Any Bluesound Node2 owners

What made a big difference on my Node 2i was the purchase of a 2 meter Supra CAT 8+ ethernet cable from eBay seller zendada.  Total cost including shipping only $59.  If you go this route only buy from him, as the only other seller when I purchased mine was in England and shipping would have been about $20 extra and three weeks.

Also, zendada is taking a bit of advertising license calling it 8+, as it is really a CAT 8 cable.  As mentioned, this made a big difference for the better in my system.  Give it a day to break in as for the first few hours it was very dry sounding then opened up nicely.

I am using a modded Museatex DAC designed by Meitner with my 2i.  But for my type of listening, which rather than intense short sessions is all day long as background music, the internal DAC was not unpleasant.  I do like the 2i fantastic operating app, customer service and world of music it opens up..

If you use the RCA outs to your Denon, you're getting the full MQA unfold.  The Bluesound app will show the MQA icon next to the track.  If you're listening to Qobuz Hi-Res tracks there will be an icon that says "HR".  I don't think it will show you the sampling rates.

I prefer Qobuz because as long as your DAC supports the sampling rates, there's no proprietary encoding.  I'd prefer not to have my bits and bytes folded and unfolded.  It's also cheaper and better suited to my listening tastes (mostly rock and jazz).  Tidal does have a larger selection, but there's not much you can't find on Qobuz.

Pretty sure the OP asked for suggestions to get the most out of their Node 2. Don’t feel anyone here isn’t offering what was not asked.

+1 on the Supra Cat 8

I use a Supra Cat 8 and although it’s the only ethernet cable I have tried besides the stock cable it is better to my ears and it’s affordable. Felt the stock Cat 5 cable was a little closed in, flatter stage and thinner compared to the Supra; it’s not a night and day difference but it is there. The Supra is more open and when comparing it to the stock it gets out of the way better.

In my system and my ears changing the power cable did make a difference which is plugged into a PS Audio P5 so maybe that helped. Just like the ethernet cable it’s not a night and day difference but every little bit helps. Biggest improvement is going to be a DAC but agree to enjoy it first because if you haven’t streamed yet you are in for a treat.

As far as streaming services go I started with Spotify Premium because I subscribed years before getting a streamer for home and the family package is a good deal. Next went to Tidal HiFi and agree it’s better than Spotify and they have a military discount for an individual subscription. Currently I have added Qobuz and I agree with others it sounds the best of the three. 

It just seems quieter than my ShieldTV with Tidal.....
i can’t quite put my finger on it, but i like what i hear so far :0)
Y’all got me thinkin about Qobuz though. It took me awhile to get use to paid services, but my days of archiving are over, except for some vinyl recently (no TT yet)

The Ayre CODEX Dac is a excellent choice in conjunction with the Node2. You can pick one up used around $800-$1000. Not bad, considering it sells new for around $2000. Codex also has balanced outs to your amp. If your amp has balanced inputs, try this configuration. It improved SQ in my opinion. The Node 2's internal dac has very respectable sound.