Matrix mini-i Balanced DAC[Reviewd in Dec]overkill if no need for Balanced outs?

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bilzebub

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Hi!
First time poster and ytoal Noob to both Dac-world and Home theatre, having just changed my 1970s QUAD preamp for a refurbished NAD M15 7.1 Pre-pro (which still feeds a QUAD stereo amp which in turn pushes Definitive Tech Mythos ST's -- I'm on the one major purchase a year train)

My questions are three-fold
(1) Since the NAD has internal DACs ["multiple two-channel Wolfson DACs"] is there any advantage going with a relatively low-cost external dac like the mini-i or musiland moniotr 02 ?  I currently send music from an ancient laptop running mediamonkey through the optical digital output of an ultracheap turtle beach micro usb sound card to the NAD M15

(2) If a 2 channel dac is the way to go, am i thowing money awat on the mini-i if the NAD M15 does not have balanced inputs? If so, would the musiland monotor 02 be a suitable replacement (or some other...?)?

(3) Is there such a thing as a 5.1 channel external DAC, if I want to watch dvds and .mkv files on a home theatre pc (next purchase)?

Also, I have been cruising a number of websites, but none of them seem to be catered to total noobs like me. So apologies if I am asking questions that I should have somehow found answers for myself -- just don't know where to find them!