Best Bang for the Buck Upgrade

I was going to say speakers, but your last sentence tells me that you have a nice connection with them. The comment that you don’t think you’ve maxed out their potential indicates to me that you suspect that better amplification might be the ticket.

As our member soix would ask at this point, What sort of sonic signature is pleasing to you? What are you looking to hear that you’re not yet hearing?

If you can answer that question, and if the inference about you liking the speakers is correct, then some other amplification might be the path for upgrade.

That said, the DAC might be bettered, too. Again, it would depend on what you seek to hear. 

+1 @djones51 

@mofojo I went to see a photo of your room but couldn't find it. Audio in a shared space is tough.

After learning how to measure room reflections and SPL curves, I cannot imagine making major changes in some areas without some estimation about what is happening in the room when it's optimized. In other words, I could not have optimized my room without some iterative listening-measuring-positioning work. And without that work, more equipment would risk time-wasting and money-wasting ventures.

That said, power improvements can lower your noise floor, which would be good, regardless of those acoustic measurements. Unless, you already have pretty clean power. If you search back over threads about power, you will find people realizing that thousands spent on power products didn't help because they had quieter, cleaner power than they realized. It's not clear to me how one can assess the level of noise in one's electrical system without a professional. If anyone knows, I'm all ears.