Synergy is by far most important , the dac or front end most important why ?
for the incoming signal comes through and this dictates how it is going to sound down stream , once information is lost then it cannot be fixed down stream
a quality dac very important , then maybe loudspeakers .
cables too are much more important then many think necessary
I have had several , the Cardas clear are possibly my next cables
gidital absolutely nexeccary , good Ethernet cables especially at the end point
usb for sure .I just bought a Upper tier Tubulus audio and Stealth Tunable usb cable , worth every penny extracting more detail, for my audio system.