@davegolf2424 You are getting some great advice. I’ve had quite a few DAC’s and Streamers in my system. A DAC will have more of an impact on the sound than a streamer. If you have the opportunity to try different DAC’s, find the DAC you prefer before you change, upgrade your streamer. There are a lot of great options, especially used in your price range. There are R2R, FPAG, more traditional DAC’s that will all have different sound signatures. If you love a DAC being fed by your node as a streamer and you upgrade your streamer it will only enhance what you love about the DAC’s sound. Transversely, if you upgrade a streamer but you aren’t in love with your current DAC, it’s unlikely the streamer will cause you to fall in love with the DAC. Synergy is also key between a DAC and streamer, once you have a DAC you love, you want to chose a streamer that maximizes your DAC’s performance. If you have a balanced DAC that sounds best with AES, you want a streamer that maximizes / prioritizes that output. Or i2s or USB might be how your DAC will perform at its best, you want a streamer that has these outputs but also paid specific attention in design / implementation on those outputs.
Think about the Streamer / DAC relationship similar to AMP / Speakers. If you love the sound signature of speakers, when you pair them with the right amp, find that synergy that creates magic, the right AMP amplifiers what you like about the Speakers. If you aren’t in love with the speakers, unless you have a really big mismatch on the amplification swapping out the Amp isn’t going to take speakers you aren’t a fan of the sound signature on and make you fall in love with them.
Good Luck,