Slight exaggeration there. Actually they usually poo-poo on anything less than the Lelit Bianca at $3000. Unless you get a cheap single-boiler and mod it to fuck.

The $1000-2000 range is this battleground between Heat Exchanger machines, or "buy this otherwise badly-rated double-boiler at the top of the range and just pray because Heat Exchangers are worthless shit and you might as well just go to starbucks".

Fortunately, in my research I found mister James Hoffman, a down-to-earth espresso snob who is also one of the best baristas in the last 30 years and has been a coffee advocate forever. He seems to think a good HX unit is great, and I ended up buying his #1 pick and calling it a day. Because the other machine in my price range people were talking up (and insulting) got bad marks from him. When it shows up, I'll know if I made the right choice, or if the reddit army was right and I needed to save up another year or two.