If you don't have one already, get a measurement microphone and try your hand at room EQ.

The room measurements will also give you an idea of what kind and how much room treatment would benefit you.

For the budget you mentioned, you could get a calibrated miniDSP UMIK-1 (plugs into computer via USB) and a stable microphone stand with 3/8th thread.

I can't wait to read pros opinions about that... For me, power treatment (magic PSUs, AC "purifier", snakelike power cord etc.) is pure bullshit, and won't improve "sound quality". And it is for the best!!!
IMHO, unless you have very badly designed electonical devices or very low quality "Third World" power at home, no need to lose money on that: it will make ZERO difference in "sound quality".

You can check the ifi iusb3 nano  or macro .
Probably you can hear the differences .

I believed the same, but when i tried this there was differences .
If you have the opportunity check it .
Also i tried a better power supply .

Snake oil.

Get room treatment. Learn.

An isolation transformer might help IF your net power is very, very dirty. But I wouldn't waste money on it.

Any decent gear is protected from 99,9% of the noise on the mains. The rest is so rare it's seldom a problem.

OTH a bad ground in your electrical system MIGHT result in some groundloop noise.

Sonarworks 4

Total game changer : )

Robert,

Perhaps you could invest your Upgrade Budget into Household Wiring improvements?   Or...."Audio-Grade" Fire Extiguishers, with non-resonant quantum fire suppressants, packed in Cryo-Cylinders...

Any Fire Investigator would attest that 90yr old Electrical Wiring is a Disaster waiting to happen.

Stupid me.   

For you Robert, close attention to basic system set-up, followed by some Room Analysis, and Acoustic Treatment will outperform Tenfold any "gadget" additions.

Few are the Studios that have not invested significant Time, and Money toward getting their Studio to SOUND right.

How so are Audiophile Listening Rooms exempt from such attention?   20db FR variations are commonplace, yet perfectly acceptable so long as the "Annointed" Cables, and other un-substantiated Tweaks are in place. 

Huh?   How can that work?

Let me get you that pic of my setup I promised

Please contact Audioquest or iFi marketing office: they may have a job for you.

PS : audiophile fuses, they've done it... #facepalm
https://www.vhaudio.com/synergistic-research-sr20.html

Hi Robertm394 and other audiophiles.

I felt like writing a somewhat different kind of response to you all after reading this thread.

You are communicating on the technical support forum of a professional audio company. The majority of people here are of a very different "school" than the (enthusiastic) audiophile looking for the best possible listening experience (that can be bought on Amazon) - and the kind of questions you are asking will trigger most professionals - even the staff .. so i offer you this:

I am a professional producer / audio-engineer, working 8 hours in a studio each and every day - like many other people here - and by sheer experience we have all come to know a common truth: it all comes down to room acoustics more than any other aspect .. end of story!

Acoustics are probably the least "sexy" thing to invest in; taking up space and involving careful construction that is hard to manage on your own. The idea of buying quality equipment - down to the very last power-cable - seems a lot more manageable than building corner-traps in your living room and putting up diffusers around the listening position.

But - and this is absolutely verifiable - *nothing* will have a bigger impact on the sound you perceive than acoustics! Granted - if we are talking about headphones, then it's a different conversation ..

~

Your ears are plastic - meaning that they don't sound the same day to day - or even minute to minute. A cup of coffee will change your hearing, as will the amount of sleep you had last night as well as the beers you drank two days ago; whether your body is stressed or at total peace with the universe matters.

On top of that you have the Fletcher Munson Curve, which, very simplified, is the "dynamic eq and compression" your ears and brain apply to whatever you hear - depending on volume!

So .. just to explain the vibe you are getting when venturing into this forum as a hopefully happy RME-customer looking to optimize your listening experience: it is all informed by hard science - since we all know our ears are an extremely unreliable source of reference and information!

Please - at least consider measuring what influence your room has on the carefully selected equipment you have purchased. An accessible tool for this, as mentioned prior in this thread, could be a SonarWorks product. This will measure with reasonable accuracy what issues are present in your room - and while promising to correct this, no professionals are actually using this for paid work (at least - they better not!) - we fix the acoustics instead! And i will wager my entire studio, that what you can achieve with a very modest amount of money spent on building materials for acoustic treatment will give you the most profound improvement in audio precision - and enjoyment - than any tweak will ever buy you for the rest of your life!

Just to inject some sense of scale into what i'm talking about, a pair of ruler-flat speakers (which btw doesn't exist!) playing in an otherwise untreated room, would probably have peaks and dips close to 6db and beyond .. which is way-way-waaaaay more than any other component in the audio-chain - like a power-supply or an interconnect cable - could ever account for! And on top of that, the room does not only affects frequency response but also the timing, since certain frequencies will sustain longer than others - and thus dramatically altering the timing and contents of the music .. mainly in the low end. This particular issue cannot be fixed in any other way than acoustics - seriously!! So please .. do measure whats going on - and i promise you, that with this knowledge in your hand, your next investment will be in acoustics and not a cable, power-supply, or some kind of gadget to put between usb-cables ..

All the best,
Rune
FishCorp / Copenhagen

~

This is just a thought, but since RME is now selling products crossing into audiophile territory, perhaps a well written chapter in the manual on room acoustics and its influence on sound observed is in order. I know that this is second nature to people working with audio for a living, but this could be yet another step in solidifying RME as a company of empirical science and excellence - and possibly take some weight of the forum as well <3 ..

Well said, Basken!  However, some of us have our main systems in areas that, for various reasons, don't lend themselves to much in the way of room treatments.  I'm married to a painter/photographer/graphic designer for whom the visual is everything! Fortunately, she enjoys music, too and is willing to tolerate the presence of some rather large-ish but beautifully crafted speakers.  But that's as far as it goes.  I've even had to fight with her about how the toe-in looks (she prefers they not be angled as it offends her sensibilities)!

So, I've had to resort to absolute precision in speaker placement--using laser distance measuring distance devices, SPL meters, angle calculators and room/sound measurements to make sure that the room issues---which there are, of course---are the only remaining "problems".  As far as making any acoustic modifications to the room, that is completely out of the question, so my only recourse is to use PEQ to deal with some of the known problems.

Hardware-wise, I'm extremely happy with what I've got (no expensive cables, etc.) and the RME ADI-2 DAC FS was the last piece in completing what I consider to be a system that sounds as good as it can in our living room.  The ADI-2 DAC offered a feature set (including enough PEQ to do what I need to) and quality of engineering that included everything I needed to be able to adjust the sound to my tastes, the remote control, etc., etc.  The DAC was, to me--and much to my surprise (as I really bought it for the other features!)---a genuine step up in sound quality from my Benchmark DAC2.  That plus the ongoing upgrades and support from the owner/designer make this product superior in every way.

Thank you, Curt962....very kind of you.  Very interesting products!  My wife is a pretty tough audience, but it's worth a try.....

Thanks for the suggestions