Having been in a similar situation and in the position to borrow several DACless streamers from friends and stores including Moon, Naim, Aurelic, Rendu, Lumin, Stack and Lindemann. I found little to choose between them re sound quality. Of them all I preferred the Stack, with the best balance in my system of detail, soundstage and presence. It was however a disaster to setup and or update, if a Mac user just don't bother. Eventually I bought the Lindemann Limetree Bridge, which via my Denafrips Ares II sounds beautiful.
Streamer Recommendation.
Budget 7000US$. (+/-)
System: Amplification: Luxman L 509X. Speakers: Joseph Audio Perspective. DAC: PS Audio Perfect Wave. CD/SACD PS Audio Perfect Wave. Streamer: BlueSound Node 2.I
I am limited to WiFi, due to my router location. I would like a high quality streamer without DAC that will provide a noticeable improvement over the entry level Node.
Any assistance would be very helpful.