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Since when does a Pentium or AMD chip make a good digital to analog converter?? Try reselling it tomorrow and you'll see what its worth. If your computer is not a DELL, Compaq, Gateway, or IBM or other name brand, its already lost 50% of its value before you turn it on.

As many others stated this hobby is for people who truly love music. Not for people who truly love equipment. A pc is of no comparison with audio its resale value is awful because the pc industry moto is " here today gone tomorrow" technology changes so rapid. With audio at least they hold a cd format for some time before trying to bend us over again and shoving the $8,000 worth of redbook cds up our ass! (thats what I own many others have two and three times more than me) and now we need to buy a new cd player to play the new format and spend $25.00 per disc and to really not have the desire to listen to the redbook cds as much because the new format is much improved.Its all about money and if you want the best you must pay for it. And the sad thing is there will always be better than what you have. Live and learn.

Your grandparents no doubt thought, for a while at least, that those 78RPM records they spent so much collecting sounded absolutely awesome. Then came the black vinyl LP. Replace the library. Then came CDs. Replace the library. Now DVDs and SACDs. Replace the library. And of course if you wanted to make a copy of your recordings to take along with you, the chain of events went 8-track, analog cassette, digital cassette and CD, etc. Movies went from video cassette to LD to DVD, and soon you'll just plug a card the size of a credit card into the side of your TV. Trust me. It's already been demonstrated. You either improve with the times, or just keep playing those 78s you got from Granny.

The other side of this issue is to say 'OK, it is too much, I will build it myself.' As an ardent DIYer, the answer comes back, yes, I did save money, yes, the unit is competitive with the very best and my god it sure took a lot of blood, sweat, tears. toil and time to do. One caveat with DIY: that is re-sale value is nil. So either way, you pay. The DIYer pays less on the front end but more on the back end (if tries to sell) and invests more time in the bargain. The bottom line: Enjoy the music--any way you can.

Another perspective is that Doclb was doing the proverbial apples to oranges thing. Try omparing that PC to something from The Good Guys or Best Buy. Compare the DAC to a Sun Microsystems or Hewlett Packard UNIX workstation. Much better analogy to cost of goods, size of relative market, amortizing R&D costs, as well as fit and finish.