What's the bottle neck?

[Feanor]

I have a Trends TA 10.1 digital amp driving home brew speakers (SEAS Excel Woofers & Newform Ribbon tweeters). As of this moment, I am using a Panasonic Blue Ray player as the source (Analog out). Soundstaging, separation, and clarity is very good, on par with some of the better systems I have heard. Still, there is room for improvement ( as always).

Where my system seems to fall short is in the resolution of cymbals. It seems to lack that last amount of realism. I should also include violins in this. I've heard these tweeters do better with different equipment.

As for my amp, which is already modified, I am thinking about changing the input caps to Mundorf. I have Auricap now and they are very transparent, but I have found that Mundorf for the speaker crossover really opens up the sound compared to other caps I have used. There are other mods I can think of for this amp, but I'm groping in the dark here. I have no desire to change amps, but that is always a possibility. What the Trends do well, they do VERY well. If I do change amps, I don't want more than 30 watts of power. My system is in a small room and the 5 watts that the Trends puts out is enough, most of the time.

The other thing is the Panasonic Blue Ray player. This could be the entire problem. It wasn't designed as a highend audio player. Still, it is very good and much better than other players I have used. I have an OPPO 980H which has pretty good digital outs, but the analog (which I need) is sub par.

So...

Any suggestions without getting expensive?

Yep, it could be the entire problem. An external DAC might help, like Joe says. Meanwhile have you actually tried the OPPO with the Trend?

Also, the Newforms are very wide dispersion and hence first-reflections from the walls might be a problem; do you have have appropriate wall treatments?