Not Thrilled with Vandersteen 2CE Sigs - where is the first place to work on?

It's all in equipment matching and synergy. This is not a new idea. My experience with those exact speakers is a friend's system. Everything that I have to say here is obviously limited to his room and system layout limitations (meaning speaker positioning) He has the 2CE Sigs, Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cable double run (2 sets for bi-wiring) per Vandersteen recommendation, a McCormack DNA 0.5 (which is in at SMC Audio for upgrade right now), (McCormack amps are thought by many to be a very good match for the Vandy's), a Rogue Audio Perseus tube preamp (tube preamps and McCormack amps are a good match up also), Transparent Audio Super mm1 IC's and Transparent Power conditioners and power cords. The analog side is an upgraded Rega P3 table and the digital side is a Jolida tube cd player.

He is very much a "lotus eater" or pleasure seeker or "musicality" driven listener. He's very much not an analytical listener. I am a bit closer to the fence dividing the "musicality" side from the analytical side but, still on the "musicality" side. That system can be very pleasing and fun but, to my ear it is on the "midrangey" side which, I think is partly due to some of the cables. Vandersteen has its fans and there have been jillions of them sold. They may not be for you if you want a more "high performance" result.

If you just want to get lost in the music and want to not be thinking about the sound when you are listening, find a McCcormack amp but, be aware that the input boards in all of the DNA amps are aging out and failing. SMC Audio is the place to go but, they are not a repair shop, they are an upgrade shop, a hot rod shop so to speak. Their upgrades are excellent. I can attest to this due to the 3 upgraded DNA amps that I have.

The Apt 1 isn't helping...it was an ok preamp in '79, but hell, a Rappaport, ARC SP3xx, Theta, & the little DB were better back 41 years ago..(we sold each of them + a few others I can't recall)...go with nwres' post above & take it and other peripherals out of the chain if possible, before arbritarily spending $$ on another speaker chase. 

What are the dimensions of your room?  I had 2ce's in a room that was about 12x13 with standard 8' ceilings.  I thought they sounded good until I moved them into my living room which was much larger and had a vaulted ceiling.  Completely different experience with the speaker really opening up in the larger room.  

Where are the speakers positioned in your room?  I found they needed to be a minimum of 1/3 of the way into the room if not even more.  They excel when you give them room to breath.  Playing with room placement is the lowest hanging fruit there is. It's free and can make a bigger impact than many component upgrades.

Your front end can make a huge different but if your speakers are slammed up against the front wall or in a tiny room even the best electronics won't make them sound good.  

Owned a pair of 2CI’s with the Sound Anchor stands years ago and enjoyed them although at the time my system was an old B&K ST 120 amp and a Sonic Frontiers SFL 1 preamp. It was a pleasant sounding rig, but agree they can be on the softer side of neutral. I’m sure the 2CE Sig’s are better but guessing as mentioned earlier they need room to breath almost like Maggie’s... at least the 2CI’s I owned did.

Totally agree using a computer as your source with an AQ Dragonfly Red not helping you much. You mentioned Tidal but is it the standard or HiFi subscription which is the better. If you’re on the Standard subscription you might want to upgrade or just move over to Qobuz which I feel is better, but not really sure the Dragonfly will show the differences. If I had to work with your system I’d probably stick with the Vandy’s and work on the components first, but that’s just my opinion. As mentioned the Bluesound Node 2i would be a piece to read up on and consider.

I had a pair of 2CE's that were in my main system for almost 20 years. The first thing I would say is that they are extremely fiddly speakers placement-wise. Need adequate room from the wall, and I mean like 3 feet at least. Have to get the rake angle right as well. One of the other commentors mentioned them needing a fair bit of power as well which I agree with. I ran them on Rogue Audio M120's. They seemed to have very good synergy with tube gear when I tested them.

You asked about recording quality being an issue and I would say that any true hi-fi system is going to poke holes in some albums that you love. If it's not recorded well, it's unlikely to sound good. I have albums I love that I might only listen to in the car because they sound compact with no soundstage or life on my system. 

Back to the speakers though. Vandersteen 2's are great bang for the buck if you like that sound. People talk about accurate and colored or all these terms and the truth for me is that different people like different things. It's what makes the world go round. The question is s do you like the sound of Vandersteen. Like tomstruck said, I like it so much I moved on to Quatros and am happy as a pig in shit. It's difficult right now but going to local shops and listening is how you figure this stuff out.