Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much?

Wow just Wow.

Spent 3 weeks in Poland with my Ukrainian Jewish wife helping with refugees from her home land of Ukraine. 

This same type of disinformation by Russia led to the invasion. You know the Ukrainian Neo Nazis that had over run the Government of a duly elected president that had 80% of the vote and is a Jew himself.

No bank are not a Ponzi scheme, yes there is corruption in the system, no it is not run by Jews, yes stereo gear can be expensive. And Governments do print money and often based on short term fixes for sagging economy's.

I recall the story of Idi Amin Dada the brutal dictator of Uganda being told by his Finance Minister that Uganda was Bankrupt, broke, had no money and Idi responded with "Well then print more money".

Sometimes I think the folks in DC subscribe to this financial model.

But Idi had a kick but stereo I hear.

@tomcy6 

"When you’re in your early twenties, it is much easier to enjoy just about everything. It being Friday was reason enough to have a party and throw caution to the wind. Everything was funny. You had girlfriends who were also in their early twenties. Who at 70 wouldn’t want to be in that situation again?

Each to his/her own. I for one don't feel I enjoy music any less now than I did when I was in my twenties. As for all the raging hormones and emotional drama that go along with Nature's drive for procreation, I don't miss that either. I no longer have the energy to sustain such wildness/chaos and wouldn't choose to if I could. Ultimately I've found peace more beguiling. 

The issue is not being framed correctly and is being viewed mainly from the point of view of the domestic market.  But I remember reading an interview with a large cable manufacturer who said that some of his overseas distributors (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Singapore) asked him to introduce a new cable line priced significantly higher than his current flagship model, because they could sell that exclusivity.

The range of products and the range of prices differs significantly from brand to brand.  How much they sell overseas and where they sell overseas varies significantly too.  So it's best just to ignore the headline-grabbing nosebleed prices because they are not being pitched, and were never pitched, at the likes of you and me.

Inflation and government over-spending is harming everyone. Even SpaceX had to raise their prices of a Falcon 9 launch from $62 million to $67 million. Fuel and shipping costs, raw materials, and of course labor (if you can find people to work) are all adding up to 7% (maybe more) inflation.  I noted audio speakers jumped 20% at the first of the year, some by more. 

It is the price of admission if you want to get the best you can for whatever budget you set. 

The only good thing is that technology continues to improve. Speakers today at any price sound better than similarly valued speakers from 20 years ago. And integrated circuits, discrete components, etc., have a much higher quality as well. 

So, at the end of the day, we live in whatever times we live in and made our choices based on price, performance, and our budgets. And we can hope some manufacturers will occasionally run a few "specials". 

As others note in the high end, that may mean buying lightly used and well cared for products to get the most bang for your bucks. 

I do hate it. I was all set to buy some new speakers instead of tackling the job of replacing the crossovers (capacitors) in my vintage ones, but now, that job is looking more palatable and more logical and saving the money for a better DAC.