Streaming, Getting the Signal, Then What?

@veemike you are soliciting recommendations without specifying the problem you’re trying to solve. Don’t know why you’re so surprised that you’re getting recommendations from every possible angle. 
Sounds like your objective is to tackle the low hanging fruit which in this case is your network chain, and add switches, converters , filters and linear power supplies. The easiest and the cheapest game to play. Until you look at how much you had spent and what you got back sonically as ROI. 

Remember, the real improvement is in the components, not tweaks. 

Also, I wasn’t the one who recommended eliminating your preamp. Don’t want to take the credit for the idea that I think is a one step forward two steps back type deal. 

Anyway, good luck to you and keep us posted. 

If you are using a combination modem/router my one remaining suggestion is to use a gas discharge surge suppressor at the entrance of the cable to your building.

I use a lot of things which are Ethernet connected, and a surge coming in from outside via the cable modem could take a lot of things out. OTOH, if you are 100% Wifi, then the only risk is to your router.

I don’t think there’s a realistic router upgrade from what you own. The best you can do is perhaps use a PC/laptop or phone WIFI analyzer to make sure your router is on otherwise unused channels. Even a strong Wifi signal can suffer from noisy neighbors, and the analyzers are free.

New routers and receivers may have faster transmit speeds, but music streaming is lightweight. It’s not going to make anything sound better if you improve your download speeds by a factor of 100, but putting your router on unused channels will.  I think newer routers do a better job.  6 years ago they all seemed to cluster on the same 2 channels, causing a real headache for apartment dwellers.

Thanks all. I now see that erik_squires may be correct, that there may not be a realistic upgrade. I am going to print this thread and come to my own conclusion. Perhaps it is only tweaks that may conceivably make a small difference.

Thanks all. 

If you are using a combination modem/router my one remaining suggestion is to use a gas discharge surge suppressor at the entrance of the cable to your building.

I live in a 160 year old brick factory building condo-ized back in 2007. So I cannot access the entrance of the cable into the building.  I am going through an upmarket surge protector immediately in front of my modem/router.

The lowest hanging fruit if you deal with digital hires files or ripped rebook cd (i.e., you buy the albums and pay the artist a living wage) is...you get the Daniel Hertz Master Class Ssoftware ($600 ish) and you convert your digital files before playback...it takes care of anything .."digital-ish’ and makes it sound like analog tape., while retaining every pro of a hires studio master....no cons/pita of old master tape, no awful vinyl cons to deal with in the name of analog.

At that point, it doesn’t matter all that much if your dac sucked a bit or the streamer sucked worse...it doesn’t quite matter how neurotic one went with the ethernet & power infrastructure.

There are certain things that matter way more to the ear/central nervous system (towers over everything else) and Levinson appears to have somehow stumbled into or managed to get to the bottom of it.