upgrade advice

@yansad - The PS Audio NuWave looks nice.  It has very good power supply and I like the fact that the output stage is Class A and uses discrete elements.  I have no direct experience with PS Audio DACs, so you'll have to research on user feedback.

If you're really stuck on Tidal, then options are more limited.  Also, if you require wireless.  Maybe think about Oppo 103 + iPhone/iPad/Android + PS Audi Nuwave (or another DAC). ?  The Oppo and IOS/Android combination will get you a whole lot, and I'm sure it's a much better digital transport than the Bluesound.

I didn’t realize that you were using the Hegel internal DAC. I assumed you were using the Buesound as DAC. That being said, it is still my opinion that an external DAC will do much better than the Hegel internal DAC. I wouldn’t mess around with upgrading the digital cable. In my experience, the cheap Blue Jeans "Belden 1694A" digital coax cable is extremely good. I have not tested super expensive digital coax cables, but this Belden has beat stuff up to the $150-200 level. Make sure you get a 6 foot cable (short cables are worse actually).

The Lumin D1 is an interesting device. I took a quick look. However, I think it has some things lacking. First, the power supply is basically a wall wart, and there doesn’t look to be any good power supply internally. Second is that it uses 49860 op amps for both I/V and output buffer. While the 49860 are okay, I think that using discrete circuits are much better. For $2,000, I would actually look elsewhere for a device.

http://www.stereolifemagazine.com/images/reviews/lumind1/w/LuminD1-03w.jpg

The Marantz NA8005 has a lot of internal power supply management (which is critical in my opinion), such as large transformer, much voltage regulators, large capacitance bank, etc. It also has discrete analog output circuits (though only has RCA outputs). It has many of the streaming audio functionality (apply airplay, DLNA, internet radio, etc., IOS/android control app, DSD support), so you could potentially replace your Blusound unless you require wireless network.

http://www.alpha-audio.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Marantz-NA8005-intern-3.jpg

The Gustard X20 has fully discrete analog output circuits and also supports balanced XLR audio outputs, but it is only a DAC (not a network player), so you’ll still have to use your Blusound for streaming/playing. It is somewhat cheaper than the Marantz.  May be a better power supply than the Marantz, but no network streaming/playing.

https://littlemart.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/x20d.jpg

Both are probably very nice choices in the $800-1200 area. I’m sure there may be other choices. With this cost, you could spend money on a couple of good power cables (for Hegel and new DAC) as well as a good interconnect (Maybe a Wire World, but there are many).

On another note, I notice that you have VOVOX vocalis speaker cables. I tested some VOVOX sonorous XLR interconnects a while back (they don’t have sonorous anymore, but it’s probably equivalent to the vocalis line). The sound was very balanced and all the frequencies were there, but it just did not reach out and grab me. There was not any excitement in the music. It was like the cable was holding the music back and wasn’t letting it breath. I inquired with VOVOX and found they used a 26 awg solid-core conductor. I’m assuming this was the reason for the constrained sound (there is controversy in the audio industry - some say the smallest conductor is the best if you can get away with it).

I ended up sending them back to the distributor and exchanging them for some Evidence Audio Lyric HG XLR interconnects. These used a 20awg solid-core conductor and sounded much better - more exciting with more punch and everything else. Since then, I have made my own cables that are just far superior (they come in at 17awg), but I have also listened to Wire World Eclipse 7. The Wire World are excellent cables as well. I think it comes down to awg in interconnects as well as all other cable (power, internal power, speaker, etc).

I have no idea how the VOVOX speaker cable sound or if they are restricting anything at all. Their website does say they use larger solid-core conductors in their expensive cable, but they don’t publish the final cable awg. If you were inclined, you could try an experiment. Get some 12awg OFC stranded copper speaker wire (really cheap - monoprice for $15). Burn them in for at least 24 hours and then give a listen. (I’ve recommended this in another thread as well). If it’s more open and exciting, it may point to the VOVOX restricting the sound. It’s up to you at this point what you want to do, whether keeping the 12awg or looking for a more expensive cable. I actually use the 12awg cheap stranded at this point, and it’s very excellent if you have good equipment. I just haven’t gotten to the point of looking at speaker wire (maybe next year).