Recommend a good router/modem combo please

Hi @fastfreight Thanks man, mine has evolved too actually. I just bought my first Ethernet Switch as well. And like you I have noticed improvements along the way. I am relatively new to streaming and am loving it! And even though I’m relatively new to streaming I’m going all in-LOL! For me the biggest improvement was when I added a Hermes DDC to the chain in front of my Pontus DAC…Thanks again for taking the time to respond and share…

The mesh systems are great but as others have pointed out they can get expensive.  Since your end game is getting a cleaner signal to your streamer I would strongly consider an Ethernet filter.  It would go between your network switch and streamer.  

I recently added one and the bang for the buck is crazy.  Very big improvement in SQ.  There are lots to choose from at all different price points.  Sorry if this was a little off topic.  Good luck and cheers.  

@kingbr - my modem and router system are separate.

My Nighthawk has worked flawlessly for a couple years. I put Bitdefender on it (sans the VPN) and other than blocking an attack by my trail camera (my doing) the Bitdefender runs without issue.

A speed test shows I get better than advertised upload and download speeds.

But if you are going new get the latest and greatest. Spend the extra $$$ to go overkill. 
And be sure it is compatible with your service providers signal.  

If you live in a fairly large metropolitan area, you will find many routers for sale at cheap price. I got an Orbi router plus mesh satellite unit for $150.

Music streaming usually uses the UPnP protocol. For it to work well, you want to turn "IGMP snooping" off in the router settings. Orbi lets you do this; the TP-Link routers I've seen do not give you the setting and do not document whether the firmware has it on or off.