Node2i + Qutest or Yggy or Codex or something else

I'm not really doing any room treatment nor know how to do it.

I have hardwood floor and will not be able to put carpet or rug on it.
I have tray ceiling with a ceiling fan. And to make things worse, I have window with blinds to the left of the system because it's in my family room.  And I have open kitchen behind my family room.  So, it's definitely not an ideal listening environment.

The Chord Hugo 2 can easily be found used in your price range. I highly recommend it. Haven’t heard the Ayre, but I’m sure it’s also fantastic. 

Audioadvisor.com has the Auralic Altair on sale for 1699.00. Very good dac and much better streamer than your using now. If not that, a used Auralic Vega is a great match with the node 2i. They are a steal at the 13-1500 used price range

I have a completely different suggestion. Given the limitations of your listening area, consider a Lyngdorf 2170 with room correction. Its onboard DAC is very good as well so you can replace several components with one. Room correction is a big deal. 

Since the budget is $1800 here are options:
if you want clarity and realism and detail then the Schiit Yggy used is a good choice. Someone also mentioned the Gugnir. Also a good choice. Those are both multibit DACs. The Quetest is also good and in your price range. It has different filters and is adjustable to taste. A quality product FPGA DAC that is built like a tank. Another good DAC you can sometimes find used (I did) is the Mytek (a chip DAC) Brooklyn DAC+. I don’t have experience with the Codex. But these are all quality DAC and it’s a matter of taste.