Bluesound Node Review (Streamer)

[enricoclaudio]

My Bluesound NODE just became the best sounding DAC ever

 

[Jimbob54]

And that point of the whole site is?

I know Amir made it clear that he is here to measure the audio quality and spend his time and money on equipment to so. Thanks for that. But when others try to point out that there is extreme amount of value in complete integrated package input through the preamp stage with tablet control and plug and play connectivity, some others seem fall in line with a narrow perspective damning it on one mediocre measure of performance. I know of no other one box product at $550 that does all that the Node does if one looks at and evaluates connectivity options, inputs and outputs, and highly sophisticated user interface that is maintained and updated by at large supplier for its lifetime after purchase. Further it is scalable by adding a better DAC and things like Roon, or MQA DAC, or subwoofer output, etc. It's time that more ASR followers start evaluating equipment as whole, as the point of the whole site, even if Amir prefers to (and should IMO) stay expertly focused on measuring specs. Most Node owners here say that adding a DAC only enhances the good experience they are already having, being very satisfied. Did I mention Spouse Acceptance Factor (SAP).

My Honda Hybrid gets 48 mpg. A Ferrari only gets 15 mpg. Maybe that little Ferrari is not very good, but it looks good, goes fast and most who own one say is blast to drive. I don't think they are confused. Amir did say the Node looked good, however. haha

You said it yourself. The site was set up to try and improve the standards in consumer audio.

This device performs no better than its (poorly performing) predecessors and Amir couldn't get it to work properly.

I'm not seeing anything here that pushes any boundaries either for the company or the market as a whole.

When working it's a handy device, but when people like yourself and the comment I replied to start trying to explain and excuse its poor performance by reference to cars, Spouse Acceptance Pfactor and "enjoyment levels" then I fear you're just validating Amir's mission and indeed his rating for this device.

 

[goofball]

You said it yourself. The site was set up to try and improve the standards in consumer audio.

This device performs no better than its (poorly performing) predecessors and Amir couldn't get it to work properly.

I'm not seeing anything here that pushes any boundaries either for the company or the market as a whole.

When working it's a handy device, but when people like yourself and the comment I replied to start trying to explain and excuse its poor performance by reference to cars, Spouse Acceptance Pfactor and "enjoyment levels" then I fear you're just validating Amir's mission and indeed his rating for this device.

Amir couldn't get it to work properly...fair enough. He rated it poorly, largely on that basis. Not even a listening test as far as I could tell. Also fair enough...it's his website, he can do as he likes.

Having said that...this review needs more effort before it improves the standards in consumer audio. Was Bluesound contacted for technical assistance? What were the results? Other review venues would give the manufacturer a chance to improve the situation before the review appeared. Maybe even get a statement of direction...something as simple as "we will work to improve SINAD quality in our next release"?

In Amir's defense, this sort of thing may go way beyond the scope of the website and the effort he is able to put in. He's obviously got a lot of stuff on his plate. But a little bit of added effort in future reviews might actually push those boundaries.

 

[Jimbob54]

Amir couldn't get it to work properly...fair enough. He rated it poorly, largely on that basis. Not even a listening test as far as I could tell. Also fair enough...it's his website, he can do as he likes.

Having said that...this review needs more effort before it improves the standards in consumer audio. Was Bluesound contacted for technical assistance? What were the results? Other review venues would give the manufacturer a chance to improve the situation before the review appeared. Maybe even get a statement of direction...something as simple as "we will work to improve SINAD quality in our next release"?

In Amir's defense, this sort of thing may go way beyond the scope of the website and the effort he is able to put in. He's obviously got a lot of stuff on his plate. But a little bit of added effort in future reviews might actually push those boundaries.

Which misses entirely the other strand of the reason for the headless panther which is the fact it does not improve on the (poor) performance of its predecessors.

I too wish the device could have been evaluated with its full functionality. It would probably then have been judged as a poor performer rather than a broken one.

 

[goofball]

Other review venues won't put out a bad review of something they can't make work. They'll assume the review sample is broken, leave it at that, and focus their attention on other products.

 

[Jimbob54]

Other review venues won't put out a bad review of something they can't make work. They'll assume the review sample is broken, leave it at that, and focus their attention on other products.

And some review venues derive revenues from advertisers, many of which have products reviewed on the same site.

What exactly do you think would have changed about the review had Amir got the app working? There wouldn't have been a full exploration of the interface and feature set. He would still have called a halt pretty soon after the first results were poor.

 

[diddley]

Other review venues won't put out a bad review of something they can't make work. They'll assume the review sample is broken, leave it at that, and focus their attention on other products.

Well glad that this venues is not just another venues, and puts out objective reviews.
When it's bad it's bad, when it's broken it's broken wether we like it or not.

 

[Zensō]

Other review venues won't put out a bad review of something they can't make work. They'll assume the review sample is broken, leave it at that, and focus their attention on other products.

Well they should post the review. The fact that someone who does reviews for a living has difficulty getting a product up and running should be a red flag I would think. The real reason you don’t see this more is the close connection between positive reviews and ad dollars.

 

[goofball]

A review that consists of little more than initial test bench results is of limited perspective and usefulness. That may be fair enough given the focus of this website, but I wouldn't base a spending decision on it. What does Bluesound have to say about the performance? Are they going to change anything? Maybe the Bluesound support department could have helped in getting the app going.

A headless panther makes for nice clickbait, but some detail would be nice. Both the Node 2i and the 2021 Node have "less than terrific" audio performance, even with a DAC change between versions. Why? Where did those 6dB of SINAD go? Is it something that can be easily fixed, or is there a more critical problem? I'm not a Bluesound customer, but even if I were one I wouldn't want to buy an external DAC if I didn't need to. Does Sonos have the same problem? Amir can take apart boxes...was this box taken apart? What is the circuitry like inside? Is the design and build quality clean, or a godawful mess?

 

[Rottmannash]

A review that consists of little more than initial test bench results is of limited perspective and usefulness. That may be fair enough given the focus of this website, but I wouldn't base a spending decision on it. What does Bluesound have to say about the performance? Are they going to change anything? Maybe the Bluesound support department could have helped in getting the app going.

A headless panther makes for nice clickbait, but some detail would be nice. Both the Node 2i and the 2021 Node have "less than terrific" audio performance, even with a DAC change between versions. Why? Where did those 6dB of SINAD go? Is it something that can be easily fixed, or is there a more critical problem? I'm not a Bluesound customer, but even if I were one I wouldn't want to buy an external DAC if I didn't need to. Does Sonos have the same problem? Amir can take apart boxes...was this box taken apart? What is the circuitry like inside? Is the design and build quality clean, or a godawful mess?

It seems I've read Sonos may also be lacking in the transparency dept.

 

[JJB70]

Well they should post the review. The fact that someone who does reviews for a living has difficulty getting a product up and running should be a red flag I would think. The real reason you don’t see this more is the close connection between positive reviews and ad dollars.

I have difficulty with that bit. We are all individuals and also there may always be a faulty product, but if I look at the technophobes I know who have managed to make these things work and use the Bluesound app without undue trouble it indicates that the problem is not an endemic one.

 

[Jimbob54]

A headless panther makes for nice clickbait, but some detail would be nice. Both the Node 2i and the 2021 Node have "less than terrific" audio performance, even with a DAC change between versions. Why? Where did those 6dB of SINAD go? Is it something that can be easily fixed, or is there a more critical problem? I'm not a Bluesound customer, but even if I were one I wouldn't want to buy an external DAC if I didn't need to. Does Sonos have the same problem? Amir can take apart boxes...was this box taken apart? What is the circuitry like inside? Is the design and build quality clean, or a godawful mess?

It's not his box to open and not his problem to diagnose. The answer is that they are not designed or engineered to perform well. That's clearly an issue Bluesound are aware of but I'm sure it meets the brief and BoM.

 

[Taddpole]

It's not his box to open and not his problem to diagnose. The answer is that they are not designed or engineered to perform well. That's clearly an issue Bluesound are aware of but I'm sure it meets the brief and BoM.

Judging by the rush to defend it by purchasers they don't have to worry about making a better version any time soon.

 

[Jimbob54]

Judging by the rush to defend it by purchasers they don't have to worry about making a better version any time soon.

I know- bit odd tbh. I kind of agree with the points about trying to make it work but all this "looking at the performance of the unit as a whole" and car crap is just noise.

 

[BlackTalon]

We have a Node 2i, mainly for streaming via Tidal. We use Tidal Connect, and rarely go in to the BluOS app. The lack of any sort of display is frustrating. At the price point I think they could provide more than they do. But not many companies are onboard with Tidal Connect, and the ones who are have 'audiophile pricing' on their devices. So there is little incentive for the Node to have a better features/ performance.

In our limited time poking around in BluOS we found it to be nothing special, so it's not much of a selling point to us.

 

[Zensō]

Judging by the rush to defend it by purchasers they don't have to worry about making a better version any time soon.

You’re probably right. Rushing to the defense of a product that doesn’t perform well is a very common occurrence on this and other audio forums. And the more expensive the product, the louder the chorus of complaints. This has mostly to do with our human proclivity to self associate with our purchases rather than with the performance of the product.

 

[Jim Matthews]

I know- bit odd tbh. I kind of agree with the points about trying to make it work but all this "looking at the performance of the unit as a whole" and car crap is just noise.

That's the ticket.

I don't think the review was unfair, or slighted the product. It points out the shortcomings a serious enterprise can address in pursuit of improvements. I've had much the same frustrations, and these would be genuinely disappointing to someone of more limited means.

ASR is purpose built to reduce buyer's remorse.

My first BlueSound Vault didn't sound great until paired with an ancient Benchmark DAC I had in my stash. Were I starting out, I would have been steamed to own something new that didn't outperform my current gear.

 

[dshreter]

Judging by the rush to defend it by purchasers they don't have to worry about making a better version any time soon.

I find it ironic that a community that theoretically values objectivity would also be so set upon torching a product with deficiencies that may or may not even be audible. To me that’s not entirely objective either, and sounds like coping with purchases of Benchmark AMPs and collections of high SINAD DACs that judged blind just might sound identical to a Powernode or Sonos AMP or many other one box solutions.

The review was good. When it comes to engineering excellence this shouldn’t get a commendation. The takes here though are lacking in objectivity and perspective.

 

[Jimbob54]

I find it ironic that a community that theoretically values objectivity would also be so set upon torching a product with deficiencies that may or may not even be audible. To me that’s not entirely objective either, and sounds like coping with purchases of Benchmark AMPs and collections of high SINAD DACs that judged blind just might sound identical to a Powernode or Sonos AMP or many other one box solutions.

The review was good. When it comes to engineering excellence this shouldn’t get a commendation. The takes here though are lacking in objectivity and perspective.

It's objectively not a great product. I'm sure it's a product that allows people to enjoy their music. That's not really a useful benchmark, is it?

That it does a job (when it works) is neither here nor there. So does every unbroken device ever reviewed here.

 

[MaxBuck]

It's objectively not a great product. I'm sure it's a product that allows people to enjoy their music. That's not really a useful benchmark, is it?

That it does a job (when it works) is neither here nor there. So does every unbroken device ever reviewed here.

What a subjective take.

Sorry, but I don't agree that, on the basis of mediocre DAC alone, one reasonably can say "it's not a great product." On the basis of sound quality and ease of use it sure is a great product based on my priorities. It's the single most satisfying audio product I've ever purchased.