Is it possible to find a good DAC for under $50, 000?

I think that once you reach a certain price level  for audio equipment, the law of diminishing  returns kicks in.  From then on you are paying an enormous premium for subtle improvements in sound reproduction that only those with exceptional hearing can notice.  And since one’s hearing declines as we age one must also wonder about the logic in spending such considerable sums of money on state of the art audio gear.  As for spending $50,000 or more on a digital to analogue converter, if you have the disposable income to do so, that’s great.

Personally,  I like the Schitt Modius that I have, which cost me slightly over $200 as a b stock unit a few years ago.  Based on my listening experience with the Modius, if it errs at all it does so by ommission, rather than commission.  

It’s provided me with many hours of listening enjoyment, without causing me to feel like I need to replace it with a more expensive dac.  Of course this is all subjective, and I no longer chase gear like I did for decades.  Interestingly enough, I also enjoy this hobby more  than ever because I now spend my time listening to music rather than particular sounds that my audio system is producing. 

Something which I enjoyed early on this hobby but later found to be more of a distraction.  YMMV... 🤔

Wow! Impressive presentation & command of speaking w/ lithe or no “ timing errors”…. Seriously, obviously a very intelligent man & very well spoken! 
 

I do wonder how the differences & details he outlined might be different using  a high sensitivity speaker w/ tube electronics which often have quite different harmonic distortion qualities & often more sir & space around & between instruments & voices? 
 

Lastly, if he can hear all of that w/ the equipment on Salamander racks w/ plastic casters, why does anyone need a really high end rack w/ fancy spikes or isolation devices? 

I believe this was supposed to air on April 1st, because it most certainly is a freaking joke.

Change the title to "Under $100.00", and you actually have something.

$50k  for under $10 k  a number of very good sounding dacs 

$50k I have heard ,excellent  but should be expected , starting from the router, LPS power supplies good cables, and quality Ethernet hub , you can get to over 90+% for dood dac imp,DCS has a $120 k 3 box setup including shipping !!

something things are nuts,$15 k for a 1.5 m loudspeaker cables 

I guess if you have money to 🔥 burn  why not l

Sometimes the gear has to be this price otherwise the wise folks with money won't buy it. A great example is the PlayBack Designs Dream DAC (at $24k) vs the Nagra DAC. The PBD Dream was built by a guy who knows digital technology since he was there at the start. The Nagra is outsourcing the the PDB boards.

Try and guess if PBD is OEM-ing the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd best boards to Nagra. Then guess which DAC costs more.