The first question to ask yourself is what problem you're trying to solve. For example, when I bought a small-format desktop computer its sound output was awful because it used the minimal sound support on the motherboard and because there was so much electronic noise inside the box. I realized that this was a use case for the Griffin iMic I'd had in a drawer for years. Moving the D->A conversion outside the computer made a huge improvement even with a low-end, decades-old chip.
I took the same approach in the living room. My TV set is the hub for all the digital inputs, so I fed the TV's TOSlink optical digital output to an entry-level Schiit DAC and now hear a big improvement because the outboard DAC is so much better than what's in the TV.
So, how good is the DAC circuitry in the devices that are now in your system's signal chain? Adding a better DAC is a cost-effective way to improve the sound if what you have is marginal, just as choosing a better cartridge is the most cost-effective way to improve the sound you hear from your LPs.