Are DAC's overpriced?

You are getting a lot of varied opinions, bogus results and misinformation here.  Be careful what advice you take seriously.

Al it takes is a jittery source and all DAC's will sound similar.

Al it takes is a cheap active preamp to make everything sound homogenous and 2-D.

Systems are complex and every single part of the system from the power to the cables to the components, signal processing and software apps must be optimized in order to get stellar results.  Any one of these that is sub-standard can ruin the whole pie.

Not that you need to spend a fortune to achieve this.  On the contrary, if you are smart and selective and take advice from the RIGHT people, you can get there on a budget.  I think for an entire system, the threshold is probably $20K-$30K.  Anything below that will tend to be mid-fi with 2-D presentation between the speakers IME.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

DACs are indeed overpriced. As is high end audio in general. 

Schiit schiit schiit SCHIIT

without more data anyone who answered is ignorant.  On what basis do you find DACs overpriced?  what have you listened to?  Do you even know what t takes to build a truly good, o great sounding DAC?The D--A process is fraught with complexity, some of which i m just realizing - albeit it's obvious hen an engineer "gets " it.  what's hour real goal? Great sound?  The best digital sound available today?
Digital and analog today have complementary strengths. I wish one had both. My goal is to build something with both, but toady that's either impossible or costly.
Get real and ask a question that cna be honestly answered.
G

Yep......dacs are overpriced.