Setting up a streamer for a frien

If you can feed the Node into the Esoteric it will sound pretty decent.  The most important determinant of of streaming sound is the DAC.  Transports matter, and a better transport will sound better (the rest of the friends system sounds like it is good enough to resolve smallish differences in components).
    As has been stated many times the Bluesound stuff occupies a certain sweet spot.  It is a great entry level piece, particularly if someone isn’t too certain that they are going to forgo a large CD collection in favor of streaming, or they just want to dip their toe in.  And it’s good enough, particularly if paired with a better DAC, to be an endpoint, and it is economical.  Certainly it can be bested, but its compatibility with every streaming service out there and it’s relatively good OS make it very attractive.

  A few more thoughts, RVW:
Did you recommend the Cambridge that we both own?  It isn’t much over the stated budget.  Also, where are the files to be stored?  Or is this listening only for streaming services and not going to include the present CD collection?

It’s very unlikely that my friend friend will store any files.  That’s why I recommended the Node.

If it truly is a K-07 then it has optical,coax and usb digital inputs and an AKM DAC. I can only imagine that the AKM implementation is worthy. Drop the $1.5K (implied budget) on the Bryston BD-2 and it should sound purdy dang good given the network infrastructure is up to par. Or as others have suggested do the Node, stash the saved cash and add to it over time and upgrade if the streaming turns into a crack pipe.

I only first dipped my toes into the world of a dedicated streamer within the last few weeks. I have a pretty nice system with a fine DAC- a Bricasti M1. I was looking at DAC-less streamers from Aurender, Auralic, Lumin, as well as other brands. I was looking at gear ranging from $2k - $5, and also listened to units at the $15k, $20K and $30K price points just for curiosity. What did I wind up doing?  Bought a Node, and it's connected to my M1. Sounds pretty darned good. I've heard better, but I am still learning a lot about streamers, and I can think of no better way to get into the world of streaming especially if you already have a good DAC. And BluOS is fine- nothing drastic but it works fine for me.