I was delighted by the difference my Harmonic Technology Magic Link II IC's made with the lil' $99 µDAC. In fact it was a revelation, literally night and day, because much of the music was previously obscured, veiled and just plain missing. With the HT's in place, instruments that could NOT be heard were fully revealed.
(NOTE: Of course the HT's are about $1K new, so we're talking about a disproportionate comparison. Conversely, it speaks wonders about what the lil' µDAC is capable of!)
Some of my own DIY weavings have been pretty darn good, including some from Home Depot and the Rat Shack. However, I have not been able to reproduce the SQ in any of my DIY projects the equivalent of the top tier manufactures, at least to my personal satisfaction.
Cables should not hinder nor hide the music, regardless of cost. For me, it has taken a lot of experimentation to find the icing that makes the cake. I've heard cheap cables sound pretty good in high-end systems. And I've heard the same system with top tier cables sound much better.
Sadly (for my pocketbook), I've never heard a less expensive cable enable top tier sound in a top tier system. In other words, in a top tier system, cables can be the limiting factor in attaining top tier sound quality.