Blue Node 2i vs Chromecast Audio

I have a “law of diminishing returns” question based on the Blue Node 2i ($500) vs Chromecast Audio ($50). All things being equal is the Node worth 10x more then the Chromecast Audio under these circumstances…

If I took my integrated amp with an internal DAC and connected it to each of these streamers via the optical input and streamed the same Spotify track at the highest quality would I notice a significant difference in sound?

In theory, the sound quality should be very similar because the DAC within the integrated amp would be managing the conversion, right?

Again, I am only interested in the sound quality aspect…not the user interface, types of inputs, etc.

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I can’t imagine it would sound 10 times better. If you have that much money why not go halfway buying a bluetooth dac that sounds better than the chrome cast and not (I’m assuming) as good as the other but for mu h cheaper?

Oh I see what you mean, the thing still is that the chromecast sends the audio through the wifi right? Not Bluetooth so it shouldn’t be as compressed as a cheap Bluetooth equivalent at that price range. While the 500 dollar one has aptX HD which is very nice. Honestly I can’t imagine there being a big difference in sound if the chromecast is not bluetooth

@anon54878099 Correct - Chromecast Audio is wifi based.

What I am still trying to figure out is if the streamer DAC is over-ridden/reconverted by the internal DAC of the integrated it is plugged into to via the optical input?

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oh i see, hmmmmm good question. I don’t think so? i mean zeos does it all the time right? and he always mentions how he still gets the tube sound or whatever he’s using. But i guess he did it on things that don’t have a dac actually