The last time I actually built something with a DAC in it (an external FM synthesis project box for the C64 long after it was dead everywhere but Bulgaria) was 1993, and that had a 4x or 8x oversampling DAC even then. Think it was $6 for a single chip "over the counter"... in bulk even then they were probably $2.

The things you play with when one of your buddies was in second year electrical engineering.

Bren R.