Advice regarding streaming please.

Lumin U1 Mini ( no DAC )

Auto firmware updates

the price is not too crazy.

Love the Sugden. It depends a lot on what you are or want to stream. And how satisfied you are with the player interface.

The Pontus buffers and reclocks the data from the SPDIF port, so is less sensitive to the quality of the streamer than most DACs. The downside is that there are users that report sound glitches if the streamer clock is too far off in frequency from the DAC clock. If you aren't experience these problems, I'd probably recommend sticking with what you have, or spending the money to upgrade to a Venus II, or a used Venus or Terminator). 

If you do decide to upgrade your streamer, I'd recommend getting one that has a USB output option which I think works better than SPDIF on the Denafrips DACs.

Yes, the streamer matters, in no small way. I have used $100 streamers, PCs, MacBooks, and $3K, $5K, $10K, and $22K streamers (not including DAC)… each incremental increase in cost significantly improves the output quality assuming you have the ancillary equipment to support it. So, given your DAC, I suspect a better streamer could improve your sound quality significantly. I have found Aurender to be excellent sources. I own two and have experienced the N10. I went from skeptical when I ordered my $22K Aurender W20SE to believing it is a bargain. Anyway, yes, the streamer matters, like a turntable and cartridge maters in a analog leg,

A streamer is a streamer....If it connects and stays connected, to me, that Is what is important. Yes, some may do ultra hi-res whatever....I bet the majority of those here could not tell the difference between cd quality & hi res in a blind test.