WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HATE FOR THE HIGH END GEAR ON AUDIO GEAR?

I like PS Audio. They are fair, have great products, SELL EXCLUSIVELY DIRECT, have no questions asked in home trials, take trade ins and have outstanding customer service. I have six separate audio systems in 6 different rooms. My main and my favorite system is all PS Audio and I love it!

@ellajeanelle , happy for ya.. I’ve had a couple of different TAD models for the past 20 years. They are still a part of Pioneer, i.e., a sizable multinational corporation, for Christ’s sakes and could very easily facilitate some manufacturer direct avenue for their customers. But, i just can’t figure out why they go through these highly unscrupulous//unconscientious dealers in the US. I had to buy my current TAD directly from a private party in Japan to avoid being fleeced by these guys!...got it through cheap freight by sea eventually.

I am certainly not going through a 50% markup for one of these guys to answer a phone call and drop off a box with the mail guy.

deep_333: May I ask why not deal with a US based manufacturer that will sell directly to you, or are you so fond of TAD?  

when I was in Italy last year I bought a digital phono preamp from an Italian company and 2 active bass traps from a Swiss company. I saved a lot of money. The cost of shipping to a distributor, distributor mark up, shipping from the distributor to the retailer and then retailer mark up adds up even with small margins. It was quite fortunate that I happened to be in the right place to get the exact gear I wanted 

I have no hate for anything related to audio The more money that someone spends on gear the more money circulating in society. 

However, on a personal level I find the price of a lot of high-end gear a farce. I laugh a lot these days when I read reviews, especially from TAS. A lot of audio companies are not selling a sound, but a price point.

I use the following "low cost" speaker as an example. The TAD ME1 was selling for $15k for a long time. Then for 3 months they set the price at $10k, a much better price for the sound that monitor speaker delivered. After the 3 months, TAD raised the price to $15k again. They obviously could make money on the ME1 at $10k but I figured they felt a loss of prestige with the lower price. For me, that is a farce.