Next Best Upgrade for Tidal MQA?

Two words: Room Correction

Maybe look at a MiniDSP or something like that

Or one word: Room

You have not said much about your listening space (or, perhaps I missed it), but if you send the folks at ASC a MATT recording, they can tell you what frequencies are lacking articulation and design a solution that will dramatically improve the dynamics and resolution of your system. Chances are that the gear you already own has a lot more potential than what you are hearing.

https://www.acousticsciences.com/matt

@calieng: thanks for the feedback. I guess my real question is: is a new streamer really going to make more of a difference than a new preamp?  The wife is only going to let me do so many upgrades at a time :)

@photomax: have not tried Qobuz yet as I've bee generally very happy with Tidal (minus the lack of Metallica)

@jnehma1 @dsnyder0cnn: unfortunately, my system has to do double duty (hifi and home theater) all in an open concept shared living area.  I don't think I have much opportunity for room treatment (there is only the wall behind the speakers and a wall with heavy curtains to the side).  As for room correction, I have run Audyssey, but haven't gotten into the REW/Dirac level of detail.  I have briefly looked at MiniDSP before, how does that integrate with what I've got?

@bruxesq I've not used a MiniDSP but I believe you could put one in between your receiver and Parasound amp. It will digitize the incoming analog signal from your pre-outs, perform DIRAC processing to correct the room issues, then spit out an analog signal to your Parasound. That will give you room correction for your stereo speakers. I have heard Dirac can bring great results but have never tried it myself. Personally I have experience with RoomPerfect since I own a Lyngdorf amp, and it brings very, very positive results.

As far as physical room treatments, they are a 100% no go, not only from my wife but also from me. I don't want panels all over my living space. Instead, we have two bookshelves loaded with books, which I have intentionally staggered their depths and therefore created both a diffuser and absorber, since the soft books help absorb some sound and the harder ones at various depths/angles help deflect it. Something like that might be a living room friendly option for you. Either way, I still say room correction software is the way you want to go.

@jnehma1 

I think you're right about the configuration, but would you expect DIRAC to be that much better than Audyssey XT 32?  That's what the Marantz includes, which I believe is (or at least was) the highest level of Audyssey.

That being said, miniDSP's are cheap...

I agree on physical room treatments.  The only ones I would consider is back reflections on the back wall behind the speakers, if they were not obtrusive.  The heavy curtains on the one adjacent wall should be good for absorption, other than that, the space is open for 40 feet in each direction - perhaps that isn't all that bad acoustically-speaking, other than needing to have the oomph to fill the space.