Just installed a bluesound node 2i , quality not so good

@uberwaltz, I wasn't trying to get into it (and I was actually looking at the post above mine, not at yours). It seems to me like the Bluesound is what it is, and by all accounts is very good for what it is. I'm not sure that dolling it up with an external dac isn't the way I'd go about it. Gamblers have a term for it: chasing your losses. 

Anyway, I don't like the hostility toward each other that surfaces too often out here, and I certainly didn't mean to offend.

I have the Audiolab 6000N streamer that has a pretty good internal DAC, but I also own a Exogal Comet Plus Dac that I run all my sources through and the sound quality through the Exogal is exceptional. It's not an inexpensive DAC but for money spent, does an excellent job

I appreciate sound from bluesound and from a marantz avr.  But level of appreciation is quite abit lower when compared to avr.  
So appears I will keep the bluesound streamer capability which seems fine and lots offered, only use tidal and Spotify for now. And I will pursue an external dac and guess spending will be 1 to 2k.  A lot better than replacing avr with a high priced preamp which I would only be getting for sound improvement with stereo and not all the home theatre sounds which are handled quite well with avr.

  

I think of the Bluesound as merely a transport for streaming services / Roon. It will remain pretty stable and capable of performing this function for a while. But DACs will change - either because of technology or we just want to try something different, i.e. chip vs. R2R. It's fun to have that flexibility the Bluesound + [DAC du jour] affords...

I had a Node 2 for 2 years and found it had adequate sound.  I had seen reviews of the Node 2i and the comments were that it was significantly better mostly from a updated layout of the circuit board NAD learned from the Masters series with no major changes in the parts from the Node 2.  I bought one a 2i and at first noticed a small improvement.  After a several days break in, it opened up and was significantly better.  For $549 I think it's great for the money.

Terrific review of the Node 2i in Sept 2020 issue of the Absolute Sound.