Point of diminishing returns for a Network Streamers?

Without question ,gojng cheap on usb cables and or Ethernet cables you loose a lot of information , the most importantEthernet cable is it’s end point 

theQuality ofthe Ethernet hub is too important ,for a midfield priced hub

the uptone audio Ether Regen, $640, next one a Huge step up in your streaming quality the New Synergistic research around $2k  it all adds up if you want Audiophile quality  sounding Audio . Iam still building and spent over $4k just in digital  cables and hub , and will get the synergistic at some point .

or maybe fight optic with Sonore ,or 2 ether regen they too allow single mode fiber optic and buy good receivers they are at least $40-100 each x2 . Good audio is not cheap , but essential if streaming , if not buy a very good CD player and feed them 1 at a time like a record, having a good dac is also much better then the vast majority of streamers all in 1 box.

First off, a general purpose Mac or laptop is not a ideal source for streaming from Qobuz or Tidal. 

Maybe not ... but a general purpose Mac is an ideal source for streaming from Apple Music. For some (not all) listeners, Apple Music may be preferable to Qobuz or Tidal.  Plus, a general purpose computer offers the option to run digital signal processing applications (such as HQ Player or BACCH4Mac.)  DSP is likely to have a much bigger impact on sound quality than your choice of streamers (assuming your streaming device isn't also performing DAC/preamp/other functions).

I usually prefer Qobuz/Tidal over AM, just because Roon does not  support Apple Music.  However, I still have a USB feed from a Mac Mini in order to run DSP (in addition to other music-related functions).  The Mac (or an Apple TV device) also allows you to display album art on a TV screen.

@abreryclark, if you like Roon I would stick with using a computer of some kind as your streamer.

The Gold Note DS 10 looks interesting