I agree that as a buyer the FOTM syndrome is great. I bought the phenomenal Muse Two Ninety Six DAC in Mint condition for one-third of its price because they came out with a 192 kHz oversampling DAC. It is very difficult for manufacturers of products without wear parts (which can last for a long time without service - sometimes decades). They need to convince you to replace a functioning unit with one that performs the same function. The better their products the worse it is, because besting it will become more difficult and the differences less glaring. So we should at least take heart that for those who decide not to follow every trend the phenomenon works in our favor.
Flavor Of the Month
I've recently seen the phrase "flavor of the month" used to put down a component. While it clearly implies that the subject product doesn't have staying power or won't deliver long term satisfaction, it's my observation that a component has to be pretty darn good to attain FOTM status. Sure there's an element of hype, but internet forums such as this one are excellent at separating the real deals from the pretenders. Can anyone name a component that was the Flavor Of the Month that turned out to be a turkey?