Usher Mini Dancer 2 or Q Acoustics Concept 500 - Marantz PM Ki Ruby

@soix thank you.  Here’s my entire system.  I use Silnote Cables Classic RCA interconnect and Blue Jeans Cable Canare 4311 speaker cables.  

Unfortunately, acoustic treatment is not an option. Wifey will kick me out lol.. Its a living room setup in a condo.

So my only options are time and minor tweaks in gear :)

Thanks for sharing your system components — most helpful.  I hear ya loud n clear on the wife front, and let’s see where things stand at around the 200 hour mark because things may well be very different by then.  I know you just dropped some coin on the speakers, but I’ll just share some unsolicited thoughts I think could be worth considering for the future or whenever FWIW.

- Your system could likely benefit from better speaker cables, and I’d highly recommend something like these Acoustic Zen cables (yeah I own them) as they do all the audiophile things in spades (pun intended) and sound very natural doing it.  I also think they’d very much synergize with and  compliment the Usher’s considerable strengths.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235430798208

- A more organic-sounding DAC like the Denafrips Pontus 2 may also be very worth considering as your current DAC, while very good, leans more to the very neutral and maybe clinical side.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650096562-denafrips-pontus-ii-dac/

- Last, adding an external linear power supply (like Teddy Pardo, etc.) to your Node can yield significant improvements in performance and refinement for $400 or less.

I mention these only if after break in you’re curious about pushing or tweaking your system further.  Again, just fyi and FWIW.

Congrats, Usher speakers are competitive with anything you want to put them up against at a givin price point. 

Any updates/thoughts as they’ve had more time on them?