What s wrong with this picture?

Your grandparents no doubt thought, for a while at least, that those 78RPM records they spent so much collecting sounded absolutely awesome. Then came the black vinyl LP. Replace the library. Then came CDs. Replace the library. Now DVDs and SACDs. Replace the library. And of course if you wanted to make a copy of your recordings to take along with you, the chain of events went 8-track, analog cassette, digital cassette and CD, etc. Movies went from video cassette to LD to DVD, and soon you'll just plug a card the size of a credit card into the side of your TV. Trust me. It's already been demonstrated. You either improve with the times, or just keep playing those 78s you got from Granny.

The other side of this issue is to say 'OK, it is too much, I will build it myself.' As an ardent DIYer, the answer comes back, yes, I did save money, yes, the unit is competitive with the very best and my god it sure took a lot of blood, sweat, tears. toil and time to do. One caveat with DIY: that is re-sale value is nil. So either way, you pay. The DIYer pays less on the front end but more on the back end (if tries to sell) and invests more time in the bargain. The bottom line: Enjoy the music--any way you can.

Another perspective is that Doclb was doing the proverbial apples to oranges thing. Try omparing that PC to something from The Good Guys or Best Buy. Compare the DAC to a Sun Microsystems or Hewlett Packard UNIX workstation. Much better analogy to cost of goods, size of relative market, amortizing R&D costs, as well as fit and finish.

Hmm... my Aranov mono blocks don't crash every half hour, haven't got a virus yet and in no way further contribute to Bill Gates estate.

Now let's take the logic of the opening post one step further. Order any garden variety $1K Dell. Then tell the Dell rep you want all wiring to be hand soldered Cardas point to point, throw in some nice Russian tubes to sweeten up the $29 SoundBlaster card and make sure to wire those PC speakers with Nordost Valhala cabling. And you want how much for that PC now!

Gee, we haven't even biwired those 300 Watt THX certified plastic speakers yet.