Looking for high end individual streamer & individual dac to work in tandem.

I found a really high quality streamer is the key. I alway put every penny I can into the best possible component. Then I can listen to and appreciate it while my financial situation improves. Then I start evaluating, cables, then powercords and power conditioning. You can get small improvements from all of these… but to me, all depends on the best possible components! My streamer is very satisfying and on the same level as my analog end… I have not fiddled with my modem.

I now have two direct power lines, a power conditioner… these improve the whole system significantly. I think the ether regeneration module did a bit of good… but I bought based on reviews amid some other big upgrades.

I have two Aurender streamers and there is no discernible difference between CD, ripped, and streamed files… well, only steaming can be better since so many of the files are of higher resolution. 
A few years ago this was not true.

For that budget I would recommend Schiit Yggdrasil for DAC and a Aurender streamer… maybe used to reach a bit higher on the streamer. I have owned a half dozen high end DACs and a half dozen high end streamers. Do not hesitate to put more money into the streamer. The Yggdrasil DAC is an outstanding budget DAC, performing at a higher level than its price would indicate.

If you do not have an Ethernet connection near your stereo. Just get one of the wallwart wifi extenders and plug into that. Later on if you want to add a ether regenerator if you want to get fancy. But first you want a solid high performance streamer and DAC. If you get this right you will not need any or a lot of file storage because streaming from your files and from a service will sound the same and in many instance better through a streaming service as much of streaming content is of greater resolution.