PS audio new 25K dac and the psychological effect of owning a company's best.


I was purchasing some hi-res files from NativeDSD today and found mention of PS Audio’s Obsidian Ted Smith Signature Dac ($25K) in their compatibility excel table scheduled to be released in 2021. I am the owner of their Direct stream DAC and DSD memory player and I immediately thought that I would never spend 25K on a DAC. I also thought that now I can have their best so why to stay with the brand. This might be my personal bias but I was wondering if this has an effect on anyone else. Is owning the top-of-line of any brand important to you and would you leave a brand if you were priced out of the market?
rufusluna
Personally, I would never spend 25K on any DAC.  Today’s 25K DAC will be worth less than 50% in just a couple of years.  
$25k can get you a life time Qobuz subscription plus local symphony orchestra. . I won't spend more than $1000 for a good DAC. $5000 a good pair of good speakers. Enjoy the music not the quipment.
It's easy to complain about DACs costing $25k, but it would be a shame if this thread focused only on that issue. I'm certainly among those who would never pay that much for a DAC, but I'm glad that PS Audio is designing a state-of-the-art DAC to fully utilize the genius of Ted Smith to see how good they can make a DAC sound. 

PS Audio is already using some of the lessons learned in designing the more expensive DAC to trickle down into an updated Mk II version of the current DirectStream DAC. The DSD Mk II is scheduled to be released later this year and will include better power supplies, expanded FPGA capacity, more sophisticated software, etc. I'm certainly looking forward to what Ted can design - and PS Audio manufacture - in a DAC costing a lot less than $25K. 
If innovations in developing this dac trickle down to more affordable dacs good for all of us. Otherwise, value is only known to those who purchase it.
I presume cache of PS Audio goes up if dac reviews as state of art.
Well as for music lover, I have 5k hours on my middling DAC

of course I have a gratitude journal….