Everyone's hoarding, it's not just the Asians. When you know your purchase will go up in price no matter what, that's a pretty fucking safe investment.
As to sound, I've played on a large variety from stuff worth a few thousand to stuff worth a few million. There's still a correlation, none of the newly made stuff (within the last 20 years) touches the old stuff, in my experience. Of course there is still a value attached due to antiquity.