Sometimes preferences, or priorities, change, sometimes not. Mine have, over time, even if not especially significantly. Usually it’s more my mood at the time that drives a desire for something different (e.g. SR1a vs. Vérité, solid-state vs. tubes, 2A3s vs. 300Bs and so on). But the long and short of that is that you like what you like, and that may never wind up being what Chord offers.
I didn’t personally hear (done blind), nor measure, any difference in performance with the Arche (or any other recent AIO) with different, properly constructed/to-spec power, USB (including a $20 job and the AQ Diamond) or interconnect cables; so I won’t comment further on that.
If it’s a combined DAC/amp you want, then a list of my 10 favorites is here.
In that list, you’d likely be looking at either the Rupert Neve Precision DAC (with its DIP switches in their factory positions - which is less technically accurate, but most seem to prefer) or the dCS Bartok.