What s wrong with this picture?

I hope you are both very happy, at least until it is obsoleted next month.

You have never studied economics have you.Every part you put into the 1k obso;ete a month from now computer is MFG in quantity of 10 Million +.The DAC you want how much for does not use the cheapest parts available and may be only in QTY of 500 maybee 1000.
Try buying a 1 GIG harddrive for a Honeywell TDC 3000 Distributed Control System. 5k + why.Very low production.
So Economics 101 might help you.

Leafs you are so right on regarding enonomies of scale. The equipment that "we" buy is hand made in small quantities with quality components. Then add in the design engineering & all overhead; it's easier then to comprehend the price structure of high-end even, though it sometimes appears (and sometimes is) pretty ridiculous.
Interesting to see that you're involved in Big H's process control... I used to work on that stuff myself; now doing Satcom.