I believe there are two origin points for the hate:
Firstly many feel the price is a gouge. Naturally that is not going to induce happy feelings. I would guess that probably a segment of this group may actually like the guitars, and that makes it worse. Hence the dentist digs. Somewhere in the fields there are a bunch of grapes that are……sour. Worth noting the same sentiments exist for other makes like Gibson Custom Shop. It’s really an electric guitar thing, rather than just a PRS thing, but PRS is the most convenient poster boy. There is a misguided perception out there, probably propagated by the same shoulder chips, that electric guitars are nothing more than pickups and so why should build and woods even matter and cost so much. That line of thinking is actually wrong on two levels, but I’d rather not get into that.
Secondly some do not like their guitars to be pretty and bling. Some like it plain or relic friendly.
The old notion of sterile tones is not applicable and it doesn’t count. IMO it is all down to ears that lack sensitivity, and perhaps some grudge carried over from the above mentioned. Was never applicable to begin with, and certainly not anymore with the McCarty 594’s and JM’s. My humble SE 594 can go toe to toe with anything on tones.
Well, each to their own.