They should charge more for it…

Diminishing returns is a marketing/sales pitch created by the audio industry to keep budget conscious Audiophiles content and willing to buy the entry level gear. Many still don't understand you judge a complete system over one individual component. Yes, you can evaluate a single component but it has to be placed with similar performing gear to accurately judge it. If a component can scale up in a higher level system makes it a good value purchase until it becomes the weak link. Building a balanced system without a weak link is the key to this hobby not debating whether a $250k turntable is 10x better than a $25k table which makes for a useless formula. The system where the $250k deck is implemented in could be an infinite # superior to the system with the $25k table. 

Thx cleeds for taking interest in my post. I will never comment on political, economic, social or religious(etc). theories on an Audio site. It all started with Stereo Review and Audio magazine that all amplifiers that measure the same sound the same. Basically the only difference is parts quality and cosmetics in higher priced amps which unfortunately many still believe. Then in the 1980’s (AHC) Tony Cordesman claimed Adcom a real "Giant Killer" As a naive 19 year old I fell victim with a 545 stack that had a treble similar to peanut brittle, within 6 months traded that junk in for an Amber Series 70 and FF 17 preamp kept the tuner. Currently we have a plethora of budget pushing Youtubers claiming true HEA sound from palm sized amps, rebadged Chi-Fi and DIY speaker kits. 

Comparing apples to oranges is a very simplistic analogy. In transportation is a new Ferrari a better value proposition than a new Cirrus SR20?