@melm Very good suggestion. I reviewed the list and the Holo and Denafrips Terminator looked very interesting. I am adding the Terminator to my list.
@audioengr "I would not assume that every $6K DAC has $500 of parts in it." - Of course not! I've seen many high-end audio devices with parts worth around 10% of their MSRP, but I would never generalize that for the entire industry. Sorry if I have offended someone, did not mean to. There are many examples of much higher ratio too. A lot of hard work, excellent engineering, and extremely time consuming R&D goes into many of those products, so looking at the parts cost only is not fair. Yeah, as an end-user I would like to see less of my money spent on marketing and dealer commission and hate to see compromises made with the part quality on expensive products. It drives me crazy when I see a product that cost over $5K that uses $1 caps in the signal path. I have even seen a very expensive product that used a CAT5 wire in the signal path. But let's not go there... I see that you offer your DAC with V-Cap or Duelund caps. Thumbs up for that. They are my favorite caps.
BTW, I never even thought about designing my own DAC. I meant "building" by taking one of the well-acclaimed digital modules available and combining with good power section and good analog section. Yeah, it won't be anything unique, but more likely a highly tweaked popular existing solution. Chances are I won't go there at all. If I decide to do, I will start another thread.