T+A Class D Amps ( M200 or A200)?

The Bluesound Node ICON is designed to directly hook up to an amp. It would be wise to use the balanced XLR outputs to do so, I am told.

That, in and of itself, is why I am considering purchasing the ICON, even though my interest in streaming is tepid. The apprehension is that it is highly unlikely that the DAC in the ICON will be better than the Yggy that I use. Also, the preamp- I would surmise- would be the weak link. Still, it sounds like fun and creates a hands-on utility of sorts that everyone can interact with easily. 

I use the NAD C298, which has the same Class D technology as what the OP uses. Hence, it would sound the same; sans the speaker differences, which are vast. 

My take is that the OP probably needs a 2  or 4 tube preamp to provide the flesh/tone/etc that others here in this thread describe. But, to each his own, I have to live with 30 feet speaker wire runs, so everyone has limitations as to what can be done - or what can be deemed plausible in a room environment.

I am really resistant to the idea of getting DAC/Streamer separate from each other and even separate from the pre-amp. (I would even consider going the other way and skipping the pre-amp altogether by hooking up an amp directly to something like the Bluesound Icon, but that is probably heresy?)

Yeah the Icon is probably a good step below where you’d wanna go.  Unless you’re very space constrained I’m not sure why you’re hesitant toward a separate DAC and streamer, and most combo units come with some significant compromise either with performance or the app, or both.  Something like the HiFi Rose RS151 DAC/streamer with a good stereo preamp might work — preamps are important so if sound quality is paramount this might be worth considering.  If you’re really hell bent on combining everything including the preamp then the new Eversolo A10 looks promising with the significant caveat that their customer support is sub optimal should you ever need it, and especially with streamers it’s not uncommon at some point.  But here’s a good review fyi in case you might be interested…

https://soundnews.net/reviews/sources/eversolo-dmp-a10-review-feature-rich-great-sounding-and-incredibly-beautiful/

Thanks @prophet9 and @goodlistening64 ; very helpful to me.

  @soix, do you think, cost aside, that the eversolo dump-a10 is likely better than the NAD M66. The M66 has also gotten great reviews (e.g., https://www.stereophile.com/content/nad-m66-streaming-preamplifier-measurements-page-2 )

 and has more functions than I will ever use. Pretty solid customer support room, at least based on their being very helpful when i had some very boneheaded questions when setting up the M33.

I really have no idea which is better, but all else equal I’d give the nod to the M66 as the more established brand and Dirac if you might use that.  That said, I doubt you’d be unhappy with either performance wise and the A10 is $3k cheaper, which in my world is material.

Totally appreciate that, thank you, @soix.   I do expect they would both be pretty sonically neutral. The other item on the scale in the M66’s favor (for me) is Bluesound. Probably not worth 3K on its own, though.  But if I were to go through with this, I would hope to do a bit better on price of the M66 via the used market or through “kindly” dealer trade-in concessions.