Is it possible to find a good DAC for under $50, 000?

@mitch2 

Thank you for your great response! After dinner i will research your whole list. Eventually I might learn more about DACs and streamers, but I’m just beginning. Last night I did some preliminary searches and made a haphazard list. I will show the list below, but keep in mind, I’m not very confident in knowing much! And the list probably has errors like price, etc. 

DACs
T + A  DAC 200 ● $7200 ● details, organic,smooth, holographic,
Chord Dave  $14G
Weiss tapelike
Bel Canto E1X DAC USA
dcs Lina and clock
EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC $30G
EMM Labs DV2 Integrated DAC used, $5G
Meitner M3 Integrated  $10G😃
Weiss Engineering Helios 😃
Accuphase DG-68 digital voicing equalizer.
Lumin P1 $10G
Lumin U2  ● smooth ● $5000
Luman x1 dac/stream● $14G
Eversolo DMP-A6 & A8 Huff recommended 
T + A Preamp, Streaming DAC ● PSD3100 HV
PSA DirectStream DAC MK2 %8G ~~~~?
WADAX Studio Player System $40 G
SACD, DAC, stream, preamp
Eversolo DMP-A8
PlayBack Designs Dream DAC
HiFiRose RS130 Network Transport $52G

PS...The T+ A DAC/Streamer/Preamp was interesting to me. Besides looking nice the combination of components is interesting. I have a lot to study!!!

@hilde45 listen I would arrange for you to hear out INFIGO METHOD 4 DAC. Just heard against the Lampizator Horizon 360 and I would just like you to hear it. If interested pm me. 

@unclewilbur - Take your time and do your research.  You may not get it perfect on the first swing.  Most of us didn't.  Consider how you want to interact with your system as some of the server products are more difficult to interface than others.  I had one server where I had to connect a screen and keyboard to make any changes or access my music file library.  With my SGC server, I can do all of that headless (i.e., on my iPac or phone), which is much easier for me.  Good luck.

Under $50k is going to be very tough. I'd increase budget to $250,000 and cover your bases.

@sns  He’s speaking to the well heeled audiophile and non audiophile, also to those who aspire to have the very best....Over time, if there i truly is new technology at work here, it will eventually trickle down into the more affordable category. So unless you believe audio hasn’t progressed, this is how it works.

Gotcha. I do believe audio has progressed, and I suspect DACs have gotten a lot better, relatively recently.

Let me clarify my point a bit so that my target is a bit more in focus, and then agree with you in two different ways.

First, my point is that if there is a difference to be heard at this price point, anyone who listens to it (however well-heeled they are) has to have a room dialed in so that it can be heard. I guess I have not come across very many audiophile rooms that are dialed in (room, gear, etc.) to the point where the difference between a $50k DAC and a $20k DAC would be perceptible. But I grant your point that they’re out there. (Oh, and a well-heeled audiophile would also have to be disciplined enough to avoid confirmation bias, placebo effect, in addition to having a dialed-in room. So, probably even fewer of those out there. Still, they exist.)

Your second point about trickle down technology is excellent. If what is needed for technology to progress is for engineers to reach way beyond current budgets to make improvements, then this is how it will happen. 

My only caveat to the latter point is this: sometimes companies and their engineers go on wild goose chases – spending a lot of money and time on something which does *not* result in clearly better results. The problem is, with for-profit companies, they often do not want to disclose that (to try to recoup some costs) and proceed to hype it and sell it as if it was a success. (That’s where compliant journalism and helpful algorithms come in.)

In such cases of hyped failures, there's no trickle down and, one might even argue, there is a backlash effect that makes people skeptical about the whole audiophile venture. Only journalists (or some kind of regulatory agency, LOL) willing to call B.S. on meaningless products can help the public see that.