What makes a $20,000 cd player cost 20,000?

Ausjoe brings up an interesting thought; modded cd players. I at one time tried the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 (highly modded Marantz turned into tube cd player) and thought it very nifty. I had read much about it, and about the fact that it was supposed to outperform $3k units.
I found a stock Rega Planet 2000 to be superior, to my ears. It seemed that the modding of the Ah! did not produce such a superior player. Sometimes it seems all the modding is similar to taking an economical car, such as a Honda CRX, and putting $15,000 of mods on it. It may stand out, but it's not truly a classy car (I'll add IMHO, lest I offend someone who feels such mods make a car classy).
Sometimes I wonder if the modded cd players, amps, etc. get noticed, but a quality, higher priced production unit will produce a more pleasing presentation. With some frustration, I've learned the only way to truly know is to purchase the contender and compare it side by side to the reigning champ.
However, having gone through the modded test once and ending up with a stock player, I'm in no hurry to go that route again. I'd probably look to a higher level of stock player which has garnished positive reviews from professional reviewers as well as enthusiasts.

The best sound comes from the high end players but only marginally so as stated above. For the money "budget" players do an incredible job. I own 3 budget players 2 are in the under 1k mark the Music Hall cd 25 is a giant killer, I get amore relaxed sound from my Jolida, but I must admit that my most expensive player an Audio Aero Prima provides the most enjoyable sound and it retails for about $2-3K. I bought mine used otherwise I wouldn't afford it. Between that and a DCS elgar system and other $20,000+ units are the exclusive factors and yes some better sound but its incremental. I have to agree with the others who say its mostly just a prestige factor. If I had the money I might go for the better AA but thats about as far as I think it makes any sense. I have no idea what really cost the manfacturer so much make those players other than very small production runs and R+D.

Thank you, Raul.