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Bluesound Node Icon Streamer Review

Rate this streamer/DAC/Preamp:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 43 19.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 98 43.4%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 73 32.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 12 5.3%

  • Total voters
    226

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Bluesound Node Icon Streamer, DAC and Preamplifier (ADC). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $999.
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB XLR preamplifier adc mult-room wifi review.jpg

I can't say I am overly impressed by the design as it kind of looks plasticky. There is a nice large display but doesn't support touch which is strange in this day and age. Instead there are a set of touch buttons on top. I did not use any of this and instead of downloaded the BlueOS app. I found it super confusing, taking me almost 15 minutes to figure out how to change inputs! The option is not under "Audio." Nor the "Player." Instead it is under a "Music" button on the bottom! Half hour spent doing usability testing would have shown them this to be an issue. I understand it supports Dirac but I did not play with that. I updated it as it requested on first connection.

Back panel shows impressive set of inputs and outputs which you may have a hard time deciphering due to low contrast labels:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB XLR preamplifier adc mult-room wifi back panel rev...jpg


I could not test everything but did my best to get wide coverage. I suggest watching my tutorial on DAC measurements if you are not familiar with my testing:

And lease subscribe to the channel.

Bluesound Node Icon DAC Measurements
I started my testing with streaming over Ethernet and XLR balanced output:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo Roon XLR Balanced out Measurements.png

This is better performance than I expected, showing good level of competence in engineering:
Best streamer review 2025.png




Best streamer review zoom 2025.png


It is however shy of some of its competitors which peg the above chart. Performance is no different if you use USB or HDMI ARC:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo Roon XLR Balanced out Measurements.png

Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo HDMI ARC Measurements.png

There are some small sidebands in all the FFT spectrum however. This will show up more in our jitter test. For now, here are the RCA results:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo Roon RCA out Measurements.png


The unit was highly dependent on grounding. You can see this reflected in channel 2 having lower performance. This is the best I could achieve. Your mileage may vary.

Dynamic range is excellent:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo dynamic range Measurements.png


Low distortion in the dashboard translates into the same in multitone and 50 Hz distortion tests:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB XLR Multitone Measurements.png

Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB 50 Hz Measurements.png


Linearity was flat as it should be:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB XLR linearity Measurements.png


As noted, jitter performance is not good:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB Jitter Measurements.png


We have both random, low frequency jitter that broadens the "skirts" of our 12 kHz tone. But also a myriad of spurious/jitter tones. This shows lack of design hygiene. Next bit of bad news was the filter:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo Roon XLR Balanced out Filter Measurements.png

Gosh, we have one of these slow filters which we had seen in earlier Marantz AVRs. They get credit for making this optional in latest series but I could not find any such option in Node Icon menus. I strongly recommend the company reconsider this decision and provide at least one standard filter. Fortunately, the frequency response is not impacted:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo Roon XLR Balanced out frequency response Measurements.png


But wideband THD+N certainly is:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo USB XLR THD vs Frequency Measurements.png


Bluesound Node Icon Preamplifier Measurements
There is analog input which I appreciate as I have a Reel-to-Reel tape deck and know others have turntables:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo analod input ADC Measurements.png


While ground loop has now come back with vengeance, performance is still quite good.

Input is digitized using an ADC at 44.1 kHz:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo analod input ADC frequency response Measurements.png

Would have liked to see this at higher sample rate or made programmable as their competitors do.

Bluesound Node Icon Headphone Amplifier Measurements
Performance using high impedance of 300 ohm shows that the output power is just a step above "checklist" feature:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo analog Headphone Amplifier Measurements.png

I like to see desktop products produce at least 100 milliwatts.

There is better performance to be had using low impedance of 32 ohm:
Bluesound Node Icon Streamer DAC Stereo analog Headphone Amplifier 32 ohm Measurements.png


Conclusions
It is clear Bluesound has taken a major step forward in design of Node Icon. Alas, they didn't quite get the job done with the horrible choice of DAC reconstruction filter and to some extent jitter and interference in output stage. Analog input is good. Headphone output is mediocre to acceptable depending on your headphone impedance and sensitivity.

Because of the choice of DAC filter, I cannot recommend the Bluesound Node Icon. Company needs to revise this especially since it is just a firmware choice. Should they do this, it would go on my recommended list.

EDIT: Video review posted as well:
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:
Reserved for @AdamG to kindly post the specs.

Manufacturer Specifications:

IMG_1002.jpeg

Link to Product details and webpage:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It has xlr and rca out. Not sure how the volume difference can be changed in the settings along with the sub out.

I believe it has Dirac, for a license fee of course. This is much more versatile than the Wiim ultra ‘room correction’.

Airplay won’t be lossless on this for Apple Music still.
 
Sorry for the ignorance, could someone link to a reputable source that explains why that filter is bad please?
 
Maybe connecting iPhone or iPad to the usbc (or a?) port of the icon will provide Apple Music lossless.
The standard node (2024) doesn’t have usb in. It is output only.
 
Great review! Sad to see that the THX AAA headphone amp isn’t as good as it could be.

It’s nice to see how it compares to the E1DA. I got 113.9 dB SINAD and noise of -124.2 dB which is the threshold of the E1DA.
1741227301398.png


@amirm is that noise level among the best you have seen among streamers? The Matrix Audio X2 was slightly better but much more expensive.

The filter is crazy. This is by intent (MQA QRONO d2a). Their claim is that it’s better for real music and you get less imaging in real life than you see in test signals…
1741227612181.png


The one cool thing about Dirac on this is that it does it at 192 kHz.
 
Sorry for the ignorance, could someone link to a reputable source that explains why that filter is bad please?

There is no reputable rationale. Marantz finds that they sell more with that kind of filter.

The marketing info is here:

And the claim is that
“The Lenbrook team determined that QRONO dsd and QRONO d2a are such significant and fundamental improvements to our audio pipeline that they are now core components of the audio chain of each model that will receive the upgrade. These should not be seen as effects or options.”
Source.
 
Streamers are the one component which befuddle me the most--particularly their pricing. This unit is a streamer DAC costing $999 USD. Is there any reason to believe it's sonically superior to using a Google Chromecast Audio with, say. a Topping D10? That combination should run less than $200, or one fifth the price of this unit. Never mind the bells and whistles, any reason to believe it does a better job of conveying the signal? Or, for that matter, is it superior to a PC and a USB Dac? or a RPI with a hat?

And its filter is terrible, which means ultrasonic noise when rendering 16/44, which is the large majority of all music. How could they get something so basic, so wrong?

The basic function of this thing is to transmit digital LPCM streams from a router to a DAC, no DSP, no bass management, no PEQ, so why are all these streamers so stratospherically priced? Piggybank Panther seems well deserved in almost every case!

As always, very thorough and professional review, Amir. So thank you.
 
Don't understand products like this in worlds where Wiim exist. Not sure who would spend this much money. I will stick with separates. I like just having a Raspberry Pi with a screen hooked up to a SMSL SU-1. I can have those in every room of the house for a thousand dollars.
 
Streamers are the one component which befuddle me the most--particularly their pricing. This unit is a streamer DAC costing $999 USD. Is there any reason to believe it's sonically superior to using a Google Chromecast Audio with, say. a Topping D10? That combination should run less than $200, or one fifth the price of this unit. Never mind the bells and whistles, any reason to believe it does a better job of conveying the signal? Or, for that matter, is it superior to a PC and a USB Dac? or a RPI with a hat?

And its filter is terrible, which means ultrasonic noise when rendering 16/44, which is the large majority of all music. How could they get something so basic, so wrong?

The basic function of this thing is to transmit digital LPCM streams from a router to a DAC, no DSP, no bass management, no PEQ, so why are all these streamers so stratospherically priced? Piggybank Panther seems well deserved in almost every case!

As always, very thorough and professional review, Amir. So thank you.
It has Dirac , extra cost of course.
 
Streamers are the one component which befuddle me the most--particularly their pricing. This unit is a streamer DAC costing $999 USD. Is there any reason to believe it's sonically superior to using a Google Chromecast Audio with, say. a Topping D10?
Dirac Live is what makes it unique. Also stuff like HDMI eARC and multiroom synchronization.

And its filter is terrible, which means ultrasonic noise when rendering 16/44, which is the large majority of all music. How could they get something so basic, so wrong?
Agree. They are clearly choosing a certain path. Would be interesting if they did a Denon and Marantz and released a different version with a standard filter for less money

The basic function of this thing is to transmit digital LPCM streams from a router to a DAC, no DSP, no bass management, no PEQ, so why are all these streamers so stratospherically priced?
It has full Dirac which is a step up from PEQ. You need to factor that into the price relative to simple PEQ of course.

The Node N132 has similar RCA performance and Dirac options for almost half the cost. No screen and no XLR.
 
Sorry for the ignorance, could someone link to a reputable source that explains why that filter is bad please?
It is a textbook/mathematical requirement that a reconstruction filter cut off everything above half the sample rate or 22.05 kHz in the case of 44.1 kHz sampling. In reality, most DACs cut off everything by 24 kHz. This one takes its time, likely going 2 to 3 times as high before cutting off. The impact is that there will be ultrasonic noise going to the tweeter for no real reason. The notion that it sounds better is not demonstrate through any kind of proper testing.
 
Thanks for the review. For some reason I thought they wouldn't manage to screw anything up with the Node this time. I guess they know their market demographic. It also doesn't ground the balanced out which has meant some need a crazy work around extra ground wire to the unbalanced they recommend.
 
On the plus side, it seems like the most glaring issue can be fixed via a firmware update, as noted in the review. I assume this review will find its way to Lenbrook, so I don't think it'd be farfetched to say that the review will prompt an update to the filter
 
Sorry for the ignorance, could someone link to a reputable source that explains why that filter is bad please?
The filter should eliminate all (or most) ultrasonic noise and aliasing above 20 kHz. There are always such spurious signals outside of the audio band from D-to-A converters. Because the slope of the filter is so gentle, you might well - for example - have a spurious signal being output by this unit at 50 kHz only slightly attenuated because of the slow filter rolloff - and this 50 kHz signal is coming out of this DAC, going into your amplifier, being amplified and might very well fry the tweeters in your speakers. You won't hear it but - for example- 50 watts at 50 kHz will very likely burn out your tweeters. FFFT! Typically, one doesn't want a DAC to destroy their speakers.....
 
Dirac Live is what makes it unique. Also stuff like HDMI eARC and multiroom synchronization.


Agree. They are clearly choosing a certain path. Would be interesting if they did a Denon and Marantz and released a different version with a standard filter for less money


It has full Dirac which is a step up from PEQ. You need to factor that into the price relative to simple PEQ of course.

The Node N132 has similar RCA performance and Dirac options for almost half the cost. No screen and no XLR.
Missed that. Don't believe it was mentioned anywhere in the review. Even so, miniDSP has Dirac as a $200 add on. Obviously with no sub out, there's no need to DLBC or ART, so it's just Dirac Live which should not cost more than $200. But, even so, a very nice feature, but the unit is still overpriced with a sub-optimal filter.
 
I assume this review will find its way to Lenbrook, so I don't think it'd be farfetched to say that the review will prompt an update to the filter
Why would they do that? Many users prefer MQA QRONO d2a in direct comparison.
 
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