Bluesound Node Review (Streamer)

[MaxBuck]

That all makes sense. I suspect this device is “good enough” for most people who aren’t listening critically. I have a bunch of Sonos speakers scattered throughout the house that serve a similar purpose and provide lots of enjoyment.

I can tell you that the sound quality I perceive from this system is far better than I've ever heard out of any Sonos implementation. The details I get from classical and jazz recordings blow Sonos away IMO. It's not entirely uncritical listening that I'm doing; I just don't claim to have the skill set to do it at a high level.

I understand this is all subjective stuff here; apologies. BTW I rank the BluOS software several levels above the Amazon Link crap, which I revile.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Extremely limited sorting option, I never managed to create a playlist from USB files... among many otherthings.

OK, thanks.

 

[ex audiophile]

I think because Sonos has always emphasized the "multi-room" aspect of their product line. They support (IIRC) up to 24 rooms simultaneously via their mesh network, which would simply gag on "hi-rez" material. Most of their competitors are limited to 8 rooms max, and have disclaimers about even that.

that makes sense, but check this out (from the Bluesound web site)
"Bit-perfect music listening can happen away from your HiFi system with the NODE as your multi-room hub. The award-winning BluOS platform is the only platform in the world that can support up to 64 players, all streaming in 24-bit hi-res audio. "

I'm guessing the Node has a more robust CPU than competitors. Are you aware of any testing of the coax output of the node for noise/distortion? is that even important?

 

[Helicopter]

that makes sense, but check this out (from the Bluesound web site)
"Bit-perfect music listening can happen away from your HiFi system with the NODE as your multi-room hub. The award-winning BluOS platform is the only platform in the world that can support up to 64 players, all streaming in 24-bit hi-res audio. "

I'm guessing the Node has a more robust CPU than competitors. Are you aware of any testing of the coax output of the node for noise/distortion? is that even important?

I wouldn't worry about the coax output. I have only ever had a problem when the cable was specd wrong.

 

[thefsb]

If you use it only as a streamer, how is it better than a Raspberry Pi for a fraction of the cost?

Integration with ALL the cloud streaming services. I use an RPi to play from my UPnP servers with BubbleUNP. It used to work with Tidal too.
BubbleUPNP is the best streaming control app I've used so far including Tidal, Amazon, Qbuz and Spotify's own apps.

But I switched to Amazon to get a better selection of music and now I use Bluetooth and LDAC for that. Bummer.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I don't understand the negative comments on this product. Do (some) people here think -90dB 2nd order harmonic distortion is audible? Or am i missing something here.

In 2021, any device that can't clear the CD standard (96 dB SINAD), is considered sub-par. OK for a low budget product like an RPi + HAT, but for $500+?

 

[Zensō]

The award-winning BluOS platform is the only platform in the world that can support up to 64 players, all streaming in 24-bit hi-res audio.“

From what I’ve read on the Bluesound forums, their multi-room implementation is unstable unless you have a very fast/reliable WiFi network. I doubt anyone is able to run anything near 64 players in hi-res.

 

[thefsb]

And a fun little science project at that!

Buggy apps and lackluster performance from devices that should be plug-and-play is a different (more frustrating) thing altogether.

I know that feeling too. I recently returned an Andover Songbird (before Amir's review) because it behaved so bad.

I understand that not everybody wants to mess around with stuff like RPi. I do it but I don't claim it is easy.

 

[Chocomel]

In 2021, any device that can't clear the CD standard (96 dB SINAD), is considered sub-par. OK for a low budget product like an RPi + HAT, but for $500+?

If it had a SINAD of 120dB it would still practically be the same product though. I can understand saying it's a poor value but it's not flawed or broken, the measurements are good enough to clear audibility thresholds.

For 500$ i would want more/better features, not inaudible better measured performance.

 

[JJB70]

Is the measured performance great? No. Is the audible performance OK? Almost certainly yes for most people. Does it present good value? That's a personal value decision, not sure this is how I would spend my money but you don't need to look very far to find much worse ways to spend money on audio gear. Is it broken? No.

 

[enricoclaudio]

I think most of you are focusing on the player technical performance skills and not in the multi room performance which is the real value of the Bluesound Node. In my case, as an owner of a Lifetime Roon subscription, is very important that all my music streamers are Roon Ready (RAAT) so I can play simultaneously around the house my 3 x Roon Ready streamers. I don't care if it measures poorly compared to my other Roon Ready streamers. I knew that before buying it and way before Amir tested it. What matters to me is that it plays flawless without any issues when grouping zones over Roon. To my ears, sounds good enough to keep it.

 

[abdo123]

From what I’ve read on the Bluesound forums, their multi-room implementation is unstable unless you have a very fast/reliable WiFi network. I doubt anyone is able to run anything near 64 players in hi-res.

LAN still exists btw, all of my stationary devices are connected via cable.

Till Wifi 6 becomes mainstream, Wifi will still be sucky for large number of devices.

 

[Dave-Oh]

Left and right.

to be clear, these are RCA variable preamp outputs, left and right, not speaker outputs. For that you need the Powernode which has internal 70 watt amps.

 

[PeteL]

The fact that the app "don't work" feels really strange to me with all the streamers I have tried. This is the more mature product and user friendly. Not perfect, but certainly better than most. What I like about BlueSound is that my first Gen node N100 from 2014 still receive firmware updates and all OS updates are supported, just that deserve very high praise. As far as objective performance, I hooked it up to a topping DAC, just because I can, But I'm not sure I would distinguish the benefit in blind tests honestly. It sounds good both way. I use it with Tidal mainly, but it supports just about anything, and in real time, they are very pro active in compatibility updates. The headless panther don't make sense, really, regardless what these measurments say, this is the right streamer to get. It's aggressively priced, just slightly above the Raspberry Pi open sources solutions, even cheaper than what an Asian giant like smsl can bring to the streaming game. I don't think, at all, that these lukewarm THD specs should prevent anybody to go for this.

 

[Sound_freq]

It's a shame, I do appreciate what Amir does here but I get the sense that he is easily frustrated with any hiccups in the setup process and gives up a bit too soon. Perhaps it also has something to do with the device he has to setup and use the app from. The Bluesound app is known to most to be fairly mature and easy to use by most. With an Apple device I usually bypass the native apps of streamers and just use Airplay directly from the app of my streaming service of choice. The sinad is disappointing but this is an upgraded dac and processor chip being used in the new node which seems to be somewhat of an upgrade in sound and speed of performance from the Node 2i.

 

[wwasilev]

I received my Node (2021) a couple of days ago and I can confirm that it's a PITA to setup.

After the initial iPhone setup, things ran well until, at some point, the iPhone lost the Node. After that, all the My* and music source selections were gone. The Bluesound community forum pointed out that this meant that the Node was losing its network connection. Other forum posts recommended disabling various router "optimizations". The only one I could find for my Arris cable modem/wireless router was something called WMM/WMM power save. It's supposed to be a QoS function to prioritizes traffic that have latency requirements. Anyway, turning that off made the Node connection much more stable. I'll know more within the week.

Also, during these exercises, the Node seemed to get stuck in some mode that required a hard reset. I'm pretty confident that I can now debug a Node network issue in under a hour.

 

[Skifaster]

I use the 2i, coax out to topping D70S, fantastic sound and great control through the app , primarily for Qobuz and radio paradise

 

[Stephen]

I have no issue with my local file management. What problems are you having?

Can you sort your USB files according their durations, sizes, date of creation? Have you ever managed to create a playlist from USB selected files? The only thing I managed to do with my files is to put the whole folder into the playlist... and that's it!

 

[mac]

Ease of use. I have no interest in building microcomputer systems from boxed componentry.

You mean like taking a RPi out of a box, copying a pre-configured image to a microSD card, inserting the card and turning the RPi on? My dog could probably complete the task (he's smart).

 

[amper42]

MBP with Audirvana 3.5 wirelessly feeding RPi4 with Moode to DAC. It supports ripping the CD collection, Qobuz and Tidal streaming plus custom playlists. Sort your music any way you want it! I can't image wanting to replace this setup for a box that makes me blue due to low DAC performance plus app and network issues. The MacBook Pro is the only UPnP streamer I need.