Condition / grading obsession in the hobby

[MCoxon]

What's your take on how the hobby has evolved over the years with respect to condition?

Seems to me a high end collector "sub-set" has emerged paying obscene prices for high-grade cards -- say, PSA 8-10 -- based on their condition scarcity, even though those cards often have only minute differences in actual condition (e.g., need a loupe, black light, etc.)

When I was growing up, raw vintage cards that were in Ex-Mt condition at the card shop seemed rare and "high-end". But today, a PSA 6 is considered "Mid-grade".

Feels like this is creating a two-tier market: high-end where prices are skyrocketing like precious metals; and "all other", where prices are actually fairly stable over 20, 30 years.

(check out Mike Payne's Top 300 baseball cards book from 1999, the prices listed seem similar to today's prices for anything from Good to Ex-Mt after adjusting for condition. But a PSA 8 or PSA 9 suddenly goes for 3-10x what the 1999 "high-range" price listed in the book)

Anyway - is this focus on grading and particularly the high-end focus good or bad for the hobby? Why? The answer is probably "It's good in some ways, bad in others" - but would love to hear other collectors' take.