First Streamer...

@johndyson 

Which do you play, alto, tenor,baritone? Are you a jazz musician?

Charles

So you have experience upgrading your streamer while using a dime store DAC?  

Who has suggested that solution? A poor quality DAC won’t sound good with anything. Nor would a “dime store “ streamer. I was making the point that both of these digital path components are important. They work in tandem. If you have your own approach that’s fine if it works satisfactory for you.

Charles 

In my system I put DAC first and use an iFi Zen Stream with iFi's $250 power supply, $50 to use fiber optics to filter out ethernet noise and it all sounds very musical.  I will replace the iFi when I have the money, but I'm happy with the iFi.

This is terrific for you if this arrangement makes you happy. Certainly there are alternative solutions and beginning with a higher level streamer is one of them. iFi will be sufficient for some listeners and not for others. Individuality/case by case , YMMV etc.

Charles

@johndyson 

How able are you to actually do some component auditions and just listen? I know that you’ll get the usual DAC is everything advice. In my opinion @ghdprentice provided you good counsel. The quality of the streamer is important and will definitely impact the sound quality. Both components are vital. It isn’t just the DAC in isolation. There’s a partnership (Source and DAC) that needs thoughtful consideration.

Chales