Thanks to lowrider57's comments above, I decided to try out alternative data cables between the Node and my DAC. As I stated above, my original cable was a good quality conventional 75 ohm coaxial cable.
I installed a pretty radical SPDIF cable made by Mad Scientist Audio using carbon fiber for the center conductor. It made a dramatic improvement in the sound. Much more of an improvement than the previously upgraded power cable. The sound was better resolved, bass and treble were extended, and transients were crisper. I'm surprised to find such a change when the iFi is supposed to be regenerating a "perfect" SPDIF signal to the DAC.
I then decided to try an optical cable for something completely different. I installed a Van Den Hul Optocoupler II, and found that at first listen it's a small increment better than the coaxial with carbon fiber and iFi. I'll need a little more listening time before coming to any conclusion.
The Node, streaming Tidal HiFi or High Res files off a USB stick, seems to be capable of really good sound when cables are optimized. It's already my best quality source of music, and it's not fully tweaked yet.
I installed a pretty radical SPDIF cable made by Mad Scientist Audio using carbon fiber for the center conductor. It made a dramatic improvement in the sound. Much more of an improvement than the previously upgraded power cable. The sound was better resolved, bass and treble were extended, and transients were crisper. I'm surprised to find such a change when the iFi is supposed to be regenerating a "perfect" SPDIF signal to the DAC.
I then decided to try an optical cable for something completely different. I installed a Van Den Hul Optocoupler II, and found that at first listen it's a small increment better than the coaxial with carbon fiber and iFi. I'll need a little more listening time before coming to any conclusion.
The Node, streaming Tidal HiFi or High Res files off a USB stick, seems to be capable of really good sound when cables are optimized. It's already my best quality source of music, and it's not fully tweaked yet.