That's true. Also, what we actually hear is the analog output stage surrounding the DAC far more than the DAC itself. That's the part that OEMs either get right

That's true. Also, what we actually hear is the analog output stage surrounding the DAC far more than the DAC itself. That's the part that OEMs either get right or fudge up. A top of the line DAC is just a few bucks in quantity: https://octopart.com/ak4493eq-akm+semiconductor-88954630 https://octopart.com/ak4493eq-akm+semiconductor-88954630 But, a naive implementation (say, throwing it on a computer motherboard where the analog output stage is subject to interference hell) is maybe not going to sound great, compared to a better implementation of a lesser DAC.