment for a few years, so i know where my numbers come from.

To Stvncar: You're right of course. 40k, that's a lot of live concerts. By the way, what are Sinatra tickets going for these days?

ccereda:

I have two digital sources that I enjoy very much:
Burmester 001
CEC TL1X transport/Chord DAC64

I should really sell one or the other, but can't decide which! I was never truly happy with digital until I found these two.
Jim

to phaelon:
which sinatra are you referring to, frank jr. or nancy? you do know that frank sr. died, right????
off the subject, a great example of high markup is anti-cables. they sell for $10 per foot. all they are is magnet wire, which sells for about $3 per pound. a 10 foot pair of these cables will sell for $100, while the actual cost of parts is about 75 cents. somehow golden ears thinks differently. i'd like to see some concrete proof that i'm wrong about markups. really, i'd like to be proven wrong. please....

Stvncar-
Absolutely right; that was my point (I'll bet everyone else caught that). Many people make the jump from mid-fi to hi-fi seeking to experience the illusion of hearing a live performance available only through recordings. Your "off the subject" actually is the subject. There is a plethora of scoundrels who prey on those seeking musical bliss. Caveat emptor!