Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

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

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. .

May be you could educate us a bit?  Tell us what we don't know.

The FED doesn't print money, the DEP bureau in  the Treasury  department  does.