I understand this is a question about technology evolution. My feeling and in some way my experience is as follows:
DAC's: I think they have reached the technological maturity and what you get is what you pay for. Finally and because the power of the market, USB has consolidated as the best option despite of its many technical inconveniences and therefore costs and price increase to solve them. I think that there will not be major changes in the next years, except perhaps the DSD ratio. Anyway, you can solve them with the many manufacturers that offer some kind of upgrade guarantee or, at least, path.
I would buy, and I have already bought, the best DAC I could pay.
SERVERS AND STREAMERS: From my view, this is just the opposite: you find many different technical solutions rapidly evolving and many commercial solutions trying to cover "everything": you go from "dedicated computers" for storage and streaming to totally separated solutions: server + streamer + renderer
indeed more, you have to consider your "music manager software" going from proprietary and closed hardware integrated solutions (Aurender) to proprietary solutions accepting external ones (dCS with Mosaiq, accepting Roon) to full open hardware accepting "music managers" using UPnP or Roon that is based in a network proprietary standard (RAAT).
Indeed more, companies like the very expensive Innuos or the much more realistic Denafrips are offering tweaks like USB reclockers at annoying prices as a must.
My experience when comparing what I presently use (Mac mini dedicated and configured only for music) with a basic Innuos is that I can clearly hear differences but they are not significant while my experience with the DAC was exactly the opposite: the differences were huuuuuge.
My opinion is to wait and see (two or three years minimum) and use a commercial computer or some specific but CHEAP one (Intel NUC, Green .....) or the very basic line of the dedicated hardware solutions if and only if they work with non proprietary software (Antipodes, Innuos, 432Evo, ............) and when market and solutions consolidate and start to be "similar" to spend the big buck.
DAC's: I think they have reached the technological maturity and what you get is what you pay for. Finally and because the power of the market, USB has consolidated as the best option despite of its many technical inconveniences and therefore costs and price increase to solve them. I think that there will not be major changes in the next years, except perhaps the DSD ratio. Anyway, you can solve them with the many manufacturers that offer some kind of upgrade guarantee or, at least, path.
I would buy, and I have already bought, the best DAC I could pay.
SERVERS AND STREAMERS: From my view, this is just the opposite: you find many different technical solutions rapidly evolving and many commercial solutions trying to cover "everything": you go from "dedicated computers" for storage and streaming to totally separated solutions: server + streamer + renderer
indeed more, you have to consider your "music manager software" going from proprietary and closed hardware integrated solutions (Aurender) to proprietary solutions accepting external ones (dCS with Mosaiq, accepting Roon) to full open hardware accepting "music managers" using UPnP or Roon that is based in a network proprietary standard (RAAT).
Indeed more, companies like the very expensive Innuos or the much more realistic Denafrips are offering tweaks like USB reclockers at annoying prices as a must.
My experience when comparing what I presently use (Mac mini dedicated and configured only for music) with a basic Innuos is that I can clearly hear differences but they are not significant while my experience with the DAC was exactly the opposite: the differences were huuuuuge.
My opinion is to wait and see (two or three years minimum) and use a commercial computer or some specific but CHEAP one (Intel NUC, Green .....) or the very basic line of the dedicated hardware solutions if and only if they work with non proprietary software (Antipodes, Innuos, 432Evo, ............) and when market and solutions consolidate and start to be "similar" to spend the big buck.