I’m not going to disagree with any of the above, and I certainly agree that everything can make a difference. I have several rigs, several DACs, several streamers, amps, SS and tube, and way too many pairs of speakers, and with exception of a Cambridge Audio CXN V2, my WiiM mini, WiiM Pro, Bluesound Node 2i, Lumin Mini and audio built PC all run through outboard DACs. Various Toppings, Denafrips, and Musical Paradise tube output stage DACs.
I think this is where the law of diminishing returns and room setup comes into play. In my lower cost, yet resolving systems in terrible room setups due to furniture, room size/shape, where the speakers can’t be ideally set up, I can’t really tell a great deal of difference in the streamer/DAC combos. So it doesn’t matter, the WiiM mini with a Topping E30 sounds as good as good as any other combo due to room and speaker placement. In fact swapping out various amps has more of an impact on SQ with same speakers than streamer/DAC.
Now, when it comes to my “main” rig where every component costs thousands more, there is a tall ceiling, equilateral triangle listening position, decent room acoustics, a dead quiet tube amp and highly sensitive horn and French “audiophile” speakers, yes I can tell a difference. But I also have several other tweaks in this set up, separate power line from box with true earth ground. hospital grade outlets, fiber optic internet router, Ethernet switch, LPS on everything I can, power conditioner, ceramic fuses, a DDC, R2R DAC, better cables, way too many NOS tubes, etc., etc.. So would I put the WiiM Mini in as my streamer? Heck no!
So, moderately priced system, decent room acoustics, moderately priced streamer/DAC. High-end system ($100K plus), high-end room set up, and no WAF, definitely high-end streamer/DAC. OK system in office or bedroom, terrible room set up, inexpensive streamer/DAC ok, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. Like I said, everything matters, up to a point, pocket book dependent.