What would you do?

I was just about to suggest the SS-X, but @mesch beat me to it.  It gets my highest recommendation - I'll never have a stereo system without it.

Sound staging, especially 'depth  of image' is principally the product of the recording. If it is there, and in few it is, the rest of it is found in your speaker/room set up. You are not likely to be able to enhance sound staging to any meaningful degree by just getting better (or newer speakers) although you might get some with a better (for your situation) tonal balance. Conversely properly set up speakers of a modest design can produce a pretty good sound stage, at least a two dimensional one.  

 Regarding my recommended toe-in, the principal benefit of substantial to-in is the reduction of frequency bounce off nearby side walls which can create high frequency emphasis as well as broadband distortion at the listening position.

The only issue one must be aware of when doing this is the nature of the signal. Many speakers are hot 'on axis' and roll off off axis. In a 'straight ahead set up you would probably be listening about 20 - 25 degrees off axis, so if you toe in your speakers you want to avoid having them with having the axis pointed at your head, you must rotate them with the axis well in front of your head replicating the angle you would have were the speakers pointed straight ahead.  Looks funny but if you research this issue in depth you will find that many manufacturers/dealers use such a toe-in set up in demo rooms. Try it - with the axis of both speakers crossing well in front of your chair. 

TMI perhaps but I'm just trying to help you keep from going down a  bottomless hole.

Good luck

Thursday I will try the toe-in as suggested. I also am intrigued by the Black Ice sound enhancer. After a brief look at review it sounds very interesting. If i used this, where does it go in the circuit- after the DAC and before the Hegel? Thanks again for all your input.

I agree with you MillerCarbon. I agree that buying a new component feels risky and may alter the sound I largely love from my relatively simple system . I know others will say "you could just sell it' with respect to a new component. And I know that some components can be heard on a trial basis. I guess I am relatively risk adverse, maybe I am in the wrong hobby!

Component selection is a lot of time and trouble. Component upgrades are also expensive. My philosophy is you are almost always better getting the most out of what you already have than swapping out for "better". 

Bear in mind, none of these guys offering that sort of advice has ever tried any of the stuff I am talking about. But if you search around you will find those who have actually tried this stuff confirm what I am saying.  

So as far as risk-averse goes, you can find Schumann generators on eBay and Amazon. They are all the same circuit and it really doesn't matter which one and so what I did was search around for Make Offer and got mine for only $11 each. Can you risk $11? Just one will not be that big an improvement but you will hear it, and then you simply buy more. Just be sure to get ones with included USB cable. I assume you have a couple spare USB chargers laying around to plug them into. If not then add a few bucks for that.

Some say placement matters but not that I have noticed and so you can probably do fine with them laying around behind equipment racks where it won't matter how they look.  

They sell the same exact thing in a plastic case for hundreds. Synergistic puts it in a anodized aluminum case for thousands. You can buy 7 for $100!  

The more you get the better it sounds. With each one the top end becomes more and more fluid and natural, with less strain and glare. You will hear deeper and deeper into the acoustic space. People talk about the background getting blacker. They should try these so they know what they're talking about. This makes images seem so much more dimensional and lifelike. I've heard a whole lot of stuff and can say for sure you will not get this degree of improvement as these with any DAC or amp or anything else, not without spending multiples of your entire budget anyway. Maybe not even then.

People will argue with this. When they do, ask how many of these they heard? So how do they know? They do not. Biggest problem with this site, all these people blathering about that which they know not. If they would just come out and say, "Of course I never tried this so haven't a freaking clue, BUT" and then launch into it, they could be forgiven. But don't hold your breath.

The equalizer by the way, will do NOTHING for what you want. All EQ can do is turn down the level of the top end. This does nothing to the real problem, harshness. Might as well tell you to put cotton in your ears.

Seven or eight Schumann generators will have you swimming in a luxurious deep rich sound stage for under $100. A set of Townshend Pods under your DAC will open it up with more detail, dynamics, and truth of timbre than you could get from any $3k DAC sitting on its factory feet. Then trick your speakers out with the Synergistic Research HFT Speaker Kit and they will flat-out disappear. You can do all three for well under your budget. They will preserve all the character of what you have, and not change it, but only make it better. All of this for only about half your budget. Your jaw will drop!

Townshend Pods are sold based on component weight. Check with John Hannant he helped me out with mine. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa8492-townshend-audio-seismic-isolation-pods-set-of-4-sizes-a-b...

Synergistic guarantees the speaker kit, and you have my personal guarantee on the Schumann generators. Can't get more low-risk/high reward than that.

The sound enhancer would be placed between the DAC and Integrated amp. It is used for bass adjustment and soundstage expansion. It is not an equalizer as such. Like @smrex13, many on this forum have found it to do what you seem to be looking for. I have not tried one yet, however very much thinking of doing so.

I would continue to play with speaker placement and any room treatment you can prior to trying the enhancer.