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

$50k  for under $10 k  a number of very good sounding dacs 

$50k I have heard ,excellent  but should be expected , starting from the router, LPS power supplies good cables, and quality Ethernet hub , you can get to over 90+% for dood dac imp,DCS has a $120 k 3 box setup including shipping !!

something things are nuts,$15 k for a 1.5 m loudspeaker cables 

I guess if you have money to 🔥 burn  why not l

Sometimes the gear has to be this price otherwise the wise folks with money won't buy it. A great example is the PlayBack Designs Dream DAC (at $24k) vs the Nagra DAC. The PBD Dream was built by a guy who knows digital technology since he was there at the start. The Nagra is outsourcing the the PDB boards.

Try and guess if PBD is OEM-ing the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd best boards to Nagra. Then guess which DAC costs more.

Lots of people (including audiophiles) would likely think that I was a fool to pay ~$6k for a DAC. But I'm very happy with my Aqua La Scala, and do not believe that paying multiples more could possibly provide other than wildly diminished returns.

In fact, it would be far easier for me to believe that there are DACs that cost half, or a third of the La Scala, that also sound really good, than that $15k or $25K DACs sound significantly (if at all) better.

I could not pay over $2500 for any DAC. I begin to question my own sanity and how ridiculous the cost of my audio system is at that budget. In many ways (not knocking others here) I find the significance of my stereo is not that great compared to other things in my life.  $50k range would go to an automobile, roof on my house, siding on my house, college funds etc. Not a single DAC.

For the 97%

Buying used... you can put together an entire system for $10k... and it will sound very good in a treated room. If you can afford $30> $50k it will sound great!

The new ridiculous pricing for equipment and speakers is BS... it's fine for the 3% to spend a million bucks to impress their friends ... if they have friends...