Recommendations for 5k upgrade

If you like what you have, but want to refine it, I suggest upgrading to the Audience 12T with the Teflon caps. The regular 12 is a great piece, but the T upgrade is really significant. Then again, your DAC is good, but I would consider a better DAC before spending significant money on accessories. In the 5K range, you could check out the EAR DAC or even the new Acute, which will give you a transport for CDs. The Acute is VERY good. I've also heard very good things about the Berkley Dac, but haven't heard it myself.

Thanks all for the great suggestions and nice comments!

Source: Since I am focusing on playing FLAC files (still have to restrain myself from getting a TT -not talking about an Audi- as I know the total cost will soon exceed the cost of a new sub/compact car), and rather using the SACD/CD player occasionally (therefore I don't see the need for urgent upgrade; except maybe to a bit higher level like the Sony 777ES series).
I will look certainly into a better DAC and digital cable.

ICs: just bought the first pair of Valhalla ICs so will soon experience the difference.

SC: thanks for the confirmation of the Tyr2 that I was trending to. Glad to hear that this is not my weakest link.

PCs (your advise needed): In a forum they mentioned that Lars, the NordOst rep, demoed a system with (just) one Valhalla PC between the wall and conditioner, the rest of the system just had their entry level PCs. Lars stated that this setup is better than, say, all Brahmas throughout the system. The audience (no pun intended) concurred after the demo. If one follows this strategy, I would upgrade the AdeptResponse PC to AU24e first (it is what I put in my plan).
I would appreciate if anyone can confirm this strategy/philosophy in getting the very best PC upstream and leave the rest on entry level (or maybe stock cords?) to achieve the best price/performance. (I really wish not to need to end up with Valhalla -or equally priced, even used- PCs- for every device in the system.

Also, I will keep looking for the review on game changers in this area. Just looked very briefly at Cabledyne's website, the PCs looks decent.

Pconditioning: Even though I had great experience passing from a NordOst Thor to AdeptResponse 12, I will not likely upgrade to the newer T series before the source and speaker and power cables are upgraded. Rationale: if I shell out another 10k (or 5k for the upgrade) from the 12 to 12T, I might as well contemplate replacing the big Dunlavy SC-IVs to something at least good sounding but more appealing to look at.

As mentioned before, I will upgrade to at least one dedicated 20A line and ask the electrician to put more than enough earth poles to ensure I have the best ground possible, which I believe will eliminate potential ground issues.

You might consider a DEQX unit, which offers speaker correction (frequency, group delay, phase), room correction, and sub integration with electronic crossovers of a wide variety. Mine has been my favorite upgrade in many years; a friend purchased and is happy with one after hearing mine; and another audiogoner purchased and is very happy with an Express unit I sold him when I upgraded to the HDP3.

One warning: the units are very flexible and the nomenclature and software layout can be quite confusing at first: there is a steep learning curve. Once you read through the install manual and run through a few trial runs, though, it becomes fairly easy.

I've noticed a few for sale recently, which may be because they didn't fit well in a some peoples's systems. I was not impressed with my first couple of run throughs, before I took time and effort to get the full benefit of the DEQX, so I suppose that may be a case for others as well.

I suspect, given the quality of your gear, that the DAC and transport are the weakest links. You can get a used PSAudio MKII Perfect Wave DAC and Perfect Wave transport within your budget price. It's a very musical set up and was just reviewed in The Absolute Sound. I run mine through a CT5 and the sound is smooth but full of detail. Wish my speakers were compatible with those 140's!

Your system good as it is. The weakest component, for me, would be your sources. I have the same Sony you have. Its OK as a back up or to just try SACD but your other components are in another league. As far as your PC setup goes, I can't comment because the sound varies so much from system to system, I could only guess as to how good it sounds. My recommendation. Get a real CD player. That will be a huge improvement. If you need other formats besides Redbook, two players I would look at are the Ayre 5 series universal and the Cary 306 CD/SACD players. They both sound incredible. The reason I choose these 2 are for Redbook. With most multi-format players, CD quality is sacrificed. Not so with these two. They can easily hold their own against Redbook only players in the same price range. And since most people have a lot more CD's than other formats, it just makes sense to have a really good CD player. (CD needs all the help it can get).

I see that you are considering things like tube rolling and new cables. I won't tell you not to do that. Its your choice. I just don't think they will come anywhere near the improvements that a new source will bring.