Has Anyone Compared the DAC On a Bluesound NODE 3rd Gen to a Separate DAC?

Instead of Pontus II you could also get Musician Pegasus which is basically almost the same as Pontus II. It was my previous DAC and it was a really competent DAC and nothing else came close at that price point. 

"But I would guess that the limitations on my room and other equipment would make a high end DAC a waste of money, like putting a Ferrari engine in a Subaru.  Nice, but they don’t match."

Poor analogy in this case.  Based on your existing room and equipment, I'd bet you hear a significant improvement with either DAC you mention.

I have a node 2i. Am considering upgrading my dac. But really not sure if it will yield signifcant improvement or subtle differences where the latter may not exactly justify the price point. Have been looking at the Ares II which is sold locally. Its said to be more analog and has gotten rave reviews. However, I already have a schiitt freya + tube amp running with a class D XTZ A2300 which gives a slightly  warm feel. Speakers are Klipsch RP  6000f which has been tamed down a little with the current combo. So not sure if Ares II will make it even more warm, and result in a loss of details.  Anyone has experiences with a similar combo with the Ares II as a dac to the node2i.  Will the Ares II provide an audible difference as a dac to the node? Appreciate your thoughts. 

@ram85 

Been there done that.  ARES II will provide a significant upgrade to the Node's built-in DAC.  Only problem, it's just the starting point to the next DAC upgrade and the one after

that :-)  At least is was for me.

Yes, but only to some expensive ones.  The blusound is decent, about comparable to ones found in ~$1000 preamps.  But when compared to high end gear, it's rather limited.  Using the DACs built in on my Michi X3 and Mac C47 you can easily tell the blusound's DAC sounds compressed.  Plugging it into my Sim 280d and it's a night/day difference, the Sim makes the blusound sound much better but at that point the Sim has a superior sounding streamer built-in.