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Actually the ill-fated NAD D7050 measures better than these, but it was too early for an only-digital experience, and had serious reliability issues. And use a Squeezebox system and multi-room synched audio was a solved problem nearly 20 years ago.
I have a few NAD CI720 units that run various speakers throughout the house (deck, dining room, Kids' rooms).
It would be interesting to see how they compare with the Powernode at a very similar price point. Not as pretty to look at, but possibly better performance?
I have the Node 2i and two Pulse speakers in two smaller rooms. The Node is used together with the TV in the living room and it’s not the place for critical listening to me, so I am willing to sacrifice stellar sinad etc for looks and usability
Yup. Just been researching the model generations. This is the newest. Though you'd have thought calling it the 3 would have helped. The og powernode n150 was some kind of triangle shape.
I am actually considering buying this unit. Measurements are good enough for me and it looks like there is nothing broken with the design. Major factor is functionality, integration with Roon and the fact that the whole family can easily use it.
Actually the ill-fated NAD D7050 measures better than these, but it was too early for an only-digital experience, and had serious reliability issues. And use a Squeezebox system and multi-room synched audio was a solved problem nearly 20 years ago.
This is a review and detailed measurements of the NAD 7050 integrated DAC, amplifier and streaming playback. It is on kind loan from a member. It appears the product was announced in 2014 and since discontinued as I can't find it on sale anywhere. The cost was USD $999 from what I can gather...
www.audiosciencereview.com
Those are not great measurments. I am pretty sure that in 2013 it was possible to have a DAC that don't heavily clip when fed with 0 DBFS. If by "too early for digital experience" and "measure better" you mean that we should ignore the digital section, well at 999$ in 2013 is a lot of money for a 50 Watts analog amp.
As for LMS/Squeeze box, I'll admit that I am not so familiar with it but great innovations for sure for the time, First version of BluOS is 10 years old, still a competent and mature interface, but since Spotify was founded in 2006 and only gained popularity a couple years later, I find it hard to believe that there has been no evolution in these kind of devices for 20 years. Maybe Multi Room was possible, sure, but what's your point? customer demand these type of functionalities Bluesound deliver on many aspects, maybe not pure SINAD Chasing measurements. Because someone done it 20 years ago no other companies should get a crack at it?
I am actually considering buying this unit. Measurements are good enough for me and it looks like there is nothing broken with the design. Major factor is functionality, integration with Roon and the fact that the whole family can easily use it.
I like the Powernode, and have nothing to complain about really. software/app is always working too. I was surprised about the burst test though.. according to Bluesound it should be able to give a dynamic power of 130/220 watts into 8/4 ohm?
I did not find Amir’s SONOS review as negative as some here did and in fact he left out a recommendation. He did have some positive things to say including “The highlight of the unit is copious amount of power at 4 ohm in such a small and cool running package. I am not sure there are many options in the market with so much power.” And in streaming mode, after measuring 91-93dB of SINAD he wrote “Wow, quite an improvement! How is this possible?”
I own a DENON AVR as well as FOSI amps with Wiim Streamers etc, but I chose SONOS for my summer home. Why? I wanted a compact unit that is always on (runs cool) and that guests easily use with Alexa, the SONOS app, or the Spotify app without a mesh of wires from separates. I can add separate wireless zones later and simply add those to the app, or use HDMI ARC with the TV. Simple….clean.
There were some posts on ASR regarding lifestyle gear. This one spoke to me:
Not a 100% serious product for listeners who are not too serious or critical about their sound but want design and function over performance. If you can't make a Hypex amp unit perform better than that, then you are not engineering with performance as a priority.
Hi Amir -- apologies if someone asked this already (I looked at all posts - didn't see this question) but is it possible to test the Powernode N330/Node N130 using Roon to mimic a network/streamer source instead of using the "external sources" ADC and Toslink inputs to the Bluesound units?
Wondering if the SINAD would be better? As a data point for people who don't use the Optical/Analog inputs to the N330/N130?
I am actually considering buying this unit. Measurements are good enough for me and it looks like there is nothing broken with the design. Major factor is functionality, integration with Roon and the fact that the whole family can easily use it.
Be careful Bluesound does not allow multiple profiles on a single unit or system of units. This is the kind of thing that many have complained about but Bluesound has def ears to its users feature requests. See my link above.
Hi,
To all those guys that wrote that BluOS software is good, here is an advice.
Do not, never ever, remote control a streaming device with software like Symfonium or BubbleUPnP on Android...
You may be shocked at what really nice designed software can do that BluOS can't do.
