Why so expensive??

The situation as I've come to understand it, is that products of the same category are usually more expensive when made by a small entrepreneur than by a large conglomerate. Because while the large corporation enjoys the massive economy of scale and therefore able to reduce costs, the small one-man company can only continue his craft by charging the full premium of 100% above his costs at retail.

This cost then is compounded dramatically when a distributorship is involved. Hence, it is not surprising that the price of his product ends up being 4 times that of his cost.

The other factor in the existence of a luxury item, such as audio, is that of vanity. Aside from the very fact that many expensive items, such as my 47 Lab PiTracer, Audio Note DAC5 Special, Audio Note AN-E SEC Silver loudspeaker, Tannoy Churchill Wideband, et cetera do present performance envelopes not attained by others at lower price points, there are products that though sonically superior, are priced to appeal to the financially competent for sheer exclusivity.

In the case of that $350,000 amplifier, if that particular $350,000 amplifier is sonically superior to another top company's $50,000 monoblocks even by a small margin, the mere fact that no one but the very exclusive can claim ownership of that $350,000 amplifier will appeal to those who want exclusivity and the very best.

It is an inherent human nature to want the one and very best thing that no one else can get. A movie star girlfriend, that beautiful car, the most elaborate sound room. Of course, if that person simply inherited a huge family fortune and can buy anything, I won't be surprised if nothing will matter to him, not even his expensive, $500,000 sports car. It is only for those of us who have to work our way up, that our adventure in this hobby, and the joy those expensive audio equipment offer will be cherished.

That said, I have not found products in their respective category that can surpass my 47 Lab PiTracer, DAC 5 Special, AN-E SEC Silver, Tannoy Churchill Wideband, etc. for what they do. Just FYI.

Constantine Soo
Dagogo

Spaz

Retail pricing is a result of market, not of cost to build- nice quote Jimm

Also "Expensive is relative" - I have no doubt that some would say equipment that you own is "crazy" while others would pish posh it as not expensive enough

"Any product/service is worth what someone is willing to pay for it."

Yep. Everyone has their own concept of "value" and "worth".

Of course, good marketing doesn't hurt to boost perceptions of "worth" either!

MYTH: $$$$$$$$$ = sound quality. This is where good reviewers, not beholden to advertising interests can help. Most of us are looking for the best sound, and if it can be had without spending a fortune, all the better. But I think most of us have a hard time getting away from the notion that the more something costs the better it is - definitely not always the case, but it takes a lot of time and effort to find great sound this way, versus the safer and easier approach of just spending more money -- which marketers are all to happy to take advantage of when selling their products. I'm not saying quality parts are not important, they are, but there implementation only brings cost of materials so far -- the rest is marketing and our desire for the holy grail. Companies are certainly free to charge what they want, but it is up to us to find good sound and not wasting a lot of money thinking that doing so is bringing us bettter sound when it isn't.