New Streamer, DAC or Let it Be

I'm a geezer and have made many digital upgrades over the years. In my experience you are not going to achieve a "Wow" improvement by upgrading your digital gear or even your preamp. Expectation bias has been mentioned and I appreciate your thoughtful approach. If you spend 3 grand on a new streamer or other component you can certainly convince yourself that it sounds much better.

The best ways to get a big difference in sound are not available in your situation. You can't move the speakers, can't rearrange the room, can't install sound treatment, and you already have an excellent amp and very good speakers. From this point forward any money you spend will be directed at convenience, features, pride of ownership. or another justification. But a big leap in sound quality is going to be elusive.

I do have one bit of advice regarding gear. I suggest that you check out the reviews of the Eversolo A8 mentioned in a previous post. This looks to be an excellent product and the features and ease of use may be worth the money in your situation. The A8 is going to be my next gear purchase even though I don't need the built-in DAC (I have a Berkeley Alpha Reference Series II MQA & Alpha USB) but I'm streaming now through a laptop and the A8 looks to be more convenient and elegant. BTW, the SQ of my CD playback (Jay's Audio CD3 Mk III transport through the Berkeley DAC) is virtually identical to streaming the same song/version through my Asus gaming laptop. I really doubt that spending 5 figures on a streamer is going to make Qobuz sound better than my CD rig.

Another suggestion would be to hook up your Oppo as a transport to your Gustard DAC and see if you can hear any improvement. My guess is that they will be very similar but you have a nice DAC so you might as well use it for CDs.

With the constraints you have you are fortunate that your rig sounds very good. I think it's time to chill and enjoy the music.

@8th-note 

As a fellow geezer, and listening to the sage advice and experience offered here, your words ring true. WOW is, as you say, elusive. As a babe in these digital woods, I find it shocking how many streamers and DACs people have gone through to attain a level of satisfaction.  And from the sound of it, most keep on going.

My system sounds very good now, especially with my new speakers, and going back to my original post, I sought the icing on my digital cake: one piece of gear to get me to the next level.  The jury is very confused, and still out.

When I first got my DAC, I plugged the Oppo into it, and was disappointed that the DAC added little, if at all.  That could be a measure of the DAC, a lesser quality connecting cable that underperformed, or the quality of the Oppo itself.  CDs played on the Oppo are still the sound to beat in my system, although with what I have thrown into the digital mix, it is very close now.  Very close. And, I have a meager CD collection, so music listening really makes sense streaming the Qobuz library.

I am happy with and appreciate the input, and will chill, enjoy the music and ponder my options.

Robert

@traubr 

I have a Node 130 with a modestly-upgraded power cable feeding an Denafrip Ares II DAC, and I have plenty of "wow" experiences because 1) I try to use high-resolution files from Qobuz when streaming, 2) my room is a good one for a stereo system, and 3) I have great speakers and electronics with plenty of power.

I don't know what limitations your room imposes, but you may not be able to overcome them by upgrading components.  If transparency is what helps provide the "wow" experience, you need to have a high-quality preamp/amplifier.  If it's a matter of dynamics, you need to have enough power as well as a good recording.

Your Focal speakers are excellent.  As others have mentioned, the weak link is your Pre, everything (including future upgrades) will be bottlenecked.  A better/external Pre will be the best place to spend money.  

@rick_n 

Others have also said a better/ external preamp will reap benefits.  Curious if this means the addition of this single device (preamp) will make the difference, or is that merely the first step, where I also replace the Node and DAC as well?  Thanks.