Does a DAC need a large/strong power supply?

Tony,

It was an honest question. I am very confused by ASR loving these cheap DACs. My Yiggy has a very large PS and sounds great. My interest is curiosity as to how these $300 to $600 dacs test so well and have very low noise. I believe they have small power supplies due to the tiny sizes of these units. I don't have an "ASR Bias", just wondering if we're all paying too much.

The BRYSTON BDA-3 DAC has independent power supplies, a feature representative in high-end DAC design, and resulting stepped-up audio performance in high-end DACs.

The source is the most important part of the system (after a certain price - almost all modern speakers and amplifiers sound acceptable).

Dirty food generates/exacerbates jitter.
It's not the size that matters, it's the quality of the power supply... Don't look for it in budget lines... Many people try different tubes, but the most "crazy" audiophiles try different transformers ;-)

While I totally get the argument for beefier power supplies, and it's probably never wrong for a DAC to have one/them, but life once again showed me nothing is universally true, with a wonderful sounding DAC (MHDT Orchid) that's light as a feather, and thus I no idea if a  power supply needs to be heavy in order to be of high quality. Interested in what others think about this.

My interest is curiosity as to how these $300 to $600 dacs test so well and have very low noise.

Have you considered the obvious answer? They are engineered very well?  There are other higher priced dacs with light power supplies. RME ADI 2   uses an external brick. Benchmark have light weight internal switching supplies.