That is an impossible question to ask. We cannot tell you that what you hear with the Node 2i will be better or worse than what you have. Those are your ears, your brain and psychology. But the Node 2i is considered a budget component, therefore you can buy it, listen to it, compare it to your Aries and Metrum and report back to all of us. You can tell us what your ears told you!
I have the Node 2 and having experimented by connecting it to my Benchmark DAC and the Bifrost Uber DAC. Both routes sound stellar, but when playing MQA albums on the Node 2 with it’t internal DAC, it sounds the best to my ears. Others here do not hear any kind of improved sound with MQA. So it has to be your ears to decide for you.
I have the Node 2 and having experimented by connecting it to my Benchmark DAC and the Bifrost Uber DAC. Both routes sound stellar, but when playing MQA albums on the Node 2 with it’t internal DAC, it sounds the best to my ears. Others here do not hear any kind of improved sound with MQA. So it has to be your ears to decide for you.