For example, I’m sure the average joe doesn’t know just how expensive calligraphy pens can be, or how deep the rabbit hole goes on video game speedruns.
Mechanical watches. I guess I grew up with quartz watches and only learned about the existence of automatic watches a few years ago. Marvelous things they are, and of course, high watch brands like Rolex, etc, are tens of thousands of dollars, with certain pieces going for millions. Insane.
Apparently fur-suits are ~$15,000. You could buy a car for that and still have enough money left over to drive for a year.
Modular synths, eurorack is where you find the most accessible modules than the other formats. Sometimes you go and spend 600€ in a module without batting an eye.
Also you have to count the case, patch cables, etc.
It gets expensive quickly if you can’t fight the GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)
Also it is a musical instrument so you need to practice many hours to play it affectively.
It is really cool, I do enjoy myself playing with my modular, but would love to have more time to spend with it.
From what I’ve seen, modulars tend to attract people that love to tinker but aren’t necessarily very musical. They spend 30k and years on their setup but when they actually play something it’s just space soup. There are exceptions of course, some respected producers do use them, but that’s just my casual observation.
Absolutely. I love audio design, synthesis and making music, but I have rarely released anything. It took a long time for me to realize and accept that I do this for my own entertainment and not to be a successful musician. Its just a hobby.
Racing drones.
It turns out when you crash your $500 drone into a brick wall at 50mph, shit breaks and you get to spend more money if you want to fly it into another wall
This has both, really. People also have no idea how hard it is to pilot the quick, expensive little bastards. You’re gonna spend a good chunk of time in the simulator before you can do anything with a real one. But hey, at least you can fix them, unlike DJI stuff where at the smallest little thing it’s bricked.
Camping. Whether it’s at a campsite, where a family might spend tens or hundreds of thousands on an RV and all the gadgets in it, or deep in the woods, where an ultralight backpacker might spend thousands of dollars upgrading perfectly good gear they already had because it could save a few ounces.
To be clear, camping is actually really accessible, and few people go THAT extreme with it. Just… no matter what budget you set for it, there are ways to spend it. :P