You may all be right, but perhaps only to some extent : considered in relation to rising prices in hi-end audio equipments in general (headphones, amps, DACS, network players. etc. etc.), the retail pricing of the A-16 may still seem to be reasonable, even if it is more than twice the original Kickstarter backers price...
However, you also have to consider the possibility that the new ridiculous trend in the ever-rising prices of these hi-end audio equipment, is, in itself, just that--ridiculous!,and ridiculously gratuitous, in that it is often based not on any demonstrably real production costs or genuine rising standards in audio quality, but on sheer greed, price-gouging, and (given the incidence of diminishing returns in each of these areas of audio consumption, of which almost everyone is aware) the overhyping of largely overrated claims of improvement in quality, not to mention
the readiness, and even eagerness of enough hobbyists to pay for such hyped up claims...
I do not want to speculate on the motivations that drive such enthusiasm on the part of such hobbyists (that is, assuming they're indeed "hobbyists," in the first place, and not just people with deeper than deep pockets looking for ways to dispose of some disposable cash, or just "launder" it on something), or to lambast them for their choices... I am just stating this as an objective fact, in a world where people seem inexplicably willing to pay $9000.00 for a simple pair of speaker cables (
link), or $3500 for a USB cable (
link)... (I am sure any one can find even more outrageous examples of this trend online, without even trying too hard). In short, there seems to be more than enough evidence to at least suggest (if not demonstrate) that some manufacturers in this hobby (who shall remain nameless for now) are raising the prices of their products not because of the elevated quality of the product they're selling, but because of their suspicion that they'll find willing consumers to pay for them, regardless of how ridiculous those prices are...
Again, I am just observing, and not necessarily being judgmental... do with this what you will