The Apex Pinnacle is 10K. One could argue they consider themselves above the fray as well to charge that much. Yet multiple people I've PM'ed with chose the BA over it even though cost was immaterial to them after hearing both amps at shows. There are many reasons an item may be priced where it is, and I wouldn't take the price as a guarantee of quality over lesser priced competition. Bottom line, Apex felt that's what they needed to charge. Its really the same with the LAu. Maybe moreso as they sell it through an international dealer network. Unlike say headphones where Audeze or Stax can get away with letting dealers have a pittance, headphone amps are plentiful with no one brand being the "must-have", so dealers take a good cut.
I recall a quote from Todd saying that he basically asked Pete Millet to build him the best pre-amp possible. I didn't get the impression it was made to sell a lot of them, but made for himself (Todd) more than anything. Products built for the maker where making a profit hasn't been the explicit goal I've found to be more interesting than anything else. There might be a handful of Todd's customers, possibly people who started off in Head-Fi while in university or early on in their career and are now quite a bit older and making a good amount of money who might go to him for this kind of product for their main hi-fi system.