Need tips to better my sound

You guys rock! Thanks to everybody that responded. I see a recurring theme of suggestions for the next best step to take. High quality streaming with a dedicated streamer. I'm still not sure how or why that dedicated streamer makes a difference (wish I understood that) but I trust that it will. As far as Millercarbon suggestions, I'm sure in a well-established system, tweaks can customize and benefit an individual, but I'm looking to eliminate the weakest link in the chain right now, and as little as I know, I can say with relative confidence that it's not a fuse or power cord. The power cord for my integrated is built in, I don't see any fuse on it externally. My DAC is old enough that technology has probably advanced more than a power cord would change the sound, etc.  So I'll hold off on tweeks till a later time. The only other question that I have at this point would be other streamers to consider besides the bluesound node 2i. My Revel speaker dips down to 4 Ohms so don't need an amp built into the streamer because I'll require a dedicated integrated or amp. And if the streamer I purchase has a DAC, it needs to be better than the parasound Z DAC or I'm paying for a feature I won't use. If it is better than the Parasound ZDAC then I can at least sell my Zdac for a few bucks to offset the cost of upgrading the streamer / DAC combo. Thoughts?

+1 David Ten

First let’s clearly call out the fuse recommendation as totally baseless other than that there are some obsessed with fuses here for whatever reason.

Then realize Spotify sound quality is not bad but is not even CD resolution so that is a clear compromise. Tidal Amazon HD or Qobuz is better.

Having been streaming now for many years I find differences in streamers to be minimal in general however DACs make a big difference similar in magnitude to cartridges playing records.  If you have an older DAC in particular I would look to upgrade there first. 

Radio Paradise has a CD quality FLAC stream available. Try that to get a feel for how Spotify compares to CD resolution and if that is something that matters for you.

@labguy,

As many of us suggested above, buy the Blusound Node 2i which comes with at least 15-30 days return policy from quite a few online retailers. Once you have node 2i in-house, do an A/B comparison with Node 2i internal DAC vs. ZDac. Also sign up for free trial with Tidal to compare SQ with Spotify. Many finds Spotify SQ acceptable but without a doubt Tidal and Qobuz offers much better streaming sound quality.

In the end, Trust your ears and make an informed decision.