Stratospheric audio gear prices


The more time I have under my belt pursuing quality audio, the more I realize that high audio gear prices have some basis in their quality. Yet there is a limit. When you buy a Ferrari the cost is high, but you can see the money involved in the design and parts. Many would argue that high quality audio gear is similar to the quality and design of a hyper-car. But when you look a the sheer quantity an complexity of this kind of car, there is no piece of audio gear that compares. To me, a piece of audio gear that costs as much as even an inexpensive car is just a manufacturer cashing in because they can. Can you imagine what audio manufacturers would want to charge for a piece of audio gear that was the size and weight of a car? Like $100 million.  I believe it just drives the whole market up and we end up getting a little bit suckered. This is all perhaps a little overstated. I guess I just want to shame audio manufacturers. I do understand that they are not charities, or here for the betterment of mankind. If you are not frustrated by this, good for you.  Here is a quote from a book about marketing. The reference is a victim of link rot. Nevertheless it has common information. 
  

"Premium Pricing

Premium pricing is the practice of keeping the price of a product or service artificially high in order to encourage favorable perceptions among buyers, based solely on the price. The practice is intended to exploit the (not necessarily justifiable) tendency for buyers to assume that expensive items enjoy an exceptional reputation or represent exceptional quality and distinction . A premium pricing strategy involves setting the price of a product higher than similar products . This strategy is sometimes also called skim pricing because it is an attempt to "skim the cream" off the top of the market. It is used to maximize profit in areas where customers are happy to pay more, where there are no substitutes for the product, where there are barriers to entering the market, or when the seller cannot save on costs by producing at a high volume. It is also called image pricing or prestige pricing.

 

Luxury has a psychological association with price premium pricing. The implication for marketing is that consumers are willing to pay more for certain goods and not for others. To the marketer, it means creating a brand equity or value for which the consumer is willing to pay extra. Marketers view luxury as the main factor differentiating a brand in a product category."

Source: Boundless. “Market Share.” Boundless Business Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved 07 Feb. 2017 from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/product-and-pricing-strateg...

ericrt
The high price of luxury audio equipment in my opinion is justified. There are high operating costs to support any form of business, let alone the low rate of return on low volume products. These manufacturers have a very small market, yet I’m sure provide a personal level of service to their customers unlike the Denon, Marantz and Onkyo high volume manufacturers who are nowhere to be found when problems arise. What does really get me irritated is the HiFi ‘critics’ who drool over themselves on high priced kit, and condescendingly dismiss ‘budget gear’ audiophiles. It’s unfortunate that this hobby has become an unending chase for something a little bit better (and a lot more expensive) because hobbyists are shamed by the ‘experts’ for not being able to afford something that most (not all) of these reviewers get for free or at a deep discount. The term Budget Gear or MidFi has no real bar to measure against other than it costs less than $50k or $100k. Really!?
Don't want to piss anyone off but pro power amps have better or more expensive parts compared to consumer power amps but consumer power amps looks a lot better
Not at all saying before someone blows a gasket that pro amps sound better then consumer power amp. Just some of the parts
The high price of luxury audio gear is justified in some instances but not all. High end moving coil cartridges is an area where it is certainly not justified. The price of the Boulder 3050 amplifiers is justified. They will not make many of them so the cost of development has to be spread of a few units. They weight 350 lb and have some incredible CNC machining out of solid billets. They are truly a  luxury product. They don't sound any better than then decent $20,000 amplifiers but this is what luxury is all about. As for the stuff that is seriously over priced? Thank you Mark Levinson. He was the guy who proved people would pay stupid money for hifi gear.