Seeking advice/tips on improving sound quality

Thanks Bob. Someone at work mentioned JRivers software. Swears by it. Apparently it has sound processing/optimization enhancements that are meant for audiophiles to tinker with. They have a 30 day trial and might give it a shot.

Bluetooth is newer and am using AptX protocol. Vandersteen 3 might be too big for the room, besides the 2CEs are the signature ii editions (3 yrs old)... so not sure if all that hassle of swapping speakers will be justified in sound improvement. The Arcam is the non wifi one. Guess, experimenting with another preamp might not be a bad idea if there are any recommendations.

elevick, thanks for the tips. Stands are not filled. I will try it out. As far as cables are concerned, I have Kimber PBJs all the way through for interconnects and Schmitt Audio speaker/subwoofer cables. The Mccormack has a Shunyata Venom power cable. I wish I could use a custom power cable for the Macintosh but unfortunately that's not an option. Speakers are bi-wired. I have a 8 year old Monster power conditioner. It used to be their top of their line back then so am assuming it is good enough. I am itching to go on the turn table route but it would take me a lot of money and time to build my connection again on vinyl. Maybe I might find out if any local shops can let me experiment with a DAC on 'try before you buy basis'...I am also contemplating on what can be done with room treatment that doesn't start a war in the house over aesthetics if you know what i mean....

Nycjlee, thanks for sharing your experience. I have heard about the Aurender but haven't seen or heard one. Will find out if there are any dealers here in the San Diego area who carry it.

I guess based on everyone's feedback the lowest common denominator is a DAC. For some odd reason my Arcam RDac doesn't jive with the Macintosh pre amp and when I turn up the volume all the way to the max I get a sound level that is moderately acceptable. Hence I am a little reluctant to purchase a DAC only to find that I am still experiencing the same issues. I will take my C27 to local dealers to find a day that can actually work well with it.

Bigkidz, you hit it on the nail. Unfortunately I don't know what I am looking for myself outside of just exploring what can help improve the current sound. I predominantly listen to classic rock and roll (mostly Floyd, Led Zep, Who) and then jazz (Dave Brubeck, Miles, Monk etc) and then a few odd categories in between at times. My desire to improve the sound came up when I noticed differences between CDs that I was playing to the corresponding recording streamed from the iMac. The difference was primarily in the separation of instruments which sounded very good irrespective of the source on the jazz recordings but not so much on the rock and roll ones. Hence I started questioning whether the recordings themselves were the culprit or it was something in the setup that needed a boost...Looks like all roads are currently leading to a good DAC so I will explore that option. I guess my final goal is to have the ability to get CD like sound but through the convenience of a music organizer like iTunes etc. so that I can listen to various different songs/artists without loading/unloading cds.