Just wondering...

" $32K DAC sound that different from a $1K DAC?"

Yes.

" High End home audio is extremely dishonest business and it's blown like a soap bubble."

Only if you don't know what you're doing. If you let someone sell you a 32k dac, you're an idiot. At that level, you need the skills to make the decision yourself, or you have no business buying it to begin with.

Most people that think high end audio is an extremely dishonest business, come to this conclusion because they made bad choices. The term snake oil seems to be a popular label for expensive audio products. But what most people forget about snake oil, is that its relative. Here's an example. A friend of mine who loves music but doesn't know much about the equipment, wanted to upgrade his system and asked me for advice. After looking at his system, I thought a new CD player would be the best place to start, so I lent him one of mine. It was far more expensive than what his current player costs, and he never heard of the brand. He seemed a bit nervous, but I told him to relax. The whole point of me lending him a player was so he doesn't make an expensive mistake.

I said to use the player for a week or so, and report back when he formed an opinion. To make a long story short: Snake oil. He couldn't tell the difference between his player and mine. I was a bit surprised when he told me this so I went over to listen to his system. I had no problem hearing the differences between the 2. 

So, was my expensive CD player that sells for 7x more than my friends really snake oil? I don't think so, but my friend did. The cheap CD player was a Sony 5 disc changer($100), and the expensive one was my Rotel RCD-1072 ($700). In the audiophile world, the Rotel is considered to be one of the best budget CD players of all time. TAS gave it product of the year. Not budget product of the year, but actual product of the year which competes with everything, regardless of price. Its all relative.

" True you need to know what you're doing, but some of us don't and that's where real industry kicks in for mega profits."

I'm not buying that one. Nobody's forced to buy expensive, high end audio components. There's absolutely no reason why a beginner can't exercise rational behavior when buying gear. If someone tries to sell you something that pulls you out of your comfort zone, for whatever reason, you can always choose to keep the money in your pocket. That applies to everything, not just audio.

" That’s where simple math kills all the science behind:
calculate parts + chassis + labor and you’ll get max of $800 for that $32k ’state of art’ advertised piece of home audio playa.
Then you can proudly say weather it’s worth it or not."

It doesn't matter how difficult the math is, if you don't have the right numbers, the whole thing is irrelevant. As far as parts cost goes, no business will ever let you know what they pay for something. Ever. Its the most fundamental concept that every business owner knows. The second you tell someone what you pay for something, you loose. You can try and make an educated guess, but its still a guess.

That said, parts cost is just scratching the surface. Fixed Op's, labor, length of product development, prototype/waste costs..., all play a factor, and under normal conditions, are almost always more costly than just the parts that go into making the product itself.

Just as a quick example, I have friends that manufacturer audio components. Not DIY. You've seen these products in stores, and have read the reviews. You have absolutely no idea what it takes to start with a concept and go through the design process until it becomes a finished product. These people can be working on just one product for years before its ready to be sold. A lot more goes into all this than the average person would think.

Now, if you want to challenge and debate me on this, that's OK. But before we start investing a lot of time going back and forth, I'm asking you for 1 thing. Pick a dac that you say is hugely overpriced and break down all the costs (direct and indirect), and lay it all out in a way that proves your point.

"if you aren't doing blind listening tests you are the rightful prey of the snake oil salesmen"

Even if that were true (and its not), nobody does them. A lot of people talk about DBT's, but I have yet to see one that's of any use. The ones I have seen were done to win arguments, and nothiong more.

"  Every established business wants to live on foolish and rich and will apply all possible and impossible tricks to convince."

If you actually believe that, I really don't see how we could have any meaningful conversation. That's a pretty extreme statement, and being a business owner myself, I know that I don't fit your description. You may not believe it, but it is possible for a survive by treating customers right and not playing tricks. 

" I'm not rich, but wealthy and the reason why I am is because I do math the following way: How not to spend much on automobile maintenance, how not to spend much on energy, gas, healthy meals, comfortable quality apparel and certainly home and pro audio! Believe me my profession IS finding right numbers just about for anything around me. I breath with numbers, figure out mind behind each word written or spoken WITH numbers."

I have no doubt that you are very good at whatever you do for a living, numbers or otherwise. But that doesn't mean you can see things better than anyone else. I'm an MBA. I know several people here are engineers. We have some equipment manufacturers as well. And the list goes on.

Anyway, you didn't get the point of my last post. I understand that you are capable of eating healthy, fixing your cars or whatever. I believe you, and don't doubt a word of it. I was trying to say something else. If, for example, you called a company that makes dac's and asked them how much they pay for things like chips, or any other parts that go into the making a product, they won't tell you. And if they do give you a number, 99% chance they're lying. That's just the way it has to be in business. And as a result, you'll never know what they pay for the parts that go into their machines. 

" maybe "nobody" does blind listening tests, because "nobody" doesn't understand science"

Or maybe DBT's aren't necessary to select components and listen to music. 

"I know quite a few consumers who do them and many manf.s who do"

Like I said in my last post, I have yet to see anyone use DBT's in any meaningful way. Your post just reinforces what I'm talking about. You claim to know the science behind all of this, but you can't provide any real info or examples to support your position. Knowing a few people just doesn't cut it. You seem to have an ax to grind here. Maybe you're unhappy because your system is lacking. Why don't you list all of your components and let us help you out. 

" I'm B.S. on applied math and statistics. The difference between me and MBA that I shuffle numbers in my head on flight and MBA in computer or calculator.

I know how much all electronic parts worth and therefore I don't need to get this information from manufacturer. The figures I wrote for DAC is very-very maximum of what you can possible think of building. So considering profit and labor DAC can't possibly be more than $5k and for these $5k in pro-audio you get HUGE variety of settings and adjustments and with multiple inputs for integrating more than one digital source.
If such $32k DAC offers that, than it's actual NEW price is fair to be at or near $5k. "

I'll admit, your method does have some appeal. You get to be right and nobody gets to question you. I'm sure if we could all read your mind, we would be bored with our own.

" Pro Audio Dacs = True to the source as best they can do
Hifi dacs = Lets make a dac sound different than neutral"

Then why don't all pro audio dac's cost and sound the same? Sound quality varies just like dacs for home use. 

What method do you use when determining what dac's come closer to the source than others?