What should I upgrade first on my budget system?

@coryb are there aspects of the system that you do not like? Or things that you feel it should better?

(that is where I would start.)

Usually a highpass filter to your amp/speakers… and adding a sub to fill in the bottom would often free up the amp and speakers.

but… that assumes your amp and speakers are over taxed with low notes, or that you want more SPL in the low registers.

So I am not sure there is a rational reason to upgrade without some goal or thing to improve… and maybe just going slow is best?

(And enjoy what it does for now)

But I don’t get DACs yet. Someone said I need a good DAC. Would I need one for my cd player and PONO and preamp? Thanks.

A DAC is only for CD and.or streaming.
Whether you need one, and whether it sounds better is another thing.

How do you like your phono side?

If neither digital nor phono is bringing joy, then it could be speakers… but I don’t know yours.

If in doubt, then my advice is to go slow and try to have some solid reason for making a change.

So far you have gotten room treatment, power to the room, power cords and conditioners, DACS, ICs (I do not recall speaker cables). But that is a lot of approaches without knowing whether they are addressing a way to mitigate or ameliorate some causal mechanism that may or may not exist.
(But the room treatment stuff is likely the safest bet… IMO)

How you are to make sense of the wide disparity of advice is beyond me to comprehend.