Back using the Auralic App on the iPhone - the one thing Mosaic does better is pick up the player on the network more reliably and quicker.
Yes the interface is more basic with Mosaic - but it ‘quick’. I also like the feature on the iPhone where you can use your smart phone’s volume control to control Auralic’s volume control.
The dCS I know is the lowest cost dCS bit of hardware compared to anything else dCS does by far.
However, is there a used, older dCS DAC someone here can recommend which still sounds really good when couple to the Bridge? Something under £2k used perhaps?
I mean come on - even the old TDA1543 and TDA1541 DACs can still sound amazing, so perhaps a vintage Ring DAC can too.
Might as-well see what a Ring DAC can sound like in due course hooked up to the Bridge.
Or are the older Ring DACs past their best compared to modern ESS Sabre / Burr Brown for example?
I’m using my dCS Network Bridge with a Cyrus Pre2DAC QXR.
I have an Entreq Primer Pro digital interconnect between the two and an Entreq Primer RJ45 Ethernet cable.
It sounds very good!
My Cyrus Stream X has left the building! 
I use my dCS NB with various dacs, including Chord.
I just use a modest and decent cable – something designed for 12G SDI video is a good start. Certainly doesnt need to be anything silly. The SPDIF output quality is fine from the NB, and any cable sensitivity is likely a fault of your dac.
Chiming in a bit late here, but I used the NB with a dCS Paganini DAC and it was a great combination. I “upgraded” to a Bartok, but to be honest the sound was quite similar. I’d say the Bartok added just a bit more resolution and slightly weightier sound whereas the Paganini had a bit more sheen and airiness on the top end, arguably more refined. The added benefit of going with a dCS DAC is that the NB can act as the word clock for the DAC. Prior gen dCS DACs are a great value on the second hand market. I got my Paganini for a little under $4k USD. Its MSRP when current was $18k, which is incidentally now the price of a new Bartok.
If you are sticking to ~£2k price point, maybe you can score an Elgar Plus with some patience and luck. Here’s an interesting read from 2018 revisiting this DAC in modern context: