Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

What troubles me more than any price that someone can sell something and the price for which someone is willing to pay for something, is the reality that there are two sets of rules in our current so-called, but in reality no longer, capitalist society. One set of rules is for those of us who may complain about prices from time to time, but by and large play by a set of rules that is fair. We call ’em as we see ’em and expect a fair deal and quality.

Then there’s the set of rules that I’ll bet none-to-very-few-of-us has access to. Who here can buy a credit default swap for 7 figures or higher and gain from someone else’s failure? Who here can sequester $Ms in off-shore tax-free havens? Who here is able to buy or sell equities on secondary markets with nanosecond transactions? I have to place a bid and then wait hours before it is denied or confirmed, all the while the market shifts and moves out of my purview.

Some are able to transact these things in an informed manner, or have agents who have access to such transaction capabilities, but they don’t care about the price of an audio cable or component and whether it is priced too high. And by the way I was raised, such second sets of rules accessible by some and not all is NOT free market capitalism and never will be.

So I don’t complain about the prices of audio gear; there are far more important fish to fry.

Darn it, where's my green Sharpie?

The point is, if I make something for $0.01 and, based on whatever marketing or voodoo or apparent added value I effectively attach to my product, I am able to sell it for $1.0M, then exactly what is the problem here?

In my world, good for me and good for the buyer who thinks he/she got a good deal.

Geoff,  I couldn't agree more. Value is what we're talking about, as perceived by the consumer, and that is often intangible and highly variable.

I too went down the expensive cables/IC rabbit hole for a few years (Synergistic, Tara, Audioquest, Van Den Hul, Harmonic Technologies and several others) and then found Mapleshade and Anti Cables, the latter brand being what I currently enjoy and for the past two years, have felt zero inclination to "improve." 

Isn't it interesting how, at times, Audiogon threads resemble, or even are, microcosms reflecting the growing fear and cynicism of our current epoch?

There is a way to be satirically and cynically funny and informative simultaneously.  Effort is needed to keep it there without collapsing into personal jabs. Perhaps this is also reflective of the apathy meter readings amongst some of our fellows, sometimes.

Steakster: exemplary example!

It was auditioning Tara Labs speaker cables against what I had at that time that convinced me (and my wife) that cables did matter!