Get a Pi and have it do just what you want it to. Best $100 you'll spend on your system. The future and all that stuff
Don't you need to have some good computer skills to put together and set up a Pi?
Nick
You will need some computer skills, but with all that is available out on the net I don't think it is anything that can't be self taught, but the biggest thing is time vs money; It is going to a certain amount of time to build and configure the hardware as well as research,select, load and optimize the required software. (and of course the amount of time it takes you will vary with the amount of knowledge you bring to the table to star with in terms of both computers in general and the specific hardware and software you will be working with.) As far as I know Rich was the last one of us here to build a pi music server, perhaps he can comment on how much time and effort he put into the project.
And of course, like any DIY project, if you build a PI you can configure it to get exact what you want feature wise.
However, on the other side the Bluesound Node arrived fully assembled, the setup took me about twenty minutes and did not involve anything more than loading the IDs and passwords for my home network and Tidal account. Loading the Bluesound App on my tablet and I was off to the races.
Downsides, It will not play DXD files, but I don't have any right now, nor do I feel a burning desire to start collecting them, so this is not an issue to me. The software interface is a bit clunky, but I have found way to make do with it. And should I decide that I want a better software interface, Bluesound is now Roon compatible, so I have the option to go that way at anytime should I choose to. And my the Node only offer a Toslink digital output, but my EE DAC has an optical input so that is not a problem for me, (although it is worth noting that the current model, the Node 2, offers both Optical Toslink and electrical RCA digital outputs.)
I can understand why someone would spend more time and/or time to build a Pi or buy a more advanced streamer, but the Node can play all of the files I currently have as well as stream Tidal (including software MQA decoding the Tidal Masters) so it meets my needs right now and at $300 for a plug and play solution it really a no brainer for me, but YMMV.
Will I feel the need to upgrade to something better in the future, I think we all know the answer to that question, but for right now the Node, and Tidal, re giving me a lot of enjoyment for not a lot of coin so I am very happy with it (for now........
)
Tom