In a large part conditioned response. The work of Pavlov and his successors broke the ground on this. Move higher up in brain function and you have the exertion of peer pressure and acceptance and membership in a perceived elite group.All obtained by the mere spending of money.
Go look at tha AK 120 thread and see some poor soul who borrowed money to buy the damn dap. Wonderfully for him it is all he hoped for and more. Untill payback comes around and once you actually have to put real value on the purchase it falls far short.
We have let our value systems be corrupted by the message that you can spend your way into nirvanna and if you havent achieved it yet you obviousley have not spent enough. A perverse financial orobouros has been let loose and even a global financial meltdown has not been able to stop it. In fact some may consider it escallated the cycle among certain groups because rationalization demands that if you can still spend frivolously in a global meltdown you must truly be among the elite and impervious to woes that affect those unable to spend foolishly. A 5 thousand dollar headphone purchase suddenly seems a bargain rate to achieve that kind of imortality
For a species that really only ever owns it's memories and experiences, we sure place a disproportionate amount of personal value on our ability to spend.
Use the 75's take the 4990 bucks you saved fly to London and Paris for a month get well and properly stewed clubhopping listening to live music and enjoy the experience
Thats something you can tell your grandkids about. I somehow do not think they will be impressed with "I once bought an overpriced piece of audio equipment"