Money is relative. $50,000 is a lot of money to me, but to some people it really is not. so if I try to analyze their buying decision (and why would I even do that?)based on my perspective on money, I start from a flawed premise and will reach a flawed result, Value is also relative. One could easily spend $50,000 on a Cartier Watch and some people do. I have a $75 30-year-old Seiko that I’m quite happy with because expensive watches don’t bring me any joy. But it doesn’t trigger an emotional response in me if someone shells out for the Cartier watch. We just have different concepts of value when it comes to watches.
I certainly think that you can buy a quality DAC For way less than $50,000 and probably less than $5,000 but that doesn’t mean that this $50,000 DAC doesn’t represent value to some people. I’ll never buy it, but I don’t feel the need to denigrate those who do. I also absolutely believe in the law of diminishing returns and I think you pay dearly at the top end for relatively small increases in performance, but diminishing returns doesn’t mean no return. For a few people, it’s worth it, for most of us it’s not. This money thing often seems to trigger an emotional response, and I find that hard to understand.
there is also the fact that I have not heard this DAC so I couldn’t possibly pass any judgment on how it sounds. i’m happy there are people willing to buy at this level, however, because I think ultimately it helps us all and I’m also happy that we live in a time where you can buy a really nice system for a relatively small amount of money. Each to their own
