Question on how DAC’s work...

Arvin,
I have 4 pieces of Bluesound kit in the house, a couple of first generation Node N100 players, a first generation Node N150 streaming Amp and a Node 2i.   I’ve used both the N100 and Node 2i pieces with external DACs, in which case both pieces perform the first MQA unfold, getting you all the way to 96K.   This has been the case with both my Bryston BDA1 as well as my Chord Qutest.

larry5729.
Please see my earlier post in this thread. Via its digital outs, be it Toslink or Coax, Bluesound kit, even first generation Bluesound kit will unfold MQA all the way to 96K when hooked up to a non MQA DAC.
To my knowledge, the current state of the art for streaming hi res via Qobuz or Tidal tops out at 192k, and there is currently precious little material available to stream at 192k, be it via Tidal with MQA or via Qobuz at native resolution without MQA. And from 96K to 192K is just the one last unfold. I’d argue that most of the goodness is already available shy of that last unfold. And I can tell you from experience, that full unfold of MQA via Bluesound kit’s analog outputs, although very nice, is not as good in terms of SQ in my opinion as that provided by a high quality non MQA external DAC hooked up via Toslink or Coax such my own Bryston BDA1 or Chord Qutest.
At that point, it’s really no contest. That has been my own personal experience. YMMV.

larry5729,
if you are using a Bluesound Node of any generation, be it first gen Node N100, 2nd gen Node 2, or 3rd gen Node 2i, as just a renderer connected via its digital output, be it Toslink or Coax, the Bluesound Node acting as renderer will do the first set of unfolds.   If the DAC its hooked up to is a non MQA DAC, that will get you all the way to 96K HZ.  I've had great success with an N100 hooked up to a Bryston BDA1 via Toslink and a Node 2i coupled to a Chord Qutest via both Coax and Toslink.  My results with both setups gave me better SQ to my ears than a full unfold via Node analog outputs.  The digital cables employed can make a difference as well.   Not knocking the Belcanto.  But before putting $1000-$1500 into the Belcanto streamer (I'm guessing the E.One Stream), I'd put that same money into a better DAC.  The Node 2i is a great piece of kit for the money.