PS Audio PWT and PWD MK II--recent acquisiton

Thanks for the suggestions. There are some dealers within driving distance who represent these brands, so when I have the time, I'll give these a listen. My only experience with Vienna Acoustics was over 15 years ago when Magnolia (adjunct of Best Buy) was selling them. They didn't quite do it for me then, but I'm sure they've evolved in the interim. I could be wrong about this, but I always equate Spendors with Harbeths, and I have auditioned the latter but they're not my cup of tea either.

You might look for speakers with a scanspeak soft dome tweeter.  I have Coincident Super Eclipse IIIs and have always loved how they sounded with my DAC.

Another update: The transport has been serviced twice by PS Audio (both were covered under warranty), the first time to address an issue with the transport mechanism itself which was unduly noisy, and the second time to address an issue with occasional freezing. This last issue is not uncommon, I gather from reading other threads here and in PS Audio's forum, and when I sent the unit back to them I also mentioned the fact that I thought the sound might not be all I'd hoped. They repaired a problem with the power supply and upon its return, it's like a different machine entirely. NOW I see why people are so taken with the combination of PWT and PWD II. Two further upgrades have also helped make this quantum leap: a Transparent Audio HDMI cable for the I2S connection (this makes a minor difference), and an Audience PowerChord SE that I'm using for the DAC, which is a night-and-day improvement from the previous (Cullen) cable. I'm really liking what I'm hearing now and I'm going to stay with this for the foreseeable future. Coming soon: a new power chord for the transport, too, which I hope will improve things even more.

A short word about speakers, since the subject was broached here: I still really like my ProAcs but I do hear some limitations in their presentation. I've auditioned a pair of Ryan r610s at a local dealer and was very impressed with them. I'm tempted...

Interesting discussion

I am trying to figure out how the hdmi cable helped

Whether or not HDMI cables make a difference is pretty controversial. In this case the cable is transmitting only audio data using the I2S protocol, so it's possible that the improved materials in the Transparent cable do a better job of moving the bits, analogous, perhaps, to what happens when you upgrade your coax-digital cables. Just a theory, this. To my ears the difference was small, and I haven't really done enough A/B testing to confirm this. It might just be placebo effect. The power chord, though, that was a VERY noticeable difference.
I'm not an audio engineer by any stretch, so I don't have deep knowledge of the science behind any of this. Only know what my ears tell me.