Next Best Upgrade for Tidal MQA?


I’m trying to decide what my next best upgrade is going to be to improve my streaming music quality (predominantly Tidal, and Tidal MQA, when available).

Current setup:
KEF R11
Custom Deep Sea Sound 18” subs (2)
Marantz SR7012 AVR
Bluesound Node 2i
MyTek Liberty DAC
Parasound A21+

I’m wondering if I’ll get a bigger jump from inserting a Parasound JC2 BP as a pre-amp or replacing the DAC/Streamer with a MyTek Brooklyn Bridge? Or is there something else out there in the $2500-4000 range that will help make a significant jump?

Help and thoughts appreciated!

128x128bruxesq

Showing 3 responses by richdirector

Does anyone in US mod the bluesound... High fidelity in UK do new PSU and board... I feed this into chord qutest DAC and then into luxman.... So good I sold my Linn Klimax Dsm and pocketed the change.... Not often I get to do that 
@bruxesq

From digital coax or optical 
When streaming MQA content there are 3 unfolds which must occur to receive fully rendered 192khz/24-bit MQA. The first of these unfolds is handled by the BluOS app and will output up to 96khz/24-bit audio. The next 2 unfolds are handled by the internal DAC of the Node to provide 192khz/24-bit audio.
If you have an MQA certified DAC connected to your Node 2i, you can enable this MQA External DAC option to have MQA content pass through the Node 2i untouched and allow your external DAC to handle all 3 of these unfolds. 

As for upgrade.. Good preamp makes difference but not sure inbuilt dac gives best result or future potential. I would say a seperate might be more sensible choice
Someone messaged me about bluesound node 2i upgrades.... In UK fidelity audio do this...
https://www.fidelityaudio.co.uk/bluesound-node-2--2i-336-c.asp

I went for mid upgrade but have been mightily impressed