What makes a DAC so expensive?

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...

djones51

Very few if any could pick a $700 DAC from a $10000 DAC in a blind listening test.

Have you conducted any such tests to confirm your inkling? If so, please tell us about them.

So, I took a peak at the innards of two DACs, one of which was referred to, above. I looked into the PS Audio directstream DAC, which costs $6000, and then the Denafrips Ares ii is about $1000.00. This is where a trained eye is really needed, because I can only say the parts count and appearance look somewhat similar. This does bring to mind some questions...

The assertion that DACs are priced at what the market will bear needs further discussion. I don't think a manufacturer simply ponders what people might willing to pay for the piece, setting the price at that level. There is the question of time invested (research, parts acquisition, assembly, etc...), parts used, and equations that compare the product to other products on the market, and marketing costs. Perhaps this is what is meant, or what is hidden in the notion of "bearing."

Marketing itself can be a huge piece of the cost of an item, amounting to as much as 50% of product cost, from what I have heard. This is where word-of-mouth marketing becomes an interesting facet of the cost, perhaps revealing why so many people are responding to products from Schiit and others, who don't appear to be going to great lengths to make their products look flashy and unique, nor do they do much advertising compared to, say, Klipsch. Also, we all know that aesthetics or claiming a particular "expensive part" may be less for performance and more for enticement/marketing purposes. 

The latter statement calls for scrutiny, which is to say: I'm impressed when someone can even list things like:

• amorphous core chokes, 
• Mundorf 4 pole caps, 
• high performance diodes
  

The question for me is to what extent are these necessary for high performance?

I do understand there is a role for power conditioning and power management in these devices. In my recent study of an unusual offering from an Indian company called ALLO, I noticed that their Revolution DAC, which comes in around $300, emphasized short signal path and the DAC portion of the unit was very small - very small, but a large part of the unit was reserved for power conditioning; or, at least that's what I think I saw. Maybe someone can look it up and tell me what they see, as I'm sure a more thoughtful breakdown of parts would be of great use to many fairly ordinary folk, who enjoy learning about these things.

In a hobby where (some) people seem to be forever boasting simplicity, short signal paths, and the like, I guess I'm needing a little more information about the important features of a quality DAC. I mean, I was attracted to the phrase, "amorphous core chokes" and "Mundorf 4 pole caps" and I find that there is always some kind of rhetorical element to the presentation of these devices, but what truly counts???

Maybe I need to start a new thread: what are the important features of a DAC that operates transparently, only sending on the "music" and other recorded "environmental factors" from the recorded digital signal...