Great DACs will always cost more, just like great amps and preamps.
The actual digital to analog conversion of which so much is made is probably the least important component of a DAC. Great DACs have been made with every type of conversion be they DS chips, R2R chips or discrete, and FGPA chips, which are chips individually programmed, usually partly DS.
Where the expense comes in is in great power supplies and the analog output stages that include I-V conversion, low-pass filters, gain stage and output buffers. What can easily add up to $5-6000 for a preamp can do the same for a DAC, if you want the very best.
Then there are the things unique to DACs like expensive Xtal clocks and the necessity to totally isolate digital and analog components.
The designer of the DAC I use has written that any competent electrical engineer can make a relatively cheap DAC that will score high with conventional measurements. But it probably won't sound very good. There are lots of such DACs around and they sell because people believe their eyes rather than their ears.
Finally I would add that very many DAC purchasers (and many who call themselves critics--and that's easy to do these days because all you need is an iPhone) have never heard music except through loudspeakers. So they are all too easily satisfied.