I was at the same point you’re at now a couple of years ago, wanting to get rid of my Node and it’s frustrating software. My shortlist of streamers were Innuos, Lumin, and Esoteric. I finally landed with the Esoteric and while I enjoyed everything about it, one of the most surprising upgrades I made was adding ROON to the equation. It works seamlessly with Qobuz, and I’ll never go back. I highly recommend you give ROON a try after you get your new streamer.
Streamers and software
It's been a battle. I have had a Bluesound Node 2i for 5 yrs. I upgraded the power supply. There is nothing wrong with function or sound. I switched to Qobuz a few months ago. I transferred my songs from amazon to Qobuz. Qobuz works great when using the Bluetooth function. When I want to play Qobuz thru BluOS, I am missing several thousand songs, called Favorites. Loading and searching times are not usable.
Finally after 2 months BLUOS says they have no solution. QOBUZ is working on a direct connect app to the streamer, but no release date.
So, reluctantly, I started looking at a streamer. I find several other streamers but have buggy software.
So, from what I see the Innuous pulsar mini has good software I would like to spend as little as I can but it looks like $1-$2k? It would be nice to have a linear power supply. Thanks for any suggestions are welcome.
Here is some I looked at.
Holo Audio Red, Ever solo, Innuous, Volumio