DAC - Aqua Formula or Aqua La Scala

Agreed.    Reintroducing the output of either Aqua DAC into the digital domain in a budget piece like the Anthem is a bad idea.  I've heard the Formula.  It's among the smoothest and most analog sounding DACs to be had.  If you can afford it, then upgrade to a better preamp. 

You can't go wrong with either of the AQUA DACs, Formula is better (more neutral) LaScala very slightly burnished with tube rolling ability.

Worth waiting for the ARC Genesis release before changing??

Talk to Tony at Ellington HiFi. He carries Innuos and Aqua and is that rare bird, an honest and no bullshit audio dealer!

@dgarretson I've grown to hate the hifi world precisely because of people like you. Anthem STR probably with properly setup room correction probably sounds better than 95% of the so called high end systems costing $100K I've heard before.

@mzkmxcv Tell that to good portion of studio engineers that use Genelacs. I assure you, whatever you feed to a Genelac speaker with it's ADC/DSP/DAC process sound exactly like what you feed it, corrected for the room.

I'm sitting here working late in my other office, listening to Yamaha A-S1100, fed by Chord Hugo2, connected to Aerial 5Ts and the system sounds better than many of the so called high end pieces. I guess you'd consider A-S1100 to be a budget piece too.