The words are too kind, but also realize that I'm just one person. Trust your ears, but when you learn to listen you can hear distortions that really do take away from the music. Many never get there and it's fairly easy to see when reading some posts on boards. NO big deal as long as they love their music Heck, I can spend a day listening to crappy recordings of 80's rock and have my ears killing me. Just love the music.
What I may suggest to you eventually is to look into a Melco as a streamer/NAS and then get a nice DAC like a Codex or equivalent to your ears. Then you can more easily upgrade as you grow. You can then sell your Vault and only lose half, but half of that is less than half of an Aurender or Melco or whatever.
One reason I like the Melco over the Aurender (other than I like the sound better) is because if you update your DAC to one that's say Roon end point and also a top streamer and headphone amp (Like the Ayre QX5 I just purchased), then you can still use the Melco as it's by far the best NAS I"ve heard and even Michael Lavorgna of Audiostream (I pray you are over there enjoying his writing) has said that and that's his job.
Honestly, with what you have now, I wouldn't do anything else just yet. Get comfortable with it and learn to use it to it's fullest. Listen at times critically and see what you enjoy about the sound of it. You will soon notice trends in the sound on various cuts. Then you can learn what you DON'T want next time in any piece you get in your system.
To me audio is just like the second wife (or more)....you need to know what you DON'T want, as you never fully know what you do want. Just think about that and take it for what it's worth. You can and probably will do other upgrades in your system before doing more with the source. Oh, and don't bother with other cables or power cords or anything right now. At the level you are at, it's so silly to spend even 100 for a power cord when you could spend that eventually in component upgrades that will make a much much bigger difference. JMHO
What I may suggest to you eventually is to look into a Melco as a streamer/NAS and then get a nice DAC like a Codex or equivalent to your ears. Then you can more easily upgrade as you grow. You can then sell your Vault and only lose half, but half of that is less than half of an Aurender or Melco or whatever.
One reason I like the Melco over the Aurender (other than I like the sound better) is because if you update your DAC to one that's say Roon end point and also a top streamer and headphone amp (Like the Ayre QX5 I just purchased), then you can still use the Melco as it's by far the best NAS I"ve heard and even Michael Lavorgna of Audiostream (I pray you are over there enjoying his writing) has said that and that's his job.
Honestly, with what you have now, I wouldn't do anything else just yet. Get comfortable with it and learn to use it to it's fullest. Listen at times critically and see what you enjoy about the sound of it. You will soon notice trends in the sound on various cuts. Then you can learn what you DON'T want next time in any piece you get in your system.
To me audio is just like the second wife (or more)....you need to know what you DON'T want, as you never fully know what you do want. Just think about that and take it for what it's worth. You can and probably will do other upgrades in your system before doing more with the source. Oh, and don't bother with other cables or power cords or anything right now. At the level you are at, it's so silly to spend even 100 for a power cord when you could spend that eventually in component upgrades that will make a much much bigger difference. JMHO