Yeah you’re really cheaping out here in the context of your system. Why??? Raise your budget $500 or so and at least that gets you into the realm of the Soekris 2541, Musician Pegasus, Gustard X26, etc. that surely will upgrade your sound quality significantly over the DAC in the Node. After that I’d agree the preamp should be upgraded as well as that will make a huge improvement and allow you to get much more out of your nice downstream gear. Last, I’d avoid buying multifunction boxes (preamps with DACs, DACs with streamers, etc.) as it’ll give you more flexibility to upgrade, avoid obsolescence, and potentially get better sound quality. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
