I wouldn't be surprised if most good DACs can do a good job with any half-decent USB stream, but as audiophiles we obsess about everything in the path. When I hear someone praising a USB cable for delivering great bass, my brain aches and my lip curls, but my audiophile heart wants to believe, and my wallet get emptier.
So I'm up and running with my streamer but....
I finally have my node2i hooked up and linked to everything. Here's the interesting part... when I stream a CD quality Flac file, or a 320mb mp3 through the node to my Yamaha integrated and revel speakers, it doesn't really sound discernably different than streaming through my firestick/TV to a parasound z DAC >Yamaha integrated > Revel speakers. Both node and the TV are hardwired to the router by ethernet cables. I feel like I could have just used the firestick as a streamer instead of paying for the node. What am I missing here?
p.s. I haven't tried using the node through the Z DAC, but it's very weird that the firestick and parasound zDAC sounds as good as the bluesound node 2i.
Am I doing/hearing something wrong or is the DAC the only thing that makes a difference when streaming? If so, I could sell the node2i for a more expensive Dac for the firestick.
Anybody else ever experience anything like this?
p.s. I haven't tried using the node through the Z DAC, but it's very weird that the firestick and parasound zDAC sounds as good as the bluesound node 2i.
Am I doing/hearing something wrong or is the DAC the only thing that makes a difference when streaming? If so, I could sell the node2i for a more expensive Dac for the firestick.
Anybody else ever experience anything like this?