Move to the next level

Thank you Dweller for the names, but I'm hoping for guidance along the lines of strengths and weaknesses, preferably based on personal experience.

Are you looking for "chip" DACS or R2R DACS? Or does it matter? I have little experience in streaming and find myself in the same position as you, so I will follow along for education. I can say that ExaSound  has become an interest. Good reviews but they are R2R. Same with Metrum & Schiit Yiggy which are also interesting. 

Artemus, thank you for bringing another contender to my attention. I have not settled in one DAC camp or the other due to inadequate opportunities to actually listen to a variety of DACs. But I currently I am of the opinion, based on reading, that DACs are like ice cream, they come in flavors. Ideally you listen to enough and you develop an opinion of what goes best with you taste on your system. For that reason I was trying to start with a quality streaming source, figuring to address the DAC question down the road. However I have run into the reality that there are many interesting products out there like your Exasound and like the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, that "start" with the DAC and add on the streamer/network bridge. Life is complicated.I like the look of the Exasound products and they are in the right price range...have you heard them?

@bruce19, Lots of possibilities. If your top priority is to simply improve SQ, most any of the suggestions given will likely do the trick. Understanding and prioritizing your secondary objectives are what will differentiate between many of the options. Do you prefer on-board or out-board DAC, how much of a priority is Roon and the list goes on. One thing you didn't mention is Bluesound? Their product offers terrific value and would allow you to focus more on the DAC if you wanted to go in that direction first? I just upgraded from Bluesound Vault to Innuos Zenith. I can give you some details on what pushed me in that direction if you are interested. Best of luck.

@Chilehed, I would love to hear your reflections on your move from the Vault to the Zenith. I am not considering the Bluesound only because I don't perceive it as enough of a step up sound-wise from the Yamaha WXC-50 I currently have, to be worthwhile.  You made the kind of jump I am considering. I'm not so sure that the integrated file server is essential for me. I have a Mac mini with Audirvana that works well and I suppose I could always stream files from the Mac to the streamer. Integration would just simplify things and hopefully add a tad more sound quality.  I appreciate what Roon offers but I'm not sure it is worth the price of admission for me. Since I'd be holding an Ipad anyway to control the system, it seems very easy to jump to wikipedia, allmusic or other places to research artists composers etc. The one thing that would tip in Roon's favor is if they offer the kind of info that used to be standard on pop and jazz album covers naming the sidemen by track, song authorship, producer, etc..I don't know if they do this.  I am currently using Spotify and I can tell you that they very rarely offer this info to a sufficient degree. Recently I had the chance to use Roon while listening in an audio store; I didn't find the interface that intuitive, despite being pretty computer literate with other software.