The debate over MQA is a big can of worms. Some think it sounds great for what it was intended for....a streaming option. Some think you lose bits and it does not sound good. Still others think it was invented by Darth Vader and will kill all music via the Death Star.
I am not sure (except I don’t think the last option is valid). The Node 2 (internal DAC) should not be compared to the Ayre codex. Because the Ayre is 4x the price of the Node 2. One should expect it to sound much better. And lastly, when I sent a signal out to my Schiit Bifrost Uber and also the Benchmark DAC 1 they will were getting the Redbook res. In those cases, the Bluesound sounded as good or better. With MQA master files, the Node 2 sounded better on about 80% of the albums compared to redbook. Once again, IMHO.
I am not sure (except I don’t think the last option is valid). The Node 2 (internal DAC) should not be compared to the Ayre codex. Because the Ayre is 4x the price of the Node 2. One should expect it to sound much better. And lastly, when I sent a signal out to my Schiit Bifrost Uber and also the Benchmark DAC 1 they will were getting the Redbook res. In those cases, the Bluesound sounded as good or better. With MQA master files, the Node 2 sounded better on about 80% of the albums compared to redbook. Once again, IMHO.