Should I pay a lot for a DAC?

I think Krell Man hit the nail on the head. In this hobby everything makes a difference. I've been an Audiophile for a long while and owned many Dacs and always tried to get the best sounding, I could afford. This way when upgrading another part of your system, the dac will hopefully not have to be upgraded at that time. Most of us have slowly over the years have upgraded to really incredible systems. In fact, I have two Dacs in my AUDIO system, Levinson and Reimyo. In my video system I have a Krell Studio. All of them different sounding, and I like them all.

Again, I think Krell Man has nailed it. My Krell KRC-3 up for sale and is in sale pending status. I had this pre for six years and it is still in perfect condition and still one of the best pres I've owned. I recently replaced the KRC-3 with a Classe CP-65 which in my opinion the Classe is a more refined pre, but certainly does not embarass the KRC-3. And a perfect match for the Krell KSA-150, which I have a modded 150 in my system for six years. If Winchel modded his 150 with Blackgates, even if it's only in the power supply, IMHO he would not need a tube amp for the top end. As Krell Man eluded to, if you don't have Amp and pre right, what ever comes after really does not matter.