Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

In general, I think high end audio has remained pretty cost level. In 1980 I bought a state of the art amp, a Threshold s500. I had to take out a loan. In todays dollars that is about $18,800. I recently bought a ARC 160s amp for $22K. The performance is not even remotely close… 40 years of progress… but I think it fits in a similar slot. There are many more expensive amps now. But that is because of differentiation in users and developing for better healed audiophiles.

All in all the sound quality level has advanced remarkably. I am sure I could buy an amp better than my Threshold s500 (actually if anyone owned one that has been reconditioned chime in) for $2K. If I am even close on this, it attests to the value of buying true audiophile stuff. I owned a Pass x350 for 15 years and got all but $500 back in trade.

It's all Joe Biden's fault.  🤣🤣🤣

It's all Joe Biden's fault.

Everything adds up.  Even before Biden took the office, the FED had been going on a money  printing spree.  When Biden took office, he did have a bit of a spending spree too (basically just adding more spending after spending).

The Fed is unwinding it… Powell is really smart guy and knows what he is doing… and of course is completely independent of the president. I follow this stuff and have a Masters in Finance… having said that I don’t want to discuss it. It is not nearly as simple as it sounds. Abstracting stuff up to a couple variables and thinking you can draw a conclusions is idiotic. Like reading an amps rms watts and drawing a conclusion about what it sounds like. .

OT, but since it was brought up by the OP in the "printing money" reference - can anyone name a currency currently based upon what is universally known as the "Gold Standard"?

I can’t think of one (even going back a decade, or more, ago), but I’m not a history/economy buff.

What I have noticed (past 2 years) is that used cars are often now priced/listed @ 30%+++ more than they were 2 years ago.

I’ve also noticed that used contemporary audio gear has also followed this trend in that 3 years ago 40%-50% off was pretty much the standard for mass produced stuff (this no longer seems to be the case in general).

However, not certain if these higher asking prices are the actual final sale prices.

DeKay