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

@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.  

i am using a Ares 2 with my Bluesound.  the Ares 2 is a gateway drug.

Blow sound sucks period ,$100 dac in the case ,save your money for

a Denafrips aries2 night and day better for $900

Uh oh…sounds like this is going to get expensive.  I tend to buy first what I would eventually buy if I took steps.