You are constantly touting the straw man logical fallacy. Failing to realise that your comments on measurements are kinda in the realm of the Nirvana fallacy. “If it ain’t perfect it’s no good”. For Christ sake all someone said is that the Node 2i is a good little streamer for the price.
He said it’s “the best all in one streamer at its price point”, and i only pointed out that its measurements show that its high noise floor prevent it from reaching CD-quality playback. Which is obviously a serious shortcoming, don’t you agree?
He then replied with a “Hurrr-durr measurements” comment like people often do, and that then triggered the rest of the discussion. My initial comment was just factual and informative, and people could have left it at that without trying to outwit or strawman me.
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It was just an opinion. Not just based on performance but possibly form, function and price. I am sure you are correct but I’m sure there are down sides to each and every device at that price point also.
He wasn’t saying it was “technically” the best.
Maybe you could have left it at his original comment.
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I am allowed to provide nuance to other people’s statements am i not? That is what an online forum is for.
If we only give our individual subjective opinions and may never comment on each others claims, then what’s the point?
Some people who are looking for a new streamer might value my comments on the Node 2i’s technical limitations, and perhaps wouldn’t have considered other, possibly better options if only the subjective “Best streamer at it’s price point” comment was allowed. That doesn’t make sense to me.
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You wrote recently, that watching your cherished measurements, you conclude that Naim amps have distorted 2d or 3rd harmonics.
It contradicts people experience with Naim who find generally that the sound is specially right.
Then you affirmed that Naim customers like the harmonic distortion.
Is there a real sense in that ?
Perhaps you missed the reply from Simon-in-Suffolk where he wrote that he agreed with my comment?
Cripes let’s get back to the op.
My suggestion would be to upgrade the steamer and get an ND5 XS 2.
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Sorry mate, the measurement card just gets really boring after a while. Would you purchase based on measurements alone?
And yes, if I was in the market for an amp and preferred the sound of one that measured slightly worse than another id buy it. Over and out.
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It seems like some of the others you really, really want to misinterpret what i keep saying about measurements, which is a shame.
But enough of this, let’s please get back to the thread yes please! 
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Hi
I was aware of this upgrade, but when I bought my ND5XS2 from a fellow member here, I sold my Node on.
Sorry I cannot assist.
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I’ve used the SN1 & a chrome cast audio for years and despite what many will argue here, it was a magic combination. Not last word in transparency and refinement, but it could set the room on fire.
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I hear you, mine is a stop gap till I can afford the Naim streamer. Whichever that may be…
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I have been buying HiFi for about 50 years and I don’t think I ever bought, or rejected, an item on the basis of measurements. My criteria apart from price have always been sound, appearance, functionality and (likely) reliability combined with after sales support.
I am a scientist so accustomed to dealing with data, but we must know what data is useful, how it is acquired and what does it mean. For HiFi I have little clue on any of these points, so I never look at measurements myself.
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Yes, and a fine choice as a stop gap.
I will repeat my comment made at the start of this thread:
“The Node is in my view the best all in one streamer at its price point.”
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That’s the first I’ve heard of the AE & optical output being potentially troublesome.
I’ve A/B tested the two DACs & CD transport using either the original source CD or the lossless file derived from it.
No perceptible difference either using speakers or headphones.
The goal for me has always been CD-quality music with the convenience of remote playback.
There’s a good review here of the AE…
https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express-audio-quality-2014.htm
From this it appears clear to me that the optical output is difficult to improve on.
Meanwhile, on the hunt for an XS!
The Node is a popular choice because it looks nice and it’s quite user friendly, but technically it’s not one of the best performers (even at it’s reasonable price point).
It does look nice, is very user-friendly and has a great app. For the money, and to my ears (which I trust more than a graph) you can’t buy a better-value streamer – it’s the perfect comination of value for money, form factor, UI and sound quality. It can be further improved by adding an external DAC.
In the real world, nobody cares about measurements and graphs, I’m afraid.
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Did you use Chromecast with an iPad or iPhone?
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In those days I used a Motorola, Android based.
And I could post a link to measurements that trash it. Really it’s a cheap and cheerful way of streaming at entry level quality (with a half decent DAC to sort out the mess it creates).
Good quality streaming requires high quality kit at every stage unfortunately.
Wow, how do you think Naim design their kit?