*DAC

I have two wave generators, one in the front and one behind me. I'd just try one too start, I've had my cousin who is the least audiophile person notice the difference when I A/B on/off tested it on her. My buddy has the Acoustic Revive one that is like $700 but I feel like the cheap ones are almost as good, and the Nobsound one looks pretty nice.

I also gotta agree with some of the other posts, I'm a big fan of Acoustic Zen cables, I have the Absolute coppers and they are so crazy good, also love the Matrix Reference and Silver Reference, they are like getting a component upgrade.

Big fan of Gold Note DACs -  I have the DS10 with optional external power supply.  You can get the updated version of this for about $5k (and maybe less as there seem to be sale prices available possibly related to US distribution changes underway).  I did a shootout with a friend’s DCS Bartok (not Apex).  He preferred his, I preferred mine, but we agreed the Gold Note held its own for much less $.

Re cables, I’m a fan of Triode Wire Labs - great value for $.  (Full disclosure, however:  I am not an experienced cable swapper - to me, life is way too short to spend much time on cables.  Instead, I’ve relied on opinions and reviews of people who seem to have similar system priorities to mine.)

@mdalton Hey, thanks for your input, much appreciated!

Audio Note UK (audionote.co.uk) -- recently picked up a DAC 2.1x Signature and I’ve never heard digital sound so natural and harmonically rich before, especially with jazz, just awesome

Also, I saw you weren’t DIY adverse, so worth a mention is Audio Note Kits (ankaudiokits.com) they use some Audio Note UK parts and ’similar’ schematics but they are not affiliated. I’ve seen people report success with their kits

If you want nuance it starts with noise and jitter.

stock cables won’t cut it.  Blue jean cables won’t cut it.  There are no cheap cables that perform as well as good cables.  AV noise reduction is a must.  Then some kind of grounding box. Then you can hear what a good DAC can bring.

There is a difference between a $1000 power cord and a $500 power cord(or practically any other cord) 

Spend at least as much on cables and electrical noise as you do for the DAC.