I’m one of those who use the Node 2i with a SGCD, and I love it, though I would rush to add that the only other streamer or network player I have to compare it to is a Pioneer N-50, and for what I was using the Pioneer for (accessing my ripped CDs that are stored on a drive connected to my iMac), the Node has it all over it. While I like the SGCD DAC a lot (to the point that I no longer use my Rega Planet as a stand-alone CD player, but now only for transport), I do use the Node’s DAC and output an analog signal from it because I’m one of the apparently few who enjoy fully “unfolded” MQA files, and the only way for the Node to do that is to output through its analog jacks. The ironic thing is that I spend more time with Qobuz these days than Tidal, just because of song selection (though there are still many, many albums in my collection that don’t appear on either service).
The only complaint I have with my Node is the iOS control app. It seems to be incapable of shuffling the content of Qobuz playlists. When I start one playing and hit the shuffle button, the next song is pulled completely from the ether, not from the playlist I was using. I’ve confirmed it’s not a Qobuz issue, or at least I’ve confirmed it doesn’t happen when I shuffle a playlist directly in Qobuz’s iOS app. I haven’t checked to see if it has the same problem with Tidal.