While others have pointed this out about AKG's and some of Senn's medium-priced offerings, I think the point behind all that is NOT that pricing is necessarily spinning out of control -- it's marketing, hype, and people here feeling like they need the absolute "best" latest and greatest thing ... otherwise they suck and might as well not be an audiophile at all.
It's this sentiment that causes people to feel that all is lost if they can't afford LCD-3's for $2k or whatever else. Now, I know that many here are sensible and not obsessed over having what is considered tops ... but there are many who also complain or get discouraged because they feel there is no way they can ever afford the "best" stuff.
It's not the inflated pricing so much as it is the insecurity that if you don't have the best, you're less than others in some way .....
But it's just insane to think that way -- again, as many have pointed out -- you can get some older Sennheisers or Beyers or AKG's, a great DAC and amp for under a thousand dollars that absolutely brings you 80-90% "there" in terms of immersion/realism/SQ ... and yes, you pay up to 10 times more for that last 10-20% improvement with BHSE/009 and the likes ..... but there is no reason to feel bad or that all is lost if one can't get a BHSE + 009 or Apex + LCD-3 and so on.
It's great to want the best, I too want to know what the most awesome sounding gear is (regardless of price), but I'm really glad many of the impressions here have also covered some of the mid-priced gear that delivers amazing value in $$$/SQ.