People spend millions on art, or thousands on a bottle of wine. . . . It is hard to know what someone else’s hearing capability is. I can’t hear what others can, I can’t play golf like Tiger, play hoop like Jordan, think like Einstein, but just because I can’t, doesn’t mean they can’t either.
My suggestion is to rip out both of those alcove extension. You will fight those for the rest of your days. Now is the time and a dry wall guy could rip and patch in a day or less for not much money. Hard to get to wiring behind TV, messes with the sound, limits good two channel audio options, limits TV size and speaker options, TV and speakers will not be centered in room, hard to place speakers/subs and move them, takes up floor space for future options. Also, are you putting in can lights?
Good question. My wish, were I to have one, is that someone with extremely precise measurement equipment would measure the difference in the digital output of a $500 streamer and a $3000 streamer (throw out the very cheap and ultra expensive streamers). This would at least let us know if there is ANY difference in the streams and if this small difference would not be retimed/clock accurately by the DAC. I bet I have heard/read 100 times why expensive streamers sound better, but I have never been presented with any evidence from a scope or other precise measurement equipment.
I don’t care if one is better or worse beyond wanting to buy the one that sounds better. Of course, the best option is to blind test both in your system with your speaker/amp/ears.
Coax to DAC. I have read the earlier nodes had poor dacs, but the newest version is better. Go to Blue Jean Cables and get some good cables and try out the options. It’s fun.
Every ‘hobby’ has people like this. Some people pay 30 million for a painting or 100k for a bottle of wine.
My suggestions to try are the following:
Move away from the wall - the corners are amplifying the bass.
Play with the toe in - I find the amount of toe in changes the intensity of certain frequencies. Note that you may not want the toe in exactly the same for each speaker due to the non-uniform room shape
Try moving the panel that is behind the chair to behind the stereo or in front of the fire place.
If these are bass ported, you can plug or partially plug the port.
I have a similar issue with certain base frequencies. Please keep us updated on what you find works best.