Point of diminishing return for a DAC

The DAC is not the problem, the server is the problem. The Mac Mini is, frankly, an atrocious server. I know, I used it for a while. One of the best moves I made in terms of digital sound was to dump the Mac Mini (even though using an upsampling program) and going to a dedicated audiophile streamer/server. I have written up three of them for Dagogo.com; Wolf Audio, Salk Audio and Small Green Computer/SONORE. 

As long as you continue to use the Mac Mini NO DAC will be optimized. That is not to say you could not see better sound from a different DAC, but it will be nowhere near the potential.  

Finally, if you are not using quality aftermarket cabling, i.e. SPDIF or USB, you are fairly wasting the potential of a DAC. 

That is your gift; Merry Christmas! 

I’ve not seen any point of diminishing return. It’s about system matching. Sure, buying a dCS Vivaldi stack and pairing in with a Schiit Freya will sound nice, but you’re probably not really getting your money’s worth. I’ve got DACs on hand that range from a couple hundred dollar Schiit to many tens of thousands. Every step up in price is certainly a noticeable jump in quality. Most of the gains from higher end products like those with Chord, employ custom chips and increasingly better power supplies. 

I paid mine peanuts on Ebay...But the price has been higher-up now....But this dac is so marvellous sonically, the ratio quality/price is ridiculous steal... Under 200 dollars used, or new around 300...The Starting Point Systems dac, is a minimalistic designed dac with the chip TDA 1543, +internal battery ( I use an ifipower ) that produce a low noise floor... (Christophe Mariac designer) The sound quality is without any negatives in my continuously upgrading system (with the same components but in a continuously upgraded embeddings, acoustically,vibrationnaly, electrically speaking)… For most people including myself this dac is a messianic solution to the most difficult audio problem these days... To choose an amplifier, or even speakers, of great optimal qualities, at any price, is relatively easy ( for example used vintage one)... To choose a dac of optimal qualities at this very low price ( sometimes around 100 bucks used one) is an an impossible task...Except this one probably...


Remember these rules:

No dac at any quality level, will gives you something that can replace an optimally acoustically treated room advantages,

No dac will replace the upgrading effect of an adequate controls over negative resonance and vibrations, that plague any speakers and amplifier or any other gear...

No dac will gives to you the qualitative sonic returns linked to an optimal decreased noise floor in the electrical embeddings of your house-room and gear and magically replace that by his "magic" analytic power of resolution ( a microscope is not a musical instrument)...

Before buying costly dac, look for a triple solution to these three different problems...

In the meantime the dac I recommend is the perfect dac, because of his musicality and low price... Those who review it with limitations are most of the times not conscious of the noise linked to these 3 non answered problems in their own audio environment...
Indeed this dac has limitations, but I doubt that these limitations will be evident in an under 10,000 dollars system, that is poorly isolated, in a poorly acoustically designed room, in a noisy electrical embedding...Then the priority must be to answer those 3 problems before investing enormous money on a dac...

Differences between dac, on a near-same money level, are far less substantial upgrade...And differences between a low cost dac and a high cost one, are of no signification before the 3 remedies to those 3 problems...

My best...And Merry Christmas to you and to all...

Thanks to all for the helpful and detailed responses.   All have helped.  I’ll post again once I’ve purchased and have had an opportunity to do some critical listening.

Again,
Thanks
Bob

I would strongly consider an R2R DAC. You won't have to spend anymore than specified and there are many out there.