The entire audio community is fucking brutal to stuff. It's funny people claim "snake oil, everywhere!" when the reality is shit like thousand dollar cables gets mocked into the ground relentlessly and people call a turd a turd all the time. There was a moment where people were selling chunks of black wood and metal to stop radiation and they got crucified with a quickness.
Where that doesn't happen all the time is when it's 1.) a first attempt at something and there is potential there it just needs some work, (and if it's fixed people will loudly change that opinion with a quickness) or 2.) they just come out and say "look it's 500 buck cable, we are a small company, it's hand built, it's not magic, we used quality materials, it's built to the most extreme standards, and it's going to last you forever also we have to pay our staff" at which point people will happily buy the cable (people like a good cable and if you've had multiple cheap ones break on you and had to wait for a new one, or had to toss headphones due to cables you get why over built to the point of absurdity ones sell).