Ridiculous resale price of vintage equiment

The price of used vintage is downright beyond ridiculous nowadays.

It seems like many hispters are buying crap based on the looks and many flippers are happily milking them.

As an audiophile and collector this really pisses me off... sure I could sell my collection for stratospheric numbers but then what would I do with my hobby?

When I see good looking stuff, like an ARC D70 MkII selling for as much as a crappy sounding, unrestored Marantz 2240.. well, I croak. Heck, I gave one of those away because they are not very good.

Today I was comparing my really recently rebuilt ( and I mean, really rebuilt, not just "recapped" ) Marantz 2325 and Sansui G-7500. The Marantz is dark but warm, the Sansui,which sounds a lot better than the Marantz, paints a nice musical landscape but has no real depth, etc... I gave them both the best chance, driving them from the pre-out of my CJ preamp so they are getting an outstanding source... and yet, well, they sound vintage.

Is the Marantz worth $2500? Is the Sansui worth $1500? From an audiophile point of view, nope. They look good, but my DIY Aleph 5 monos, my ARC D70 MkII, and a bunch of my other amps/preamps sound far better... and yet, they are not overpriced.

OK, except for the buffoon in eBay who was asking for $26K for his Pass Aleph 2 amps.

At least the poseurs have not found Quad yet.

What do you think? Are these prices interfering with your hobby?