Is low cost DAC worth it?

I use an excellent sounding Schiit Bifrost 2-64 for streaming from a Bluesound Node 2i (in which the internal DAC blows flaming chunks, so to speak), and an oldie but goodie DacMagic upsampling DAC (with a Peter Madnick designed Pangea P100 power supply...made for couple of Cambridge products including my Cambridge phono preamp) for "Red Book" CDs. I assume many here have never bothered with an inexpensive DAC (Snobbery? Sad personal insecurities? Yo mama?) but my trusty DacMagic still sounds great. I imagine a new one (still inexpensive) also sounds great.

Scrolling thru, seeing the Names of these gizmos, I detect a need for obscurity.

@marco1 Got it.  You and I are indeed on the same page, and I apologize for my initial misunderstanding.  Which Aurenders do you have BTW?

@soix 👍 presently using an N150 with a Pontus II for a dedicated headphone system and N200 with a Terminator II in a speaker system.  So yes I'm both an Aurender and Denafrips fan boy.

@wolfgarcia no snobbery here.  I've owned both a DacMagic 200 and Bifrost 2 as well.  Both excellent and great bangs for the bucks.  Its just that in this hobby I get bored sometimes and like to experiment.  After all at 75 yrs young, you can't take it with you.  Money that is.

OP,

I’m an old fart as well. Most of us have hearing that is compromised in some manor. But typically it will not take away the enjoyment of better sound, since better reproduced music sounds better in all frequencies. So, just because you may not be able to hear the highest frequencies (for instance) you can still appreciate the richness in the midrange and low frequencies. Also, having good undistorted high frequencies will impact the lower frequencies in a positive way.
 

Also, listening is an acquired skill. My partner has always had better hearing than I (most women do), but I could always hear all sorts of nuances that she could not. Such is the enjoyment of well reproduced music.