Thinking about upgrading, but wondering about diminishing returns

Possibly the most civilized, helpful and inspiring forum discussion I've read in the last few months (though admittedly I am a sucker for those click-bait posts). Appreciated.

Whole-heartedly agree with the suggestions you've picked up on so far. I will only add that in terms of imaging and sound-stage width and air, one of the biggest impacts I experienced was with the purchase of high-quality digital cables (Ethernet, USB and Digital Interconnects (Luna, Luna, Echole Omnia Cables respectively)). This was however after making all the non-component upgrades already mentioned. 

I use only a digital front end (TotalDAC) and was surprised by the impact-per-dollar value of these last-to-be-considered cables. If ever you get serious about your digital front end, you might look into this.

Also, can't speak highly enough about the pleasures of a great streaming set-up for musical exploration and discovery... its perhaps the most enjoyable feature of my system: being able to trial every piece of music that piques my attention and feel like I am hearing the full impact of the artist's intentions from the very first listen. So much surprise and excitement not knowing what music (and musical life) is around the next corner. Highly recommend as a way of extending the pleasure from your already great system from the sounds of it.

Enjoy and good luck.

@ihas.   ask her about utility function derivation....but hey my teachers are all Chicago school..ha

At this level, diminishing returns are sometimes just the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes you get negative returns. My system consists of (analogue source) Well Tempered Versalex / LTD2 tonearm / DPS power supply, Dynavector 20X2L cartridge, Pass Labs Aleph Ono phono preamp; (digital source) Naim CDS3, Teddy Pardo XPS power supply; (amplification) Naim NAC-112 preamp, Naim NAP-150 power amp; (speakers) ProAc Studio 140 Mk2. Cabling is either Naim or Chord. What I will say about this system is two things: First, the CDS3 is very well-regarded, and was the top of the line before the CD 555. However, my analogue front-end blows the CDS3 out of the water, despite having about half the price-tag. I’m certain that the reason for that is the magical Pass phono pre.  Stick with yours, it's going to be very tough to beat. Second, I’ve listened to systems that cost in the region of $240k, and don’t sound as good as mine at maybe 1/4 the price. Some of the really high-priced boxes produce a lot of hi-fi wiz-bang effects, but they don’t produce good music. Really the only thing that makes sense is to get a component into your system and see if it’s a synergistic match that really improves the music. Something may be higher-up the food chain, but may make your music sound too analytical to enjoy. And who knows, you might find that you get more out of room treatments than component upgrades. It’s all just stuff you have to try out.

"Upgrade" ... is a subjective thing ... and EVERYTHING has diminishing returns.

So you are correct to be concerned about them!
You should never buy ANYTHING unless you are :
1. Unhappy with your system, for a good long while.
2. Able to pin down what you want
3. Able to pin down what piece is the weak link and causing the issue.
Room treatments are a great idea. As a mastering engineer the room is huge ... and speaker placement is key. 1/4" this way or that can achieve huge gains. Then it’s the gear, which is also huge.  See 1,2,3.

Enjoy !

Hi liamowen, I believe that your 6DJ8's are a weak point. I have an AR LS15 which had V-Cap teflon caps bypassing the factory caps and thought I was done. Then I read about the Schitt Audio Yggdrasil DAC. I was so impressed with it that I bought their Freya, which with the right tubes, was a big step up, but that you need to blend tubes meant that something was less than perfect as neutral tubes should make it sound best, but it doesn't. That sent me to the Don Sachs DS2 preamp. Don spend decades upgrading HK Citation tube gear and McIntosh tube gear primarily. Then he found Roy Muttram's SP14 preamp, which he has spent several years improving. His DS2 preamp is neutral, and good 6SN7 tubes blow 6922/6DJ8 tubes away. They are just a far better sounding tube. As far as cables go, Cardas cables are about the best commercial cables I have had in my system, but honestly cables made with Dualund's improved version of Western Electric's tined copper cables. You can pick them up for less than $100 for SE cables, and perhaps $50 more for balanced cables. My AQ Colorado cables suck badly, but I can't speak to their higher end cables. That's where I would start though, as for speaker cables Dualund's 12 gage cables from Partsconnexion may be a little small for the power that you are supplying, so I would look at Western Electric 10 gauge cables, but there are now counterfeit cables out there. My source is now out of the 10 gage cable, so I can't tell you who may have the real thing now, it hasn't been produced in decades. The thing is though, for $100 or less, you can find out if I have a clue or not. Beyond the better cables, and the DS2 preamp, the Schiit Yggdrasil would likely be in the mix. I became completely frustrated with vinyl long ago. I had a Sota Saphire with a Souther liner tracking arm, and a hand full of other arms, Micro Benz, and other cartridges, but it was the PITA of dealing with vinyl that finally made me give it up. I was paying $50 or more for records that had more imperfections out of the original packaging than a $3.99 LP I bought as a kid had. I had multiple cleaning machines, but even when I cleaned the release wax off a new LP it sounded like crap, it didn't matter what arm, TT, or cartridge I used. I have heard that the PS Audio DAC sounds better than the Yggdrasil, but Schiit recently upgraded the Yggdrasil, and I have not personally listened to the PS Audio DAC. Other than that I don't know enough about the rest of your gear to speak intelligently about it. I hope you find your way to a system that you are finally content with!