Next Best Upgrade for Tidal MQA?

pretty minimal, but depends on model

for example the conrad johnson et5 runs just a single tube... they don't even vent the top panel...

I’m sure this will not go over well, but I use Tidal and Qobuz both, Tidal was nice enough to send me tickets for a show at the Hollywood Bowl, I think they’re great, but I disregard MQA.  I’ve spent this lockdown time with the MScaler and have placed it in different arrangements with non-Chord DACs.  You may find that, via optical, the WTA thing will work its magic up to 24/192, and I believe the entire filter is still employed even if you’re not at the maximum rate.  I think it lends a certain realism to music and will work well with non-Chord DACs.

Am I understanding your post to mean that you would suggest an investment in an M-Scaler over an upgraded preamp, even with a non-Chord DAC (such as my MyTek Liberty)?

I'm not a blind fanboy of MQA, but to my ears, the format is generally a win.  I have found some MQA albums to have weird soundstaging compared to the Redbook version, but that's been rare.

If I have your comment correct, your suggestion is an interesting one for sure.

If you own a Pc you use for music the Jcat Femto ethernet card 
is a must , a dramatic improvement for it not only has precision low noise regulators but isolates the noisy computer from the Audio streaming signal ,but the Femto clock brings a much better cleaner audio signal using the top Crystek Femto clock.

I will add R2R DAC like Denafrips Pontus