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

@gdnrbob 

When I restarted my audio journey 10 years ago…,

I also started from scratch about 10ys ago

I was trying to get the most performance from the least amount of money.

Same here, trying to squeeze Sonics at the least cost

After lots of listening/relistening, I ended up realizing that sometimes you have to pay the money in order to get the sound you are wanting/expecting.

Yes - I had to double my budget and I’m still upgrading towards my endgame electronics.

Brinkmann Nyquist II - great choice- non-sterile and engaging 

The Studio Player is absolutely outstanding. That's based on extensive listening to it.

50k:

• WADAX Studio Player
• Lampizator Horizon

Naaa. I got one for $49,000, and yep, crap. Shoulda popped for the extra grand.... 

It would need to have at least 10 cabinets per side.  Half dedicated to power reproduction,  then 2 128 CPU servers with 4 nVidia 5090s to use AI to re-imagine the music at a billion samples per second with 256 bit resolution. 

I mean seriously, if your DAC didn't cost half a million and raise electricity prices for the rest of the state do you even like music?