Decent speakers can be found at a very modest price. What you put into a system can never be regained.You are right for sure but nowadays it is perhaps not so easy to buy a good dac like buying a good speaker but anyway it is relatively easy too...
The technology is coming to maturity...
What is difficult, underestimated, and most of the times simply not known is the transforming power of psychoacoustic and acoustc basic facts....
In a small room with a limited amount of money nothing can replace the S.Q, improvement linked to acoustic controls....It is my experience and experiments...
my best to you....