Can a Bluesound Node's Streamer Be Bypassed and be used as an External Dac?

Also, the best part of this auto switching to tv audio when the tv is turned on is that I don't have to worry about what the node was playing prior when my wife goes to watch tv. It might glitch once in a bluesound moon😜, but it's very rare.

"Just wondering,  what DAC are you using?"

A vintage Sony DAS-703 ..... circa 1985!  Yep,1985!  It's temporary until I find a replacement for it. Though, I was hoping to bypass the streamer side of Bluesound and use its dac to confirm in fact the vintage DAC is causing my ear fatigue and not the Aurrender N200.

For what it's worth, the vintage dac sounded fine when used with the Bluesound Node.  I could listen to the pair for hours without ear fatigue.

So are you using a format that is only 16/44k?   Most of those early DACs were not even capable of a full 16 bits of resolution anyway.   Digital has come a long way, if you are auditioning the N200 and can exchange it for an A200 I am sure you would find that is sounded great with Qobuz or Tidal

The N200 is worthy of a great DAC so if you pair a modern DAC with it I am pretty sure you will like it 

I went from a Vault to the N200 and thought it was a nice upgrade.   

You need to upgrade to a new DAC.