What makes a DAC so expensive?

"As I've said before, the proliferation of costly high-end DACs is a clever marketing ploy to snare the gullible and unwary who conflate performance with price"
That's closer to the truth , the capitalism  comment comes in second

Capitalism, marketing,  playing on the notion if it costs more and looks prettier it must be better. Toss all that sciencey word salad in there and you have a 5 figure DAC. Very few if any could pick a $700 DAC from a $10000 DAC in a blind listening test. 

So in your tidy, small audio world a robust power supply made with amorphous core chokes, Mundorf 4 pole caps, high performance diodes, resistors and the like will not set the stage for much better sound? In addition, a dac’s power supply made with a half palm full of $.25 cent throw away parts is all that is required for equally great sound in all dacs.

I know it may be nice for you to shrink down the world of possibilities to something your mind can be comfortable with, but is this really true for the rest of us or at all? This is strangely akin to audio communism. In one blanket statement you have made it clear that only your perception and audio world view have merit and the rest of us are weak in need of your special authority.

Why do you spend anytime here? Really? This is a site for audio enthusiasts with a passion for what is possible and the ability to enjoy these possibilities. You deny the possibilities and darken the spirit of this site. Is it time for you to move on?

Djones51 and dromme,
While I support your right to your opinion, I think it is not based in facts beyond your experience. I agree you can get a very good baseline with less expensive DAC’s or for that matter, most other mature technology products. My cheap personal laptop today is under a few hundred bucks and operates better than ones previously costing many thousands.  But, better computers exist at significantly higher dollars. There is a significant increase in value and costs in chasing the incremental gains. These gains may not be important to you- that is the beauty of capitalism- you get a choice. But for those with the means, the supporting technology to take advantage of the incremental gains, and the desire, is it wrong for someone to supply a solution for that need, even if it is beyond the reach of most? I like that segmentation. I like that ability to choose. It gives me hope that someone will produce a product for the few. In this case it is a piece of audio equipment- but it could easily be something much more critical.

like with most stuff, there are some inexpensive products that sound very good, some expensive ones that do not sound very good, but unfortunately the best sounding ones tend to cost a lot...