What makes a $20,000 cd player cost 20,000?


Hi,
Listened to a Linn Sondeck CD12 (sp?) a few years back and the thing amazed me.
Was expecting that digital player development would continue to progress and that this level of performance would become available in the 2-5,000 range. It appears to me that redbook cd player development has stagnated, so I wanted to run a couple questions by for a sanity check.
1. Is there anything in the design or manufacture of top notch cd players that neccessarily results in stratospheric production costs?
2. Has anything come out in the last two or three years that really struck you as raising the bar in the price to performace ratio?
Happy listening.
jeff_jones

Showing 1 response by newbee

Douglas and Boa2, Interesting comments..not without some foundation I think.

IMHO, only a fool hordes his money and only a boor makes a display of it. Once you have provided for a secure future for yourself and your family, spend the damm stuff on what ever gives you pleasure!

Envy or second guessing what those with means do with their money is like stereotypical Chinese food. You can eat a lot of it, but you'll be hungry again a few hours later. :-)

Who cares whether someone, other than the owner, can appreciate a 20K component! Its really unimportant to anyone else and, personally, I'm glad they find some satisfaction. It would be really sad if they didn't. I can find no good reason that I would want, or any one else should want, to make this owner sad. Life is too short.