Marantz SACD 30N

I am resisting any true streaming/streamer. (I guess using an iPad to do Spotify is not really streaming.)  That’s a black/rabbit hole I’d rather not go down.  It seems like an endless trail of more boxes, more cables, and more upgrades—as if audiophilia were not already filled with these. 

Go down that rabbit hole. Get a Qobuz account.  Having whole new worlds of music at your fingertips is a revelation.  Trust me — it’s more than worth the effort. I’ve discovered tons of new music I would’ve never otherwise discovered, and it’s transformed my music life. Or you can just keep listening to the same stuff over and over.  

@hoodjem  So as you say the 30n is a Jack of all trades, but the flip side of that is that it’s a master of nothing.  It’s a transport, DAC, streamer, Bluetooth player, and preamplifier for $3k, and how much of that do you think goes into the DAC?  The streamer?  The answer is not a lot so there’s a lot of room for improvement in both, and they’re both critically important for better sound.  I started steaming from my iPad to my DAC and thought it was fine until I got a budget $400 iFi Zen Stream streamer (with their $100 iPowerX power supply) and the sound quality went to a higher level entirely.  Bottom line — using the iPad as a streamer sucks and streamers matter a lot.  If I was you my minimum entry level would be a Bluesound Node streamer with an external linear power supply and something like a Musician Pegasus II R2R DAC ($1100 through Amazon you can return) or better yet a Denafrips Pontus 15th ($2100).  So to answer your question directly, I’d budget $2k -$3k for a streamer and DAC to get a truly significant and noticeable improvement.  Just my $0.02 and experience FWIW and hope it’s somewhat helpful.