DAC problems, serious ones!

Hi all, I bought two Node 2i streamers for my office and my living room. When I first turned them on and connected to the internet they immediately performed an automatic update to the most recent firmware 3.12.13 which went smoothly.

On the living room unit I connected the analog output to my Cambridge CXA-61 integrated amp, set the output to fixed from the menu, and on trying to stream from TIDAL or Spotify the first impression was that the node 2i internal DAC was lacking on mid and high frequencies.My speakers sounded dull and muffled, nothing like I have experienced by connection my PC USB output to my integrated CXA-61 amp.

On my office unit I set the analog output to variable and I connected directly to an end amp, an IOMEGA unit. I also connected the Node 2i subwoofer output to my dedicated B&W powered sub. Problem, the subwoofer did not output any volume, or rather it was a whisper, besides the fact that the speakers were playing loud enough.

I read all the posts suggesting a rebbot, which I performed many times, but nothing changed, the sub was still outputing only a whisper out. So I loaded the firmware from the Bluesound site, copied it to a USB card and followed the suggested firmware upgrade directions, which went smoothly.

Subsequent to this update, which does not have a different number than the one downloaded from the internet automatically when the units first registered, I have more problems to deal with!

This upgrade partly solved the subwoofer issue not sounding like a whisper, but is still lacking in volume besides the fact that the volume control on the subwoofer is set up to its maximum level. The subwoofer works perfectly with the other two integrated subs I have.

The more serious problem is that the sound quality detteriorated significantly. Suddendly the internal DAC sounded extremely bright to the point it is unbearble to listen for more than a few minutes, and the base just vanished! I tried to correct this issue by turning the Audio Control Option on and adjusting the bass and treble. However, when you turn the Audi Option Controls to the ON position the sound level of the DAC drops by more than 3 db, in other worlds it halves, and the controls do not seem to have any reasonable effect to correct the loudness of the excessive treble and lacking bass.

Another problem is that by turning the tone controls on and trying to direct the signal feed to the coaxial output has also the same effect of reducing the sound level, and bass and treble controls affect the sound. This should not happen to the coaxial signal output since it supposedly bypasses the internal DAC, which does not seem to be the case since not only the sould level drops but adjusting the trebble and bass also affects the coaxial signal.

So I am supposed to be getting a HiFi (ish) quality streamer that in reality sounds really bad, no better or maybe worse than a comparable low quality streamer I have used in the past. I am pretty sure that the probles I have experienced are software related and not necessariy related to the quality of the internal parts. So I would appreciate if anyone can help me or share their experience on how to correct these problems, like:

(a) excessive brightness and lack of bass when I performed the firmware upgrade on a USB card

(b) Low Subwoofer signal output

(c) Turning Tone Controls OB reduced the signal output by more than 3 db although the bass and treble are set to default 0 position.

(d) when trying to output the signal from the coaxial port this is affected by the internal DAC and tone control settings.

(e) I cannot turn ON the MQA bypass button, it is stuck on the off position.