How can I achieve almost FM quality sound via shoutcast

[mitchrapp]

Hi all it's been awhile since last. I am a total noob in audio processing and want to achieve a better, almost FM-quality sound with my streaming setup.  I know it's achievable; where I stream five sets a week, the host/presenter who followed me, his setup wasn't too much different, but his sound quality was noticeably better. We did talk about gear a little, but he wasn't keen on giving up all his secrets; sadly, he died of COVID before we had that discussion.  His sound was deeper and more dynamic, with great clarity.

My setup,
I5 Gen 12 3.7-4.9ghz,32 gig ram, 1TB SSD, +2 other 1tb drives
Radio DJ
Digital Mixer - Voicemeeter Banana
no name encoder
Shoutcast 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz (AAC and AAC+ are not an option where I work)
Mic Dynamic Sam mic

I'm interested first is software enhancements that I can achieve, especially since I have a low budget.  Next would be hardware considerations.  Note that there has to be a noticeable sound quality difference. (not just loudness) to be worth the effort.

Right now I'm looking at Stereo Tool VST plugin,    Any comments if you have tried Stereo Tool would be appreciated.

Thank you, in advance if you have ideas or suggestions

[mitchrapp]

WoW, all the advice, lol  or not...  

Ok so I am trying the free version of Stereo Tool, and I switched encoders to SE Caster.  I been wanting to get away from the no name encoder, but it runs and runs without any problems and uses so few resources. But the main reason I am trying SE Caster is DSP for Stereo Tool, I haven't set that up yet, I am trying the standalone version of ST.  

I tend to be a noob and always feel lost when trying out some new techy stuff. There are so many choices, like VoiceMeeter.  I have tried 3 or 4 built-in presets, and, to be honest, I don't see much if any improvement.  The I/O input graph and output graph confirm this, showing hardly any change.   To pay hoping there would be more options to make the results better when I know so little about compression, its effects, and other sound-tuning things.   Also, to monitor the result, what is the best way?  My setup:

RDJ > Voicemeeter banana > Stereo Tool > Encoder  ... so I am listening to the stream on my chrome web browser via the shoutcast status page.   But that is a 30 second delay, so it's hard to hear the change when I bypass the ST processing.  I am thinking for monitoring the following change?

RDJ > VMB > Stereo Tool > back to VMB > encoder     

Your thoughts if this helps or not?

There is another problem, after I set up SE Caster, everything worked fine, including NOW PLAYING, which is an absolute must in the online venue where I do my sets.  But when I put Stereo Tools in the path using VB cables, No Meta or Now Playing was happening.  I tried several things ( reboot, recycle the web page, restart each app), nothing worked—no Meta.  I will be trying the DSP plugin version of ST for SE Caster next.

Another question,  recommendations on low cost but decent DACs and media software for best sound listening. It would help if I listened with dedicated apps instead of relying on the built-in sound card on my motherboard, and got some benchmarks for a few songs on stations using similar setup.

[mitchrapp]

I played with Stereo Tools free.
My processing chain
RDJ = Radio DJ, Voicemeeter Banana = VMB

Mic -> ↓
      VMB > encoder > Shoutcast
RDJ -> ↑

With Stereo Tools ST

Mic -> ↓
     > VMB > encoder > ST stand alone> Shoutcast
RDJ -> ↑
Result, while the music audio sounded slightly better using a downloaded preset (needs more tweaking), the mic was getting processed too it was a negative result on mic sound.

Next test
Mic -> ↓ ↑->VST Mic proc ->↓
       VMB                VMB > encoder > ST stand alone> Shoutcast
RDJ -> ↑ ↓->ST  RDJ audio->↑

Alternative

Mic -> ↓ ↑->VST Mic proc ->↓
       VMB                VMB > encoder > ST stand alone> Shoutcast
                           ↑
RDJ ->    ST ->  ->   ->   ↑

Will update results.. If anyone has experience with these please post.