In the middle of a pandemic, Stereophile reviews ~ $30K equipment


While the world is in the middle of a major economic event, the last two pieces of gear posted by Stereophile to their online site average $30K a piece.


https://www.stereophile.com/content/aavik-acoustics-u-380-integrated-amplifier
https://www.stereophile.com/content/ta-mp-3100-hv-sacd-playerstreaming-dac


If this doesn't make you feel like you belong to their target audience I don't know what will.
erik_squires
Thirty large is like a cheeseburger to some and yet they still covet the next guy, his yacht, his golf club, his defunct Casino or maybe even his third wife.
Not knocking aspirations, have some myself.
Don't Worry
be happy
Wow, to the diverse range of responses, I say! 
I cursory just looked at both reviews and decided, NUTS 🤪.
Never mind pandemic and all.
So from my humble position here, I can more connect to Erik's point of view. I do. 
The word salad mentioned I also perceived as prime BS,... 🤢
Eh, "The world is changing... " I'm told by my favourite old pharmacist.
Of late, I'm more and more recalling his comment.
Sad and off-putting, yet...
"nothing ever stays the same" , or was it
 "the more things change, the more they stay the same"? 
Still, in my opinion those reviewed equipments suck, they even look ugly too!
I don't like ugly, humph! 
Never mind their price, never mind covid.
And now I'm going back and listening to my transistor radio. 😊 🤸‍♀️💃
M. 
Go back several years and you’ll see $200k speakers, $100k amps being reviewed every month, nothing has changed because of this virus. All the expensive audio products haven’t disappeared, you can still buy them, just like you can buy $1M cars, $40M homes, etc..
I also think it’s foolish for people to judge others that buy the more expensive gear. If you think your $1000 product sounds fantastic, great, but you shouldn’t try to convince or belittle somebody that spends $50k for a product, that’s just foolish. Some of the best gear that I have heard costs over $100k, at the same time I’m happy with gear that is less expensive, but I’m not going to try and convince myself or others that What I have is the best. The best doesn’t have to be the most expensive but it sure won’t be the cheapest either.
Regarding the OP’s thoughts - I agree it’s a complicated time for displays of wealth. On the other hand, wealth exists, and this is an expensive hobby. The OP is likely right that Stereophile is alienating some readers with tone-deaf reviewing during this period. Stereophile may also be catering to other readers who view such reviews differently.

After seeing millercarbon’s ad hominem attack on the reviewer (“clown”), I read In detail the full review by Jason Serinus to determine whether Serinus is in fact a clown. What I found was a well-crafted, insightful, and well-researched review that is anything but a “word salad.” 

The quote milllercarbon references is from the second paragraph of the review, and is a quote from a previous review Serinus wrote about an earlier version of the item. The quote actually has nothing to do with the review and is simply stage-setting, which would be obvious to anyone who read beyond the second paragraph. 


Is the language in that one quote overblown? Yes. But what about the merits of the review itself?

The reviewer goes into technical detail, interviewing one of the designers, and even nods to why the unit costs as much as it does. The reviewer describes a wide variety of listening in two different settings, with concrete and specific terms, and no overblown language. I was left with a useful understanding of the technology, strengths, and weaknesses of the unit, and where the unit might fit into an audiophile system.
And $900 each Cuban Habana cigars from Switzerland out of stock is what ? 
$30k for a good piece of anything is not much for millions. Yes, millions.
Most of us are just poor but proud people. What else can we have but pride ?