If you really enjoyed your DS Jr., a gently used DS Sr. with some transformer modifications will likely up your game for less than half your budget.
But I suspect there are a lot of options out there coming in at or below $5,000.
Have fun looking.
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I agree, although I want to upgrade the Jr, it is not like Iām just using something to get by. Jr will provide me the chance to do things without rushing. And as said before, plan on keeping it for experiments and eventually a B system.
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I dont have a PS Audio Bridge to compare to, but in past reviews and comments here, the Bridge (compared to other very good streamers) was not reviewed very favorably.
I am really surprised that the Airlens (SOTA) vs an old āBridgeā is only an incremental improvementā¦is that how others here see this too, or did the Airlens blow the Bridge away? Just askinā¦ ??
the other thing to consider is that lower discerning systems may not be able to flesh out the Airlensās attributes.
Your comments are appreciated
In the immortal words of Qui-Gon Jinn, āThereās always a bigger fishā; but, I consider my system to be fairly resolving.
Not compared to some, I am sureā¦and I often donāt hear the āmassiveā, ācomponent-gradeā improvements others report when integrating the same kit or accessories into my system.
I had a similar reaction during the firmware journey through the mountain tops with the DS Sr. DAC FPGA programing over the years. Incremental improvements through and through. Never an āOMG, this is soooo much betterā moment.
Same thing with upgrading to Iconoclast XLR interconnects from DAC to pre and pre to amps. And, of course, I reported that I never felt the Bridge II was so noisy that removing it and adding the AirLens made a night and day difference.
Donāt get me wrong, my digital front end has never sounded better serving as a source. However, the changes are, to my ears, incremental improvements.
OTOH, when I tried the HoloAudio Red DDC & Network Streamer in lieu of the Bridge II card, I believed it was an obvious step backwards from the Bridge II in my system and the AirLens was obviously better than the Holo Audio Red. I traded the Holo Audio Red in for a discount on the AirLens and never looked back.
Also, moving up from the original PSA PerfectWave DAC to the DS Sr. DAC was an obvious step forward. No question it was a significant upgrade at the time.
My point (in this now too long post) is that when something is a game changer I like to think I can hear it. But systems are complex and there are so many variables impacting what one hears in their room with their kit and their music.
YMMV/IMO/IME etc., etc.
Cheers.
PS
I would like to know if others had a similar, āincremental improvementā experience in moving on from the Bridge II Ethernet card to the AirLens.
SEE
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I donāt know what you are talking about; āincremental improvementā?? āLittle or maybeā improvement is just not my thing! 
From duo LHY switches to Shunyata Omega, and to Grimm MU2, each step is āgiganticā! I know, these are not economical solutions. Al is right, 1/2 million will open your eyes. 
But it is not the only way, because I got a solution for you that it is at incredible reasonable cost, especially considering the improvement it brought!
I got this nice little box from Stack Audio two hours ago, and I thought I needed a couple days to tell the difference. I also thought two passive filters would not work together based on my past experience: I had to remove a SoTM Cat7 isolator/cable when I added a Shunyata Omega ethernet cable. The combination of these different filters was just making SQ dark-murky with heavy analog-like in a bad way.
But now it is totally a dissimilar experience! You (and everyone wants to improve their streaming experience) need to get this one:
Stack Audio SmoothLAN filter. I was quite amazed that it made an obvious improvement over my āwell isolatedā streaming chain. This little matel box and cable was inserted between LHY SW-10 and Omega ethernet, then it going into MU2. Well, the improvement is not subtle, and the two passive filters (Omega has its own) work wonderfully together in the chain.
Tomorrow it should sound even better, and it could improve even more by next week! Because that is what ever new device does in my system.
Big spenders may want to know if it can compete with Muon Pro? I have no idea, but suddenly I do not have desire to get it or anything else to my streaming chain anymore. It is hard to imagine how much more I need to spend to get this kind of improvement 
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Donald, do you have any experience with the Pink Faun LAN Isolator or the GigaFoil?
Wonder how this comparesā¦
SoTM, Audio Revive, and another one I donāt recall were the ones I have tried. They all made āincremental improvementsā. SmoothLAN is much better than any of them. I have no experience with Pink Faun isolator though.
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Not that Iām going to change anything but I was wondering how it stacks up in comparison to the Acoustic Revive LAN isolator that I have been using for years.
EDIT: I think Donald just answered my question. Audio Revive / Acoustic Revive, close enough. Thank you.
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MUON Pro System and you are done with all this trying this and that stuff.
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Silly question: whatās the second Ethernet cable plugged into the switch? One goes to the LAN filter > MU2 and the other?
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Thatās a grounding cable (homemade) goes into Groundmaster because I ran out of green cables. Now you mentioned it, I should replace it with the green cable now I have one less gear.
I may get a Muon Pro in future to compare with SmoothLAN/Omega. But like I said it is the first time I heard such clear, clean and smooth sound from my MU2 streaming system.
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Thanks Donald!
I replaced all the green cables from Puritan with these ones made by Russ Andrews:
From GromdMaster City to PSM (both of mines) and to amp. As for signal grounding I use CAD boxes with their own ground cables.
I replaced them because those green wires are really embarrassing and I found the RA ones also easy to order in different terminations and lengths.
Do they also sound better? We are in the psycho acoustic domain here but I think they do sound better.
(All ground wires must be of the same length)
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Thanks for the information. Haha! Grounding cables matter now? There really is no end to this thing. I made my DIY grounding cable in 5ā to match other green ones in length. I cannot say that I heard any difference when switching around. Maybe Iāll replace them with all silver cables to match with my power cordsš
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I have found that a six inch section of ground cable, covered in dried urine, makes banjos sound a bit more metallic, in a good way. But as such a treatment is hard to move, getting the right six inch portion location is crucial. I imagine it may be system dependent.
I know I am.
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Do not let rabbit urine get on your stealth cables, it may turn the sound into too digital. On a second thought, you could try it and let us know the potential effectš¤
Itās all about streaming.
Properly.
It might depend on the diet of the day before, avoid asparagus of course!
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Didnāt know you cared for banjos. Ha!
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