spend on the streamer or on the DAC ?

just to echo the points jbuhl made below

i concur:

-- 20/80 or 30/70 $ proportion streamer vs dac feels about right to me based on my experiences
-- user interface is very important to consider with dedicated streamers, esp if one does not commit to roon (excellent but extra $)
-- sonos with w4s mod is about all the streamer most would need, and interface is simple and always works

@deep_333 

laughed out loud reading your post

audiophools are not born, they are made... 

this is the land of $20,000 power cables after all... there was adam, there was then eve, there was then the audiophool

yes indeed

going from a jittery noisy everyday computer, not optimized for music streaming, to a dedicated streamer will see a huge improvement in SQ

but going from one decent dedicated music streamer to another, not so much, usually

ymmv as always

@olica

unless i am mistaken the linn akurate ds is a 10 year old product

in the digital media/streaming world that is like dinosaurs walking the earth - get something cheaper and newer

@melvinjames 

There will certainly be new DAC and streamer iterations from every manufacturer out there. Good sound now will still be good sound when the next version comes out.

wise words

i am playing a frank van alstine fet valve topp dac from 1998 with philips r2r chip and 12ax7's -- can't read anything but redbook bitrate but the things sounds soooooooo ridiculously good... 

@joeeuro

not at all a surprise

stock sonos streamer is a jittery source... needs reclocking

hence the w4s or other mod or appendage which solidifies the clock timing of the digital out

with this, i don't think you will hear any meaningful difference to other dedicated streamers

concur that sonos streamer, with a w4s digital reclocker upgrade (or outboard reclocker) is an excellent sounding source... delivers spdif at 96k

plus using the sonos software is easy peasy 

this and the bluesound node 2i are excellent cost effective streamers that make no apologies to more expensive ones, unless you want other forms of output like i2s...

@lalitk

brooklyn bridge
zen mini mk3 with lpsu
aries g1

see my post w list of outboard dacs in this thread
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/thinking-about-getting-a-r2r-dac

i agree with other posters on the importance of figuring this out for yourself, in your house, using your network or wifi internet signal-feeding setup

i disagree with others saying there is a significant SQ improvement going from a BS Node 2i as a streamer (digital out only) to more expensive streamers (I have tried Innuos, Brooklyn, Auralic) -- at least that was contrary to my experience

in my experience... using the Node 2i as the base case, the DAC upgrade rates a 7-8 (10 scale) on its impact on SQ, whereas a digital streamer change rates 1-2

my house my system my ears my internet connection

to op ... you have node 2, not 2i... i am not clear on the sq upgrade involved there, either in its streamer or dac sections