Upgrade from modified Bluesound Node 2i and linear power supply (LPS) ?

Wow! I really appreciate everyone’s input!  I’m planning to purchase another Sbooster for the BS Node 2i. The first one is on the Qutest. I think I’ll wait for the chip shortage to sort itself prior to moving to another streamer platform. Plus I want to hear the improvement a LPS can do for the board upgrade modification. 

Sbooster installed on Node 2i. Used a long-unused Shunyata Copperhead power cable for it. I expect a 100 hr burn-in required for the Sbooster and more for the Copperhead but I’m pleasantly surprised at how good it sounds after two hours! It’s already better than the Mean-Well SMPS.   I wish had done this sooner.

For anyone who cares, use the yellow tip pin adapter #1 from the Sbooster connection kit if you installed the PD Creative power board modification. The black tip appears to fit but is actually quite loose compared to the proper tip.

Again, thank you to all of you!  This is a great forum!

I’m running Bluesound Node - Schiit FreyaS - Schiit Vidar - Kef R3.

I made the following upgrades to the Node this week:

1. Polish/PD PSU interface

2. Sbooster BOTW 5V LPS

3. Supra Cat 8 Ethernet cable

This wasn’t a 10% or 20% improvement. This is a whole new ballgame. Total cost is around $600 which is how much the Node costs so I guess there had better been an improvement but I wasn’t expecting this. 

I had a friend over who played a Drake song.  Immediately I was confused where all the bass was coming from.  I have a Kef KC62 sub on the way and honestly not sure if I would have ordered it had I heard bass like this before coming from the R3. Next I played the Qobuz hi res masters playlist I’m familiar with. I could make out vocals I couldn’t hear before without looking up the lyrics. Overall, I would describe the sound before the upgrades as muddled compared to what it sounds like now.

Now I think I’m going to hold off on upgrading the streamer until I’m ready to invest in the $5k plus range. I’m scared the base ~$3k models from Auralic or Lumin won’t be much of an improvement.  

Next up is an external DAC.

I did a similar upgrade to my Node: PD PSU Interface, Jay's audio
LPS with Supra Ethernet cable. I'm using a Pontus II DAC. I have
no desire to upgrade any further at this time.   

How noticeable was the Pontus 2 over the Node internal DAC? 
 

Thats the one I’m looking at also but not sure if I want to give up Tidal/MQA functionality.  I have Qobuz also for critical listening but the “connect” feature on Tidal native app is a big plus.