Moving up from a Node 2i

Just to be clear. If the improvement I heard out of the box was all there was,I wouldn't have spent the $$ either. That said, after some hours on the Lumin the improvement was great enough to justify the expense. If I only had 500.00 to spend on a streamer, the Node is a no brainer. But I don't regret shelling out the extra cash for the mini.

Yes, it was four times the cost. But I have paid more for less, as I think we all have at some point in our audio journey.

Oz

Right, the consensus is the Node 2i is the perfect $500 device. I had a basic Emotiva XDA-2 and had been focused on upgrading speakers and amps. Once that was done, I was in a dilemma into how much more would be needed to show notable performance over the Node. The answer seemed to be more like $1,500+. Wanting to stick to the $1,000 range I found a used Lumin D1. Wow, that is very much a sweet spot of performance value. 

I almost bought a Lumin D2. But I was afraid the on board DAC would not be the equal of my Pagoda.

Oz

I found a Bryston Pi for ~$600. Took a few weeks to get it up and running, had to get a new OS snail mailed from Bryston. Manic Moose interface is spartan compared to my Sonos. iPad Safari is particularly annoying.  Nice not to have another app to deal with.  I am comparing it to various digital sources now (Wyred for Sound mod’s Sonos, iPad streaming 16/44 radio). So far I really like it. The big knock for me is the Radio Paradise app that plays FLAC does not work and it only appears to stream Tidal and Qobuz. Prolly find another place to use the old Sonos zone player until Sonos kills it with a software update. Use my iPad to stream Radio Paradise FLAC. Use the Pi to stream Qobuz and play Higher Rez file purchases.