Usher Mini Dancer 2 or Q Acoustics Concept 500 - Marantz PM Ki Ruby

@soix thank you.  Here’s my entire system.  I use Silnote Cables Classic RCA interconnect and Blue Jeans Cable Canare 4311 speaker cables.  

Unfortunately, acoustic treatment is not an option. Wifey will kick me out lol.. Its a living room setup in a condo.

So my only options are time and minor tweaks in gear :)

Thanks for sharing your system components — most helpful.  I hear ya loud n clear on the wife front, and let’s see where things stand at around the 200 hour mark because things may well be very different by then.  I know you just dropped some coin on the speakers, but I’ll just share some unsolicited thoughts I think could be worth considering for the future or whenever FWIW.

- Your system could likely benefit from better speaker cables, and I’d highly recommend something like these Acoustic Zen cables (yeah I own them) as they do all the audiophile things in spades (pun intended) and sound very natural doing it.  I also think they’d very much synergize with and  compliment the Usher’s considerable strengths.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235430798208

- A more organic-sounding DAC like the Denafrips Pontus 2 may also be very worth considering as your current DAC, while very good, leans more to the very neutral and maybe clinical side.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650096562-denafrips-pontus-ii-dac/

- Last, adding an external linear power supply (like Teddy Pardo, etc.) to your Node can yield significant improvements in performance and refinement for $400 or less.

I mention these only if after break in you’re curious about pushing or tweaking your system further.  Again, just fyi and FWIW.