How much does a DAC do the more expensive it is?

@simao you experience a wow moment after adding the Gungnir then pose the question, what do even more expensive DACs do better/different than cheaper ones like your Gungnir, then later you describe a listening session where an uber expensive CD player wasn't memorably better than your digital front end, which anecdote suggests you are persuaded by those posters here who state that there's no correlation in hifi between higher cost and the feeling the higher cost ALSO represents value-for-money. The Law of Diminishing Returns IS a thing in digital hifi, but the resolution of the rest of your system will determine whether you get a value-for-money feeling if/when you upgrade from the Gungnir to, for example, a Gustard R26 streamer/DAC for $2K. I guarantee you the Gustard is MUCH better sonically than your Gungnir, but whether your system can exploit that sonic improvement is something nobody here can say. You will have to take the plunge and listen for yourself in your system, there is no other way unfortunately 😕 

I guess my original question was either phrased incorrectly or has been interpreted wrongly. What I'm getting at is more technical for the most part: like, what can more expensive DAC's (which I rationally believe would have better design, parts and build) do for a signal that a much less expensive one can't? 

Also, @kairosman My system is probably well equipped to appreciate the Gustard. However, I'm quite happy with what I have. My original question was more rhetorical than applicable. 

@knownothing thanks for the thread link. What I read there corresponds to what I know about phono stages (which I'm way more experienced with than with DACs). Yet DACs, by their very nature, seem more complicated and technical than phono stages. 

@charles1dad …”I would also prefer the natural sound presentation over the hyper detailed type of presentation.”

+1

I completely agree. First that there are a lot of components with different ultimate sound goals… and consequently sound very different. Hyper detailed system unless really high quality can be accompanied by a high noise floor and distortion, higher level ones eliminate these, but frequently do not sound natural.

Second, I prefer natural sound (highly detailed… but in natural perspective) to details at all cost or accentuated chest caving bass, or super fast transients that create a cool effect, but do not sound like real music.

@simao great that you are satisfied with the Gungnir, I must admit it has been expensive suffering from upgraditis! My limited understanding of the technical design differences between expensive and cheap DACs is that power supply, isolation, and clocking are the key areas. I'm not an engineer so I can't assess design choices, but one look inside an MSB Reference was a damn convincing experience of what your money buys you when you spend $$$$. As an aside, it's interesting that "superbly" measuring DACs like my Topping D90SE don't sound as good as the more expensive DACs in my collection that measure comparatively poorly... whatever design and parts choices that lead to great measurements don't correlate with great sound necessarily.

A lot of people are missing the point about the Gumby! I own one, and bought it used for a good price.What sold me over the other DACs is it is upgradeable. I can for a price, upgrade it when Schitt upgrades it. Also, I just love the proprietairy USB  side. Unison. I found out that I was overfiltering it. I plug it right into the powerstrip with Surge protection. I know what you are thinking, What !!!!! Straight out to a protected power strip? Yes, but I live 300 feet in my neighborhood from the transformer. And all my power is pretty good. And, I have a Schitt Freya + and a Prima Luna Prologue 5. SO, my tube rolling can change the sound dramatically!!So I feel every setup can sound good if you know what you are doing, and know how to tweek,and know the synergy with other components. We all upgrade, and it does help. But Does a 5k DAC sound better? Probably, but I get 97 percent of the way there. And I am happy. For now!