Warming up digital in my setup

That dac sucks.

Re: Speakers - If I move to anything else, it will be the LS60 and ditch the Hint6 all together.  Parasound & KEF are a great match IMO.  Plus, I really don't want to mess around too much with speakers / amp because I'm finally getting what I want to hear out of my analog setup.  The LS50 are here to stay (for now at least!).

I could be wrong, but I don't think an analog source would be able to compensate for bad speaker placement or bad amp/speaker combination.  If it was a setup/pairing issue i'd also loose the depth and soundstage. 

Border Patrol, Orchid, Denafrips Aries have always been those next level DACs.  That's probably where I need to go.  DAC aside, would cable length, connector type really have that much impact?  

The following is just upgrading which should remove your issues. 
 

1. Better DAC - Schiit Yggdrasil if on tight budget

2. A real steamer using Qobuz at minimum Bluesound… better will help even more.

I’ve used a couple dozen different streamer / DAC combos over the last 20 years. I would not spend time worrying about cable lengths an connectors until you have upgraded and broken in my recommendations above for several hundred hours and know what they sound like.

My systems are shown for your reference.

I built a box with 2 Western Electric 111C transformers wired in parallel 1:1 between my digital and preamp. Old Japanese trick, softens it up, filters out hash, sounds more “analog”. Not for everyone but I love it.

You got what you paid for.  Need a separate DAC.