If a gear is dirt cheap, do you think it is no good?

High-end stuff is usually pricey. I have purchased both expensive and cheaper gear and usually expensive stuff sounded better. It really did. I had an Arcam amp which was good but Pass Labs Aleph 3 kicked its butt by a huge margin (at least IMO).

However, now most stuff (usually electronics such as amps), although cheap I mean dirt cheap sound really good. I do not want to make this comparison because I have so much respect for Nelson Pass but his Aleph 3 which I owned and still to me the best sounding amp ever, does not sound 100 times better than my new finding Texas Instruments' TPA3116 Digital amp. I mean this thing runs cool, it is small, and dirt cheap! It sounds awesome. ALMOST close to Aleph 3 but no, it is NOT Aleph 3. I do not know if it is worth for me to spend that much money when I can get almost same sound for $25! 

Do you feel better when you pay $2500 for an amp/DAC which is little better than a $100 DAC or $25 amp? I mean after hearing new CHEAP audio products, I kinda feel no need to spend that much for small improvement. 

What do you think?