Are DAC's overpriced?

I should add that all three, on good sounding CDs, were quite excellent. On bad material, well, GIGO.  The MSB was probably the most dynamic. The Schiit and the Theta had a strong family resemblance, a more laid-back presentation, and therefore maybe friendlier to poor material, with the Theta having a bit more heft than the Schiit. Then again it was $4000+ when it was new, and the Schiit is $599, and power supply and analog stage design have changed little in the interim.
I expect that a better source with truly low jitter could have changed the outcome - and made a bigger difference than choosing any of the DACs over each other.  I would like to ( and will) compare the same CD through the Schiit played over USB (asynchronous, DAC clocking) and a run-of-the-mill transport (synchronous, transport clocking).  I expect that will be enlightening.  The Schiit alas, is not mine so it takes a bit more doing.

@gosta-

Depends on your golden ears. Takes a lot of experience.

eh?

I recently purchased a Denafrips Pontus R2R external DAC that I'm very pleased with.  A bargain, I feel, at about $1800 US Dollars.  My thoughts are posted on their website:

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2018/12/10/Pontus-DAC-New-York

There's also a more in-depth Positive Feedback review at:

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/denafrips-pontus-dac/

Cheers - Michael

Maybe the new Nagra DAC just $65,000.

The Crane Song Solaris got a recommendation from a review site. I never heard of it until recently.
http://www.cranesong.com/SOLARIS.html
It retails for around $2K and is used in many studios and is suitable for home use.

Check out the Jitter Page where you can download jitter loaded files and test whether you can hear what it does to music. I didn't, but for those who are adventurous enough, it can add to the debate whether jitter can influence sound as we hear it and not just reside in the noise floor.

All the best,
Nonoise