Moving up from a Node 2i

hilde45 said:

So for those of us getting their first streamer and feeling a bit gun-shy about big expenditures, is the consensus that the Node2i does a decent job, in its class?

I love the Node 2i (even if I do at times mention a competitor’s feature I like better). It was my first stand-alone streamer. I would probably still be feeding my DAC via USB from my Mac and Audirvana, but the reasonable price made it easy to try it. I got the Lumin U1 Mini next, but kept the Node 2i because it has so many supported streaming services (Bluesound is very good at adding these). Oh, and Bluesound was quick to support AirPlay 2 for many of their players if that matters to you; most streamers only support AirPlay [1] if they support it at all.

I have a decent rig and I use a BS node 2i to a chord Qutest and it sounds...uh...great...?
moved up from an Apple TV and it was MUCH better.

what I missed, and now get, is the importance of the “control app” and I like the BluOS app a lot.

what we all are wanting to know is if the streamer itself, with the same DAC, can make a big difference.

sure, you can throw money at any problem, but most of us are curious about a solution that is between $1,000 and $2,000 and if that will produce objectively bette SQ.

what we all are wanting to know is if the streamer itself, with the same DAC, can make a big difference.

Most streamers include a DAC by design.  As you yourself noted, the Lumin U1 Mini appears to be the only device in the $1K - $2K space that is a streamer only.  Let's wait and see what Ozzy has to say once he's had a chance to listen for a bit.  I'm willing to bet that the Lumin is going to sound better than the Node 2i using the same external DAC.

...but most of us are curious about a solution that is between $1,000 and $2,000 and if that will produce objectively better SQ.

True.  Outside of measurements it’s all subjective though; I’ll just quote myself from the first page of this thread:

FWIW, I don’t think the U1mini is an upgrade as much as a nice side-grade to get a great app and excellent support. Upgrades to DAC, amp, speakers/headphones would yield more significant improvements.

Some don’t like the Lumin app, but it was one of the selling points for me.

I don’t see any references to support for WiFi in some of these “better” streamers. If WiFi is a requirement, what would be a recommendation for an upgrade from the Node2/2i?