Where are you getting these numbers from? If this were the case, why doesn't a company come along and do this? They could completely undercut the top companies and make a huge amount of money. But they don't, and that's because the companies who charge a lot less have to make an inferior product if they still want to make money.
It's amazing to me how many people seem to think silencer companies are all getting together to set the prices high just to screw us all. Because that's the only other possible explanation for why the prices are so high.
But if you don't think this is some kind of big corporate conspiracy, then you have to admit that the prices are high simply due to market forces and the regulations involved.
A couple of reasons I come to the conclusion. I designed, manufactured, and sold a similar non-firearm related fluid dynamic product for 30 years. And two, I see what the other similar companies charge for suppressors around the world. And yes, the market force is, it is what people are willing to pay. It's very high IMO, you and others have formed their own opinion. I'm not sure what your opinions are based on, but I know what mine is.
It depends on which supressors you're talking about. For the top-tier ones I'm definitely not overstating it. If anything, I'm understating it.
The top companies are constantly re-vamping their designs to come up with the best-performing product they can. That amount of R&D is very expensive. And good silencers are very precisely machined, often from high end materiels like titanium, incolnel, and now stellite. Titanium can be difficult to work with, and inconel and stellite is extremely hard to work with.
I have never had the need to work with stellite, but have worked with titanium and inconel (along with many other types of stainless) and they are just tooling, fixturing, and process considerations, not rocket science. I mentioned the sparrow because that is one I would consider being mostly a subsonic long rifle guy. $500 is way crazy for what it is, IMO. So I don't have a huge problem with the $200 stamp, but I don't feel like I am getting my moneys worth out of the $200 fee because of how long it takes. $200 seems like a premium and it would be reasonable if there was expediting going on. But in reality, it's the opposite taking place. The NFA process is a chilling process and is meant to dissuade ownership of NFA items. The chilling is having more affect on me than the price. On the other hand, I'm not going to spend $5.00 on a can of Dinty Moore, I'll just eat Ramen Noodles. Just like I have other options to shoot at a level that does not bother my neighbors, like long barreled subsonic ammo, or an airgun, I'm not spending $500 on a $200 suppressor.