Digital streaming options for my system are confusing

You can do much better than a Node.

The Node is an excellent device for a starter system but with an amplifier of your quality the Node is not going to offer the best sound quality.

The Node does offer a lot for its price including a great app, and many different music streaming service options.

The issue with the Node is that it is an inexpensive device designed to offer good performance with mostly midfi gear.

The best choice would be a Innuous server these range from $1,400.00 devices up to much more expensive servers at $2,500-4k

The Innuous is very easy to setup and does require a Roon subscription which is $120 a year or $500 lifetime.

Roon itself is amazing the experience it offers is top notch it is easy to use and integrates perfectly with Tidal as Tidal is a partner.

If you have CD’s you can also rip them to the system and access them that way.

Sound quality of the Innuous gear is fantastic, custom built motherboards, custom designed USB card, and quiet power supplies.

The Innuous has a USB output which the Node doesn’t have and through Roon you can upconvert a 16 bit 44k digital stream into a psedo high res stream at 24 bit 192k up to 32 bit 384k and above.

In this way you can dramatically improve the digital sound of your system this is something the Node can’t do.

The Innuous gear is very easy to setup in less than 5mins you are running and streaming Tidal.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Node and Innuous dealers

The reality of this is that the Node is a good device, we have the Node and have done extensive tests vs the higher end Innuous products and there is really no comparison.

The integrity of the data in the Node is not the same as what you get out of an Innuous even their starter Zen Mini will be a superior product and if you add in the cost of a Node plus a vault you are at the same money as the Zen Mini.

When you factor in the ability to upconvert your data to high resolution via Roon, and add in that Roon and Tidal will also give you MQA first level unfold to 24/96k as well, and you also get a dedicated Roon Core, you have a much better solution all in one solution then a Vault +Node.

However with that being said you have a $500 Node 2i going against a $1,400.00 Zen Mini if you don’t add the Vault.

One of the OP biggest concerns is sound quality and ease of use and yes without a shadow of doubt the Zen Mini plus a good USB cable going into the 6700 will give the OP the best possible digital stream.

The Node will only allow 16bit 44k digital with the Zen you can get 24bit 192k upsampled digital for all sources which means the OP's storred CD's can also benefit heck the OP can probably store his entire collection on the Zen Mini as well.

One of the biggest pluses of the Zen plus Roon is using it is so simple and can be played back via any Android or Iphone or Android or IOS tablets.

In terms of a user experience nothing beats Roon, and Roon is completely intuative and offers a much more indepth music surfing experience than the blue sound OS, another plus with Roon is the ability to talk with music devices thoughout your home which includes a $35 Google Chrome which you can connect to other devices throught the home for an integrated solution also Sonos devices can be controlled via Roon as well.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Bluesound and Innuous dealer,

Telecer what are you asking for? If you are looking to demo a number of different components that is what your local dealer is for. 

Try to find a dealer that sells whatever units you want to demo and then work out the details. 

If you think that a 20 point margin is enough for a retail business which is low volume with high costs you got another thing coming. 

The reality is that if there was so much money in high end retailing you would see a lot more dealers.

If it wasn't for custom installation business we and many other dealers would not be in business these days. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Telemercer your best bet is to contact us we can ship you a Innuous Mini and a Bluesound Node you can compare to your hearts delight and ship back the one you don't want.

That is what a good dealer can do for you make your choices easier.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innuous and Bluesound dealers