upgrade what

@bzawa 

Why don’t you give AI a chance to answer. I went to ChatGBT, Perplexity and Gemini and listened all of my equipment. Then I asked what was the weakest part of my system and all three said the same thing, my DAC.

All the best.

Sounds like the knowledge is leaning towards different speakers and your room is treated. Just curious , what is your current tube compliment ? 

Seems you’ve got some treatment, well placed too. Previous comments explaining further options there made need to be considered, however? Yep, when you get a chance…experiment with that first reflection point - dedicated panels placed on sidewalls relative to your listening position using a mirror to determine placement, etc. You may already know this.  But it does sound like first reflection issues. @yogiboy with other considerations (that are great and I should also try!). 
 

But if changing speakers - and don’t want to break the bank - I’d consider also Revival Audio. Their whole range seems phenomenal and definitely compete with more expensive equipment. I’ve the Atalante 3’s and they sound great with whatever I do front end wise. But - of course - the other recommendations are all super excellent! 

"your cdp is a big part of the problem"

Absolutely not.  The Denon in a fundamentally neutral player.  It is not the problem.

Remember that elephant?

It amazes me how some will buy a bunch of colored gear to correct a bright speaker they never were fully on board with in the first place.  Makes no sense at all.

Use blankets and the like to try adding mnore.  First reflection points are usually not enough alone, and don't do much until you reach critical mass.