Yes, another audiophile at a crossroads story and request for advice

@ezstreams - cable science has advanced considerably in the last few years and it is very difficult without knowing the science, to determine which cables may be affective.

You are probably due for an upgrade, so it might be good to familiarize yourself with the design approach of the brands mentioned.

For a more budget oriented approach take a look at Audio Envy cables, they may be a very good to start to your quest

Regards, Steve

@williewonka Thanks so much for the advice Steve. I can see by the links you provided and the link to your system page that you know of what you speak. 

I've found that improving the source is the best method to enhance detail:

-Consider an Uptone EtherREGEN AND an Uptone JS2 LPS. Utilize the JS2 dual power outputs to feed both your REGEN and Nucleus. The Nucleus is a good server and benefits from a better power supply.

-At the risk of being heavily criticized, try connecting your streamer to DAC with USB. My system produces more detail using USB over SPDIF. This relies on a superior DAC over streamer.

-Try using Roon to upsample Tidal output to higher PCM bitrate or even DSD.

As a sidenote, I strongly suggest plugging your amp directly into the wall. I’ve found this produces better results over even my Niagara 7000’s high output bank. 

@ezstreams - your Morrow cables are actually quite good from a design perspective, but they are still using OFC, which is little dated compared to OCC copper, but you should be able to sell them quite easily because they have a good reputation for quality/effectiveness.

I just took a look at Audio Envy products and it seems they have some very nice products and I think their speaker cables would make a noticeable improvement compared to the Morrow cables.

There are of course many other fine cables out there, but you do have to know a bit more about cable materials/insulation/geometries in order to discern good from bad designs.

I would start by upgrading your speaker cables and then introduce interconncts and finally power cables because "we humans" tend to attribute an improvements to the last "component" (I view cables as a component) introduced into a system. Having good speaker cables allows you to hear just how much improvement was achieved by introducing other cables like interconnects and power cables.

Power cables would be the last thing I would upgrade because the improvements tend to be more subtle and less noticeable, especially when applied to main power amps. This is because the power supplies tend to be designed to match the power requirements, whereas source components tend to have a less "robust" power supply, so attaching a good power cable would make a noticeable improvement

Hope that helps - Steve

@ezstreams I have an alternative option for you, it is fully in keeping with what you have made known in the OP.

You are approaching a period of your life where you have additional time to spend experiencing your HiFi Set Up.

You also have a Budget to swap out some of the ancillaries used in your System and create a sound that is seemingly more to your satisfaction.

With the above two points in mind, there are Pro's and Con's, I will make my thoughts known on these.

Pro's

1, Time available is now your friend, put a request out to meet up with local to yourself audio enthusiasts, the lessons that can be learned from experiencing other systems and friendships that can form are extremely valuable.

2, In my own HiFi Group (made up mainly of a group of 10 retired and semi-retired members, where a monthly meet is usually the minimum) there are members systems that have evolved as a result of attending these meet ups. Where their choices have been structured around the good impressions made from listening to other members systems and having discovered alternative ancillaries worthy of consideration. Your ideal ancillary could prove to be a item available as a used purchase and save outlaying extra $0000's. 

3, Creating a Shortlist and visiting commercial suppliers with a demonstration facility to enable a ancillary of interest to be experienced is another option to be used with the additional time available.

Con's

1, Buying with only a visual of a product as the introduction is a fast route to a purchase that does not content the end user.

2, Buying from recommendation only is no different from buying with a visual of a product.

3, Not Selecting Products for a further investigation, using the above methods and others for the purpose of producing a Shortlist is the way that is the least sure footed, and can easily be a wasteful use of ones hard earned.

4,  Any purchases being made do inquire about the aftersales support, Warranty Periods, etc. In the US there are regions that have very little requirement to support such aftersales services.