It's not the sound I want!

Any of the above advice about tube dacs or players may be just what you need.I own the Cal Alpha/Delta combo(with a used reference balanced digital interconnect.(cable list $700. used$225.) Tubes offer a way to custom tailor sound to your own taste and needs.The above setup ,including cable can be had used for ,within $1000.(U.S.)The Alpha dac can later be upgraded by Cal to 24/96 which brings the overall performance up another notch !You can easily get most or all your money back on reselling used gear and this offers one the ultimate and most affordable way to fine tune their system.I would strongly recommend that you focus on one component at a time and wait until your budget allows for you to purchase the new addition to compare with your current one.While room treatment, isolation and ideal speaker placement are all essential to fine tune your sound,proper component matching is of the utmost importance.If the digital upgrade is not the entire solution ,then consider comparing amps that will have a smoother high end. I went from a well broken in Bryston 3BST to a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe,that I will soon send out for the top revision A upgrade.The 3BST sounded fine,yet the DNA-1 was smoother.A perfectly matched and properly setup system will give you a very satisfying sound.I recently had a second system(5k) that was very satisfing.BTW, both of these systems also benefited from tube pre amps.One step at a time and a little patience.