Upgrade speakers or DAC

Speakers

I have the Il Cremonese and I think that’s your best bang for the buck. I upgraded from SF Serafino- outstanding in its own right- and the difference is substantial. Initially planned to go with the Amati which is a great speaker but moving up to the Il Cremonese was a big jump

the DCS is a great piece of gear but I think you will get the biggest jump with the speakers and could get a very big step up in performance from the Cambridge for much less investment than Rossini

Thank you all for your input!

@johnread57 yes, significant jump from Cambridge Audio Edge NQ to dCS Rossini Apex. I have taken my CA to a dCS dealer and compared the two using the same components in the same room....and WOW. 

@aewarren this rabbit hole is almost never-ending! I think these two will end up being my last upgrades and then call it quits. 

@soix I've had a couple dealers advise me that the Cambridge is the weakest link in my system as well, even tho it is their top of the line. 

@curiousjim The G5's are amazing speakers, they really are. You will definitely enjoy them. I have compared them without subs to my Olympica III's with dual REL 212 SE's and to my ears, they sound about the same. That is why I am looking further up the line.  

@kerrybh Thanks. The SF Il Cremonese are beautiful to look at and sound amazing. 

@deep_333 I'm looking for just "more" I guess. When I listened to the Rossini Apex there was more separation, more instruments, more voice, more bass, the sound enveloped the room just more. In listening to the Il Cremonese, I guess it did the same in comparison to the Olympica III. 

Both. The better the speakers are the bigger difference a better dac will make. The good thing is your amps and pre won’t need to be upgraded for the new speakers. is the cambridge an audible upgrade from the dac in the c2500?

Whether you upgrade, the streamer or the speakers first, you’ll be upgrading the other component soon after. 
 

I’d upgrade the speakers first but I would also say the DAC upgrade will be very significant as well. Also, in my experience, streaming DACs don’t feature the best possible streamer and a separate high quality dedicated streamer will beat the inbuilt network module. Something to keep in mind for the future.