I have a thought that it will be a GOOD DAC, but I have my doubts that it will be great.
The fact that they have so many engineers on staff will certainly help, but it's a matter of ROI to a certain extent. It's not their core function, their Essence soundcards notwithstanding. It's a drop in the bucket when compared to their motherboard business, and will continue to be even if it's wildly successful IMHO. Unless they can make a LOT of money doing it, it's not going to be an area of focus. Generally speaking, the market at that end is too small for a mass-producer to be interested.
BTW - I would add that good technology and access to engineering resources doesn't necessarily mean that they can implement it well in an audiophile target market even if they WANT to. DACs and amps are still going to have to SOUND right, and IMHO the best designers are in fact audiophiles/music nuts themselves.
I have a thought that they will give it enough attention that it will be an upgrade from your headphone out (hopefully a significant upgrade!) but not a lot more. I've heard the Essence card, and it's not bad...may pick on up myself. That said, it's not the earth-shattering sonic revolution that one might have read about in Stereophile. It's not going to replace the Ayre QB-9 any time soon.
Having said all this, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. A high quality but inexpensive DAC and headphone amp from a mainstream electronics manufacturer would be nothing but good IMHO.