Yeah all the little extra parts required starts to add up, DIY isn't always the cheapest route but you get exactly what you want plus the satisfaction of building something.
Only advantage my power bar has is it's plug and play and possibly better relays, not sure what DJ uses. Even though the DJ power bar has a DB9 it can't be plugged in. That power bar doesn't have any circuits built in for the relays so you would need to build one out yourself like this one. The DB9's out of my controller are straight from GPIO pins on the Pi so they can be multipurposed without much trouble. I keep saying I'm going to make an adapter board that would get it working but without one to test I haven't done it yet.
This guide will walk through the build process of controlling AC equipment using an automated power strip (power controller). The power controller allows scheduled and on-demand control. Power controllers are simple and inexpensive to build and it acts as a foundational layer for temperature or...
learn.adafruit.com
The case downloads also include the Sketchup Make design files if you wanted to make any changes. I'm a DIY guy at heart without a lot of money so I'll do whatever I can as I know that's half the reason to get into reef-pi.