Bluesound Node N132 Streamer review

[Sokel]

Had a look around and the fact that the performance with low filters engaged worsens even more as sample rate goes higher looks to be indicative not of software issues alone, but simple horsepower.
Alsa guys says that similar issues (but not as heavy) appear when mitigating configurations from a PC to a low-power Pi for example.

Someone has to take a serious look at that, It's not only Icon that suffers,seems like Wiim has similar issues (miniDSP too,but they fixed some of it)

 

[Rja4000]

Do you mean LDAC, the Sony audio codec?

Indeed . Corrected.

 

[Multicore]

I want to make a joke about Brit-fi and tone controls but I'm coming up with nothing. Help me out!

 

[peng]

I hope someone will educate me on why the Bluesound devices got so popular, like what are the main features that would make it worth paying more than other similarly more affordable? Regardless, it is good to see that perhaps it is because they are getting popular so prices seem to be trending down recently. I like toys, but still want to see reasons for me to acquire another AV electronic toys lol..

 

[DearSX]

Thanks @Rja4000!

 

[rwtooley]

I hope someone will educate me on why the Bluesound devices got so popular, like what are the main features that would make it worth paying more than other similarly more affordable? Regardless, it is good to see that perhaps it is because they are getting popular so prices seem to be trending down recently. I like toys, but still want to see reasons for me to acquire another AV electronic toys lol..

I wouldn't say popular, but they have a market share, rough guess maybe 15-20%? I can only speak to my experience but I'll offer it: I bought a Node about the same time wiim dropped their Mini and Pro models and besides the fact there was no real reliability data on them yet I was just not fond of the brand name - conjures up a childs toy (Nintendo Wii) so had my suspicions about them. I know that sounds silly now but at the time chi-fi was still taboo for me personally, I'm a "buy once cry once" guy.
I think the only reason Bluesound prices have dropped is bc of WiiM - Lenbrook is trying to stay competitive with them. And, it seems, trying to best them - releasing the Icon with XLR outputs to appeal to the audiophile crowd.
As to stand-out features - its a streamer, that's it, nothing special.. some hate the apps some of us think they do ok. but when I set it up I was over-the-moon to see the inclusion of Neil Young's Archives - it's not a pretty interface but allows you a way to stream all his 192kHz content, including a ton of exclusive live shows. All the other usual services are available, you can disable the ones you don't use (save Radio Paradise which for some reason has no way to hide it, but not a real issue)

My experience (excluding the v4 app-release debacle) has been good. With all the hype surrounding WiiM I still made the decision not to abandon Bluesound for wiim when I went multi-room last year. Poor economic choice really but I hate giving up on any device that still works fine. at that time I told myself I wouldn't fetch much on the used market for my first Node due to their reputation hit after said v4 release.

Multi-room (four Nodes now) works very well, stays in sync and seldom pauses/buffers during a song - it will generally pause a second or 2 between songs if it needs to but generally only for 192kHz content (obvs I use wifi, I didn't buy wireless streamers just to have to run ethernet everywhere)

Currently eyeing an Icon since I heard the chassis is all-aluminum and I'm very much drawn to devices that look and feel well-built. They begin shipping again next week so the fomo is strong rn, but I see no real benefit to adding one more streamer.. my "needs" are met, for the time being

 

[VintageFlanker]

Awesome job, @Rja4000 !

@amirm could this be promoted to Home Page ?

 

[Peib]

thanks for sharing

 

[peng]

I wouldn't say popular, but they have a market share, rough guess maybe 15-20%? I can only speak to my experience but I'll offer it: I bought a Node about the same time wiim dropped their Mini and Pro models and besides the fact there was no real reliability data on them yet I was just not fond of the brand name - conjures up a childs toy (Nintendo Wii) so had my suspicions about them. I know that sounds silly now but at the time chi-fi was still taboo for me personally, I'm a "buy once cry once" guy.
I think the only reason Bluesound prices have dropped is bc of WiiM - Lenbrook is trying to stay competitive with them. And, it seems, trying to best them - releasing the Icon with XLR outputs to appeal to the audiophile crowd.
As to stand-out features - its a streamer, that's it, nothing special.. some hate the apps some of us think they do ok. but when I set it up I was over-the-moon to see the inclusion of Neil Young's Archives - it's not a pretty interface but allows you a way to stream all his 192kHz content, including a ton of exclusive live shows. All the other usual services are available, you can disable the ones you don't use (save Radio Paradise which for some reason has no way to hide it, but not a real issue)

My experience (excluding the v4 app-release debacle) has been good. With all the hype surrounding WiiM I still made the decision not to abandon Bluesound for wiim when I went multi-room last year. Poor economic choice really but I hate giving up on any device that still works fine. at that time I told myself I wouldn't fetch much on the used market for my first Node due to their reputation hit after said v4 release.

Multi-room (four Nodes now) works very well, stays in sync and seldom pauses/buffers during a song - it will generally pause a second or 2 between songs if it needs to but generally only for 192kHz content (obvs I use wifi, I didn't buy wireless streamers just to have to run ethernet everywhere)

Currently eyeing an Icon since I heard the chassis is all-aluminum and I'm very much drawn to devices that look and feel well-built. They begin shipping again next week so the fomo is strong rn, but I see no real benefit to adding one more streamer.. my "needs" are met, for the time being

Thank you for your honest opinions. I will get one if and when they offer one that has output to 2 subs (2 discrete subouts) for use with DLBC, but if by that time smsl or Topping have 4 channel dacs available, then I would just go with those.

 

[totti1965]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the 2024
Bluesound Node N132

View attachment 431390.

I purchased mine new from a reseller. Price was around 500€.
Note that this is the 2024 model. You may find the previous model (2021) much cheaper. Amir reviewed this one here.

The Bluesound Node combines a multiroom network streamer, DAC, ADC and headphones amplifier in one box.
As several Node models, it is also Dirac capable (if you purchase the optional Dirac license).
It's part of the BluOS eco-system from Bluesound and sister company NAD.
Operation is done from the BluOS App, while basic commands may also be done by touching the top of the device.

Inputs
The Node allows quite a few sources :
Of course, main use for streaming is network, so it includes an Ethernet RJ45 port.
Wifi is also provided, as well as Bluetooth (unfortunately, LDAC is not supported).
Streaming sources include the usual actors like Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon, Spotify, ...
TuneIn may also be used for internet radio streaming.
You may also stream music from a NAS, or from a USB key you plug in the local USB port.

A physical stereo audio input is also present, which may allow either an analog connection OR an optical SPDIF (not at the same time).
And, last but not least, you'll find an HDMI eArc input.

Interestingly, any source may then be routed to any room within your BluOS network.

Outputs
Outputs include analog (unbalanced, on RCA plugs) and digital SPIF over Optical Toslink or coax.
It also includes a 6.35mm headphones Jack on the front.
On top of that, there is a separate Subwoofer analog output (unbalanced RCA).

Trigger in and out are also foreseen.

View attachment 431391


Measurements

Measures are performed with following equipment:
RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE, as the main DAC and ADC
For very low levels, I used an E1DA scaler to amplify the signal.
For this review, I used Audio Precision APx 500 Flex 9.0.2, where possible.
Some measurements were done with my ususal software, Virtins Multi Instrument (now version 3.9.11.1).
The Node was tested with BluOS 4.8.17.

Many thanks to Amir, who was kind enough to share most of his templates, which, of course, helps to keep results more coherent with his own measurements.

There are some limitations and differences compared to Amir's testing with an Audio Precision APx555.
That's more than enough to get a good idea of the device performances though.
I'll post comments where such differences are most important.
(Actually, we shouldn't be close to where those differences matter here - so expect results to be very similar or identical)


Analog Ouput (DAC) measurements

Bluesound advertises an ES9039Q2M DAC chip and a THX grade Headphones amplifier.
Let's see what this gives us in measurements.

SINAD measurement

Analog outputs 2V Dashboard - Streaming from a WAV file

View attachment 431397

Good news: We now have a Bluesound Node that has good measurements !

If that was Amir's official measurements, it would rank in the middle of the bunch, near the middle of the "Green" or "Very Good" bucket.

View attachment 431399
View attachment 431401


Analog outputs 2V Dashboard - Optical input

View attachment 431402

Another good news: Optical input gives identical results.
Jitter is also very similar, as we will see later.
That's especially good news for me, since I may then use it to run the whole set of our usual measurements.
As the Node doesn't propose an USB input (the Icon does, not this one), that's the only way to do it.

I am able to run tests like this:
SINAD vs level

View attachment 431403

We see little changes on a 1.2V-2V range.

As we see here and in above dashboards, SINAD is limited by Distortion rather than noise.
We are still far away from the SINAD of the best in class using the same DAC chip.



Dynamic range

Due to the way I perform this measurement, I was not able to use Audio Precision software directly for this measurement.
However, I use the same CCIR-2k weighting AP uses.
NB: I forgot to re-measure Voltage. So voltage shown is not accurate. Should be around 2mV for -60dB at 2V.
The level you see in the plot is as seen by the RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE used as ADC for this measurement. An additional amplification of 19dB is provided by an E1DA Scaler before the ADC.

2V CCIR-2k dynamic range

View attachment 431404


View attachment 431407

I also measured unweigthed and with A-Weighting

View attachment 431445

View attachment 431446

Values are well behind the specs (although the specs are very confusing on that topic).
We miss at least 5-6dBs to match the advertised values.

In Unweighted measurement, we see a somehow unsual noise profile in high-mid frequencies.
Nothing concerning, though.

View attachment 431415



Linearity

Thanks to Amir, I was able to use his own project/template.
Values shoudl therefore be more in line with his results.

View attachment 431413
Good result here.


Multitone Measurements

View attachment 431414

We see noise/distortion raising in high frequencies.
Level remains low though.


IMD vs Level
View attachment 431410

Performance is correct but not great.
Compared to a much cheaper Topping E30 II Lite, the Node shows more noise.
Hopefully, distortion is kept under control though.


Sine 50Hz under 600 Ohm load measurement
(Torture test)

I ran this new test Amir added in the recent DAC measurements.
I run this test with an home-made 600 Ohm load.

View attachment 431412

Nothing wrong here.

Output impedance

RCA analog Output
Open circuit Voltage	2,0668	Vrms
Load resistance	614,64	Ohm
Loaded circuit Voltage	1,7845	Vrms
Zo=RL*(V1/V2-1)	97,23	Ohms

This is in line with the specs (100 Ohm)


Jitter

View attachment 431416

Jitter is quite high, although unlikely to be audible.
It doesn't change significantly between Streaming or Optical input.

Here is a comparison with some recent DAC

View attachment 431417

Again, the Node's Jitter, while far from state of the art, shouldn't have a negative audible impact, since level remains low.


Filter

View attachment 431419

View attachment 431420

There is no filter choice, but performance of the defautl filter is as it should be.


So we have, overall, very decent DAC performance with this Node.



Analog Input (ADC) measurements

Let's start with our usual dashboard.
ADC SINAD 2V
View attachment 431706

Ooops... That is quite saturated at 2V input.

Let's try at -1dBFS

ADC SINAD at -1dBFS


View attachment 431707



Now that's better !

What's the ideal input level ?

SINAD vs level
View attachment 431708

Best is around 0.9V

ADC SINAD at 0.9V

View attachment 431710

We won't get anything better than that, I'm afraid.
It's not 16 bits, rather 15 bits, but that's OK.


ADC Dynamic range

Dynamic Range CCIR-2k weighting

View attachment 431724

I also measured Unweighted and A-Weighted

View attachment 431725

View attachment 431726

View attachment 431717

This is is line with what we could expect.


ADC Linearity

View attachment 431720

Same here: we see around 16-17 bits linearity, then it goes all over the place.



ADC Frequency response

View attachment 431719

Frequency response is excellent.
Note that I didn't find a way to change the sampling frequency for the Line input: it seems locked on 44.1kHz.


ADC Frequency Multitone

View attachment 431721

Also good result here.

Note about this measurement: 192kHz is the DAC sampling frequency here.
I used SPDIF SRC on the RME optical input for this test.

Line input (ADC) is what we could expect:
Not Ground breaking, but quite good, actually, compared to similar devices


Headphones output measurements

Distortion+Noise vs level for various impedances
View attachment 431759

We see quite good result.
Minimum THD+N (exactly -SINAD) reaches the same performance than the line output at 32 or 64 Ohm.
At higher impedances though, we see some degradation as from 100mV.
Saturation happens way above 2V for all impedances but the very low 17 ohm.

Power for various impedances

View attachment 431760

This is how this translates into power vs Impedance.
Maximum power is reached for 32 ohm, where we approach 250mW.
For higher impedances, we keep around 50mW.
That's not the power of a dedicated headphones amplifier, of course, but, at least, that's corresponding to the Specs.


Signal on Noise Ratio for 50mV

View attachment 431761

Noise at 50mV is below average, though.

On Amir's ranking, it would land around the top of the lowest 1/4.

View attachment 431762


Conclusions
At last, we have a Bluesound Node that measures above CD quality.
We are far away from state of the art, but good enough performance makes this a perfectly usable device.
Of course, the big selling point is the functionality.

I'm personnaly using BluOS ecosystem devices at home for more than 10 years now.
This is a very pleasant and easy to use Multiroom system.
The addition of Dirac is very welcome, and there is not much left to want on top for me.

Now we still have to see how Dirac is performing.

One important question may be :
Is the additional cost of the Node N132 worth it versus the -still available- previous version ?
If you attach an external DAC to the SPDIF output, you'll get at least the same performance than the N132 with an older (and cheaper) N130 or N131
(and even from the very old N100, although the functionalities are then much more limited).

Also, one has to make a choice between the different current Node models : this one, or the cheaper Node Nano - which shares the same DAC part but doesn't have Dirac - or the much more expensive Icon - with a better measuring DAC...

For me, I want Dirac and the N132 does make sense, since performance is "good enough" for my intended use.
But that's a question everyone would have to answer personnaly.

As you may read below, there are, unfortunately, still some issues for some basic functionalities with BluOS software, impacting probably all Node models, present and past.
So giving a final conclusion is difficult to me at that stage.
(Let's hope this issue is fixed soon and I will update here)

I hope you now have enough details to make an informed decision.

I hope you now have enough details to make an informed decision.

Yes, we have now all the details!
Thank you so much for this review in @amirm - Quality!!!

thorsten

 

[GXAlan]

I hope someone will educate me on why the Bluesound devices got so popular, like what are the main features that would make it worth paying more than other similarly more affordable?

Bluesound can be found across budget products to more premium NAD Masters products. The idea that you can have the same ecosystem across tiers of products is similar to HEOS, but the interface for Bluesound is better.

I think Sonos still remains the gold standard for user interface including the current “not as good as it used to be” version. Sonos doesn’t do high resolution audio, and it is unclear which streaming services send two different streams (CD with dynamic range compression) versus no dynamic range compression. Sonos is also less good with your NAS.

They have offered eARC for a while. The idea of a HDMI ARC streaming DAC is new to WiiM, for example, while Bluesound has done it for a while.

They support AirPlay2 in the latest generation of products. This isn’t an explanation of how Bluesound got to be popular, but does explain why the current generation Node N132 and Node Icon are interesting.

Last, they have clearly defined privacy policies and an iOS app that doesn’t ask for precise location.

 

[aschen]

So this thing doesn't have a high pass for the mains? I think that severely limits the usefulness of sub out on many current devices.

Ive been mostly happy using BlueOS for the last 5 or so years, but its hard to argue with the value of Wiim pricing

 

[pogo]

Why shouldn't it have a high pass for the mains?
It would also be interesting to know whether the Node does post-processing at 192kHz in the same way as the Node Icon.

 

[aschen]

It should have high pass. Hopefully i was wrong about that feature being absent.

 

[deltanine]

Is the node still the only streamer capable of passing bitperfect audio from Amazon Music to a DAC?

Still the cornerstone of my system for this reason - can watch the bitrate adjust accordingly on the ADI2 DAC

 

[El Cheapo]

It should have high pass. Hopefully i was wrong about that feature being absent.

The sub control (high pass on mains, low pass on sub) works only for analog outputs, not on digital ones (usb/toslink). Check manual to verify for your model.

 

[torgeirs]

The noise in low frequency IIR filter is explained here (from 2002)

https://firmware-developments.com/WEB/DOC/REF/ZauchaIIR_AES.pdf

This also explains why it is costly to have low frequency filtrering in high sample rate systems.
We se a push towards high samplerate in DACs and we also want EQ. The EQ will have higher cost to implement with the same presicion. So guess we will some solutions where EQ is only avalible at 48k and lower
To be clear: Low precision is high noise/distortion

 

[Rja4000]

The noise in low frequency IIR filter is explained here (from 2002)

https://firmware-developments.com/WEB/DOC/REF/ZauchaIIR_AES.pdf

This also explains why it is costly to have low frequency filtrering in high sample rate systems.
We se a push towards high samplerate in DACs and we also want EQ. The EQ will have higher cost to implement with the same presicion. So guess we will some solutions where EQ is only avalible at 48k and lower
To be clear: Low precision is high noise/distortion

In the paper:

16 noise bits are sufficient to preserve the SNR performance of the input signal for a parametric equalization filter with a gain of 12 dB and a Q of 6.7 from 100 to 20,000 Hz at sample rates of 48 and 96 kHz. If fewer noise bits are used, the SNR performance can degrade substantially. An example of this degradation is for the filter at 100Hz, where 8 noise bits produce a loss of 40 dB in SNR at a 48 kHz sample rate and a loss of 50 dB SNR at a 96 kHz sample rate.

... which is pretty much what we experience here.

But they have a real computer CPU at hand, so why not to do this using floating point precision ?
I suppose that would be more than a trivial bug fix, of course.
But I also suppose they have to use that for Dirac.
So, at least, they could do that for the Dirac-capable Nodes.

And, while they are at it, they could also implement a proper parametric EQ, with separate settings for line out and headphones...

One may always dream...

 

[JSmith]

could this be promoted to Home Page ?

Already done, has been there a few days but has now been bumped down by the KEF & A80 reviews.

conjures up a childs toy (Nintendo Wii)

Yeah same... wouldn't stop me from buying one of their products though, but do agree. Unsure why they chose such a similar name.

Btw, welcome to ASR.

Just one small thing to point out (but you wouldn't know about this yet being a new member);

Let's Avoid the Term Chi-Fi

I often see the use of the term "Chi Fi" to describe audio products from China. I see the intention and don't think anyone is trying to be racist and what have you. Still, I like us to show the highest respect to products from around the world. As avid readers of this forum know...

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

 

[Sokel]

In the paper:

... which is pretty much what we experience here.

But they have a real computer CPU at hand, so why not to do this using floating point precision ?
I suppose that would be more than a trivial bug fix, of course.
But I also suppose they have to use that for Dirac.
So, at least, they could do that for the Dirac-capable Nodes.

And, while they are at it, they could also implement a proper parametric EQ, with separate settings for line out and headphones...

One may always dream...

It seems that the demands are high when asking for the required precision:

In conclusion, the quality of 24 bit data at 48 and 96 kHz sample
rates can be preserved during digital filtering applications by using:
− 48 bits of data precision (24 bits of data, 8 headroom bits and
16 noise bits)
− 28 bit coefficients
− An IIR filter structure which is composed of cascaded
sections of second order Direct Form I filters that use
magnitude truncation.

On top of that it's on the users hand too not exceed the limits and that makes the companies responsible to limit actions that may degrade performance so much.
The problem is that at 90% of the cases EQ is used down low to fix room response.

I wonder how RME does it so well.