Which DAC

If her goal is to stream isn't the quality of the music already compromised. I am not sure any "upgrades" will have any value for her. Make sure your audiophile tastes don't waste her money.

What kind of amplifier and speakers are in play?

I am not audiophile by any means. I just enjoy good music. Since "she will get the Wyred4Sound modified Sonos unit".
It already have W4S/UDAC Built-in and she doesn't need another cable and DAC.

I am also not audiophile by any means. I just enjoy good music. Since "she will get the Wyred4Sound modified Sonos unit".
It already have W4S/UDAC Built-in and she doesn't need another cable and DAC.

She will benefit from a good DAC via the Sonos coaxial output. Any of the DACs you mention are fine--I think the Arcam is a good DAC under $500. I used to own the Wyred4Sound modified Sonos and it was great but it will only output 24/96. Deezer is CD quality so that's fine.

"Why wouldn't distortion be additive? So that if one improved any stage that would provide a clearer sound."

Not always. You can also upgrade a component with something more clear and revealing, and amplify the flaws in other components.

Mcanaday,

I would call The Cable Company and have them send you some dac's and cables for demo. Doing that will eliminate all the guessing as to what will sound best.

I have been using Sonos with the Rega Dac and have been very happy. I did try the Peachtree and Arcam and once I demonstrated the Rega it became apparent I needed to up my budget. Although now I am considering looking higher, Hegel, Bryston and others are on my radar for future A-B in home testing.

Thanks, all, for your guidance. As far as starting with distorted sound, Tidal is supposed to be lossless streaming? It sounds like people are getting pretty good results with it? I am hoping that's true! with thanks, Margot

My recollection of reading about the Sonos is that it outputs significant jitter through coax. I would double check if this is so. Maybe search here and look for posts by Audioengr, who is Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio. I think he said this a couple of times.

If so, then a good approach would be to get something that reclocks the coax input. Not many units do this. This functionality is basically the same as a USB-to-S/PDIF converter, such as Audiophilleo, but with coax in. Empirical Audio makes one. I think it's called Synchro-Mesh (which is why Steve frequently comments on these threads).

I have experience with USb converters into DAC and the impact is significant. I would expect the same of this. Consider the reclocker+DAC, and I would spend more on the reclocker. In this price range I would expect a reduction in jitter to have significantly more impact than sound flavors.