Do audiophiles creat the high prices we complain about.

I'll take the Lobster. 

mahler123

When they release a product that is priced below Market Comparable, the expectation is that it must be unworthy.

That's what happens when there is no universally acceptable way way to define what is "good". We become slaves to hype, biases, opinions, herd effect, magazine ads, you name it.

There are two standard ways of pricing and companies tend to follow one or the other.
 

Pricing by the market (basically the value the market will bear). So, carefully as @mahler123 mentioned, compare with performance in the market. The second is cost plus… I’m guessing that Schiit probably does this.

Of course, most companies consider both… something too expensive will not fly… and at the real high end… you don’t want to loose prestige by charging too little provided the performance justifies it.

H

@roxy54

I agree johnk

juanmanuelfangioli,

No apostrophe needed in points.

Pedant’s or people who use apostrophe’s for plural’s? A pox on both their house’s!

The second sentence was just to get another misplaced apostrophe in—and add bit of drama—I’m with the pedants.

When I see those errant apostrophes I just assume the writer is dim-witted. Not always true but a reasonably safe bet.

No, audiophiles are not responsible for the cost no object products that have appeared within the last decade.

A few years back I had a conversation with an audio dealer who stated that audiophiles were his worst customers.  Basically, they spend much time listening/comparing and very little time buying.  His bread and butter customers were people with disposable income who wanted a really good sounding system.  They were no more interested in the equipment than a typical Lexus buyer is interested in cam shaft profiles.

A segment of high end audio has morphed into a luxury good market.  High prices are part of the appeal.