It's a funny thing about "Audiophiles", they are so obsessed over their hobby, that they are totally unaware of anything else going on. Before now, the wealthiest audiophiles seemed to be in the "upper middle class", Doctors, Lawyers... and other professional people; but now, we seem to have been invaded by people who are so rich, they have no idea how to spend all of that "excess" cash; hence, all of these unheard of high prices.
Now we seem to have an abundance of 20K tonearms, and 10K cartridges, plus speakers and amps costing over 100K. Personally, I don't believe their systems sound any better than a long time audiophile's rig who has spent a lifetime obtaining the knowledge required to have a good sounding rig, while those who purchase 10K cartridges, and 100K amps are only involved in the most expensive, not necessarily the best.
The rich have gotten richer, so rich they have no idea how to spend it, and the poor have gotten poorer; but most of us are "programmed" to never even think such thoughts.
