Point of diminishing return for a DAC

Here is my two cents worth.  I had several ~$1K DAC and they were all indistinguishable from one another:  Jolida, Channel Islands Audio, Denafrips Ares, Schitt Gungnir,  and couple more that I have forgotten.  I upgraded to a used Ayre QB-9 and was absolutely astonished with the SQ improvement immediately!  I then upgraded to an Ayre Codex, with a similar sound, which allows me to stream my Oppo through the DAC.  It is fantastic for a very reasonable price.

I visited a friend of mine in Italy his summer who used an upgraded Denafrips Terminator and I was absolutely blown away with the sound of his system with his Buchardt S400 SE monitors.  It is among the finest, most natural sound systems I I have ever hear, regardless of price. 

He has since upgraded to a Chord Hugo (~$10K) and is ecstatic with the improvement in SQ.  He is adding the Chord M-Scaler device to the DAC (~$4K) and expects solid SQ improvement.  I do not doubt the dual devices are in the realm of the uber-expensive DCS multi-component DAC system.  

I know that there are some sub-$2K DACs around that get rave reviews, Holo is one of them and Audio Mirror is another.  Worth a listen, for sure. 

My take is that more or less you need to spend ~$2K to play in the big leagues of DAC's.  The Ayre Codex and Schitt Yggy will get your most of the way there.  

I went from a bifrost to a chord hugo. Law of diminishing returns didn't apply there. HUGE difference. -Elevik

+1 - I upgraded to Chord M Scaler and Chord Hugo TT 2 this summer and quite happy.  

I bought a nad m51 and liked it so much i bought another to use in my other system. 

Fastninja , Doug Schroeder comment pretty much nailed one of the mistakes made when wanting more quality out of playback.
i know this to be true having experienced this myself a few years ago when an audio acquaintance with good intentions installed his IMac Pro in my system comparing it directly to a transport I wanted to transition away from .
It was different however I immediately knew the sound quality didn’t equal playback from transport, sure the convenience was fabulous using the Mac though I wasn’t looking for convenience alone.

later that year another audio friend let me listen to a smoken good server in my system that immediately convinced me 30 seconds into a ripped favourite this was the path to better sound playback for me anyway.

12-27-2019 8:51pm

I went from a bifrost to a chord hugo. Law of diminishing returns didn't apply there. HUGE difference. -Elevik

+1 - I upgraded to Chord M Scaler and Chord Hugo TT 2 this summer and quite happy.  

Wow..again, this kind of thing DEFINES diminishing returns for the OP.
LOVE the Chord rig, but it must be pointed out that the combo lists for about $10,000...maybe more.

This is 1% sh*t right here...as in pair it with a $5K streamer, $10K+ amp/pre and $15K speakers and you do have rocking rig for $30K.

But, at what price point do the increment quality gains begin to have "diminishing returns".

I believe that it is in the $10-$15K TOTAL system price range.(Assuming you dont have a "night club sized room"...-)
A proportionately priced DAC within the context of a budget like that may be around $2,500.