@curiousjim ,
That's a very good question. Sorry, I haven't heard a $1000 streamer in my system so I can't answer it. I broke into streaming at entry level with the Node 2i and then the newest Node. I do like the OS and especially the remote. It has finer volume adjustment than my pre, allows me to surf preset radio stations, mute, pause, skip and can switch me from Spotify to radio. I have $1700 invested in an MHDT Orchid, new Node Sbooster power supply and power board upgrade. For $2200 including Node I think I would get a different flavor of sound and different OS in a streaming dac. Maybe someone who has done the upgrades and moved on can comment. Certainly the upgrades seriously shame the stock Node as a streamer.
