"I really can't hear much of a difference between Spotify, my ripped music on my Macbook or the transport."
jzzmusician -Your unselfishness and charity towards your MinL is to be commended. Glad you are getting back to listening as you want. Is your above statement a bad thing? Maybe not. I certainly can't tell you with any certainty spending on a new DAC or upgrading your front end is going to make a huge difference to your listening enjoyment. Seems like you already have some good gear. Maybe consider upgrading your cabling? (interconnects, speaker cables, & power cords) I've been very happy with Pangea PCs, Morrow Audio ICs (MA-4) and Morrow Audio SP-4 speaker cables. Clear Day double shotgun speaker wire was also VERY good but I give a slight edge in clarity to the Morrow SP-4. I used to think "wire is wire" but when someone loaned me some different speaker cables to compare to the JPS Labs wire I had been using (and having replaced old Monster cable with the JPS Labs wire before that), there was no denying the difference better wire made.
FWIW, we are a similar age and my system is listed. I have a Schiit Gungnir w/V-Link 192 for Macbook Air/USB playback of CDs ripped to external HD using ALAC into iTunes. I went back and forth when first starting out comparing ALAC vs WAV. I couldn't hear a difference so went with ALAC given the convenient metadata management it allows. Playback is via BitPerfect. I use the Gungnir for listening to Spotify Premium as well. While I can hear differences between CD playback and Spotify, I would not call them huge. I'd also note the quality of recordings on Spotify are not all the same - some Spotify recordings sound way better than others. Maybe just a reflection of the quality of the original material??? Of 3 playback options, however (direct CD playback, ripped CD, Spotify) my preference is my ripped files. I do tend to buy CDs of music I really like that was discovered on Spotify.
Schiit allows an in home trial period for the Gungnir. There are other on-line sellers that allow in home trials as well: Audio Advisor and Music Direct, for example. Regarding wire, check out The Cable Company. They have a cable lending library. Morrow has a good in-home trial program. You can also save a ton buying used there. Paul Laudati at Clear Day is a gem and great to do business with.
I doubt anyone can predict what YOUR ears will hear but unless you've already done it, my suggestion is consider spending your upgrade $ on better wire. Have fun, enjoy the music and let us know what you like to listen to.
jzzmusician -Your unselfishness and charity towards your MinL is to be commended. Glad you are getting back to listening as you want. Is your above statement a bad thing? Maybe not. I certainly can't tell you with any certainty spending on a new DAC or upgrading your front end is going to make a huge difference to your listening enjoyment. Seems like you already have some good gear. Maybe consider upgrading your cabling? (interconnects, speaker cables, & power cords) I've been very happy with Pangea PCs, Morrow Audio ICs (MA-4) and Morrow Audio SP-4 speaker cables. Clear Day double shotgun speaker wire was also VERY good but I give a slight edge in clarity to the Morrow SP-4. I used to think "wire is wire" but when someone loaned me some different speaker cables to compare to the JPS Labs wire I had been using (and having replaced old Monster cable with the JPS Labs wire before that), there was no denying the difference better wire made.
FWIW, we are a similar age and my system is listed. I have a Schiit Gungnir w/V-Link 192 for Macbook Air/USB playback of CDs ripped to external HD using ALAC into iTunes. I went back and forth when first starting out comparing ALAC vs WAV. I couldn't hear a difference so went with ALAC given the convenient metadata management it allows. Playback is via BitPerfect. I use the Gungnir for listening to Spotify Premium as well. While I can hear differences between CD playback and Spotify, I would not call them huge. I'd also note the quality of recordings on Spotify are not all the same - some Spotify recordings sound way better than others. Maybe just a reflection of the quality of the original material??? Of 3 playback options, however (direct CD playback, ripped CD, Spotify) my preference is my ripped files. I do tend to buy CDs of music I really like that was discovered on Spotify.
Schiit allows an in home trial period for the Gungnir. There are other on-line sellers that allow in home trials as well: Audio Advisor and Music Direct, for example. Regarding wire, check out The Cable Company. They have a cable lending library. Morrow has a good in-home trial program. You can also save a ton buying used there. Paul Laudati at Clear Day is a gem and great to do business with.
I doubt anyone can predict what YOUR ears will hear but unless you've already done it, my suggestion is consider spending your upgrade $ on better wire. Have fun, enjoy the music and let us know what you like to listen to.