MQA was acquired by Lenbrook, parent company of NAD and Bluesound, so it is not “out of business” nor “dead”. My advice to the OP is to restore their Tidal subscription and enjoy their Node 2i through a new-to-them C2600 DAC. Many of my customers report the MAC DAC outperforms the one in the Node, and you can use Tidal Connect as your source for quality files.
Specific Node/Airplay question
I know very little about digital and don’t have much interest in it; I bought a Bluesound Node 2i a few years ago to try Tidal but canceled the subscription shortly afterwards. The Node sat unused for years. The other day I learned I can stream Apple Music over the Node; SQ wasn’t great, but it’s coming from my phone, so I wasn’t expecting much. Here’s my question… if I only use my Node to stream Apple Music from my phone, does having an external DAC make a difference? Or, is the music so compressed, that it won’t matter? I’m asking because I’m shopping for a new preamp and considering a McIntosh c2300. But there are C2500s (built-in DAC) for the same price and the c2600 (better DAC) for a little more. The C2700 is too expensive and I don’t plan to ever “up” my digital game; I’m a vinyl guy and this digital stuff would likely be for my wife.