Is low cost DAC worth it?

If you are very budget constrained, Schiit Modi MULTIBIT = 300 dollars (unbelievable value).

Above that (for perceptible gains)....

Denafrips Ares = 800ish bucks

Gustard R26 = 1750ish bucks

Denafrips Venus and so on...

If your employer gave you a big bonus, you could try some DAC from the bigger boys...the likes of Esoteric, TAD, etc. I have a unit from TAD (15kish)...99% of dudes with their brilliant rigs won’t hear a whole freaking lot on the latter over something like a Denafrips Venus.

That should give you a feel for diminishing returns on dacs.

The Wiim Pro+ is the only way to go if on a tight budget. It's a streamer and Dac. Lots of online info and reviews.

It sounds way better than the price would suggest and has great functionality. 

You can get a used Benchmark DAC 1 for less than $500 and you get a great headphone amplifier and pre-amplifier to boot. The performance is not materially different from the $2,000 DAC 3. 

Nope!

So I purchased the Schiit Bifrost DAC and feed it with the optical output from my Apple Airport Express. If it’s DAC is better than the Airport Express then we will hear the difference. I would say when doing A/B comparisons for a month there is a little improvement, but it is not substantial.

Then I switched to a Wiim Pro Plus and connected it to Qobuz for Hi Res files.   It sounds okay, but not any better than Apple music through the Schiit DAC. So next I’m going to try connecting the Wiim to the Schiit DAC to see if that provides anything different. But for now I can say the Wiim Pro Plus is not any better than an old Apple Airport Express DAC.