Streaming, Getting the Signal, Then What?

Wow, I gotta say, reading that the DS Mk I is noisy and grainy threw me for a loop. I can say with 100% certainty that mine is neither of those things, quite the contrary. I absolutely would not change DACs if I were you. I'm sure there are better DACs in the world but not at anywhere near what the DS Mk I goes for these days. The dual I2S inputs are still pretty rare and such a nice feature to have. I2S definitely sounds better than other connections.

I have no experience with the AirLens but I doubt very seriously that's holding you back either. Fiber conversion did clean up my signal quite a bit and I have not noticed any of the bad side effects that some claim come with that method. I also run my signal through an Ether Regen (original version). I feed it with the fiber optic. I can't swear that makes a huge difference but it certainly doesn't hurt. I power the Ether Regen with a LPS.

I'm confident you'll get to the bottom of your issue and I don't think it'll cost you an arm and a leg either. If it were me I'd concentrate on the signal delivery to your components, which I think is what you're doing anyway.

If you are using a combination modem/router my one remaining suggestion is to use a gas discharge surge suppressor at the entrance of the cable to your building.

I use a lot of things which are Ethernet connected, and a surge coming in from outside via the cable modem could take a lot of things out. OTOH, if you are 100% Wifi, then the only risk is to your router.

I don’t think there’s a realistic router upgrade from what you own. The best you can do is perhaps use a PC/laptop or phone WIFI analyzer to make sure your router is on otherwise unused channels. Even a strong Wifi signal can suffer from noisy neighbors, and the analyzers are free.

New routers and receivers may have faster transmit speeds, but music streaming is lightweight. It’s not going to make anything sound better if you improve your download speeds by a factor of 100, but putting your router on unused channels will.  I think newer routers do a better job.  6 years ago they all seemed to cluster on the same 2 channels, causing a real headache for apartment dwellers.

Thanks all. I now see that erik_squires may be correct, that there may not be a realistic upgrade. I am going to print this thread and come to my own conclusion. Perhaps it is only tweaks that may conceivably make a small difference.

Thanks all. 

If you are using a combination modem/router my one remaining suggestion is to use a gas discharge surge suppressor at the entrance of the cable to your building.

I live in a 160 year old brick factory building condo-ized back in 2007. So I cannot access the entrance of the cable into the building.  I am going through an upmarket surge protector immediately in front of my modem/router.