Back to expensive audio components for a minute. If someone spends $50K+ for an audio system it's because they want to, not because they have to. Since the days of Julian Hirsch we've known that there is a terrible price/performance correlation for most components over a certain break-point. There will always be people who spend more than they have to, simply because they can.
I'm a minor example: I have a Bryston 4B-ST amp for which I paid a few times more than my NAD C272. The two units, when in my system, are likely not reliably distinguishable in blind testing. Economic good sense might say sell the Bryston and use the proceeds to get more recordings. Yet, the Bryston sits in the rack and the NAD is on a storage shelf simply because I like the Bryston more, despite its lack of significant performance differentiation. I also have a Topping D70s in the rack that I can't reliably distinguish from my Schiit Modi 3, which is a fraction of the cost of the Topping DAC. But, I also like the Topping better.
Even if the Chord DAVE isn't your thing, somebody who can comfortably afford it buys it because they like it more. I don't fret about those guys. I worry about the one who swallows the whole million-tap thing and maxes out his credit card to buy "the best" without knowing it's less capable than my Topping. Yet swears to his grave that it has to be better because it cost so much more.
I'm a minor example: I have a Bryston 4B-ST amp for which I paid a few times more than my NAD C272. The two units, when in my system, are likely not reliably distinguishable in blind testing. Economic good sense might say sell the Bryston and use the proceeds to get more recordings. Yet, the Bryston sits in the rack and the NAD is on a storage shelf simply because I like the Bryston more, despite its lack of significant performance differentiation. I also have a Topping D70s in the rack that I can't reliably distinguish from my Schiit Modi 3, which is a fraction of the cost of the Topping DAC. But, I also like the Topping better.
Even if the Chord DAVE isn't your thing, somebody who can comfortably afford it buys it because they like it more. I don't fret about those guys. I worry about the one who swallows the whole million-tap thing and maxes out his credit card to buy "the best" without knowing it's less capable than my Topping. Yet swears to his grave that it has to be better because it cost so much more.