What made a big difference on my Node 2i was the purchase of a 2 meter Supra CAT 8+ ethernet cable from eBay seller zendada. Total cost including shipping only $59. If you go this route only buy from him, as the only other seller when I purchased mine was in England and shipping would have been about $20 extra and three weeks.
Also, zendada is taking a bit of advertising license calling it 8+, as it is really a CAT 8 cable. As mentioned, this made a big difference for the better in my system. Give it a day to break in as for the first few hours it was very dry sounding then opened up nicely.
I am using a modded Museatex DAC designed by Meitner with my 2i. But for my type of listening, which rather than intense short sessions is all day long as background music, the internal DAC was not unpleasant. I do like the 2i fantastic operating app, customer service and world of music it opens up..
Also, zendada is taking a bit of advertising license calling it 8+, as it is really a CAT 8 cable. As mentioned, this made a big difference for the better in my system. Give it a day to break in as for the first few hours it was very dry sounding then opened up nicely.
I am using a modded Museatex DAC designed by Meitner with my 2i. But for my type of listening, which rather than intense short sessions is all day long as background music, the internal DAC was not unpleasant. I do like the 2i fantastic operating app, customer service and world of music it opens up..