Are DAC's overpriced?

I look at it this way:

I only listen to my stereo about 5 hours a week (about 280 hours a year). Let's say I buy a $2k DAC and keep it for 5 years.  That's about $1.50/hour.  I can easily cover that cost if I buy my wine by the case instead of individual bottles.  The more expensive your wine, the more money you will have saved to buy an even more expensive DAC.  So if you have a glass or two of wine while your listening, you can buy the DAC of your dreams without denting the household budget!

I remember when affordable DACs like Audio Alchemy and Theta Chrome were popular, the average blue collar guy like myself could afford one.   I had several early DACs and most were pretty good...at least better than the average decent CD player at the time.  There were always killer dacs like dcs and MSB among others but then DACs fell out of fashion....

My first DAC was an Audio Alchemy 1.1 , shortly after that I bought a like new California Audio Labs Alpha for half price.  It was a great DAC but like a fool I sold it.   I've had a few others si ce and my current DAC is a NAD M51 which still sou ds pretty damn good.   

I was blown away at the quality of MQA streams through my Bluesound Vault 2i, it's hard to say what sounds better, the M51 decoding the 24/96 stream or the player unfolding MQA but for most MQA I've listened to sounded better than it's redbook version....  not that I'm in the market for a new DAC but one thing is for sure, I'm not replacing the NAD until DACs with dsd and MQA are mainstream and somewhat within reach. 

The average blue collar guy can buy a Schiit Modi for $99.  I did.
Interesting you brought up MSB. I have a Full Nelson Gold. Also added a magic tandem PLL in it, and over the past few weeks built God's own (with apologies to God) external power supply - which made a big difference. That thing is still competitive.
G

I used to think DACs made little difference until I tried the Chord DAVE. Whether it's overpriced... well, that comes down to your own financial situation as ultimately value is subjective and cost is relative.

mrkoven-
Can you provide more context on your system, room, listening method, expectations, and findings?
I'll note that discussing the DAVE int he context of budget DACs is kinda silly.... but its nice that you can try such things. I like the qutest a lot.

G