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Bluesound releases 2024 ICON streamer

Size comparison with Wiim, the Icon display is useable at listening position for me, Wiim not so much. Both are handsome to me.

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Like the functionality of the Icon but the looks disappoint compared to the Eversolo range - even the DPM6 looks considerbaly better. Shame the design is not in the same league as the functionality ... Hoping them or Wiim bring out a higher range better looking one with a alrger screen
 
For me, it's primarily the sound that counts and the Icon has a clear advantage there, partly because of Dirac Live.

Haven't seen any measurements and dirac isn't available last I checked, so what makes this sound better than the competition?
 
Haven't seen any measurements and dirac isn't available last I checked, so what makes this sound better than the competition?
Nothing. In fact it's much worse when you think about the manual adjustment possabilities the WIIM has. And then especially the bass management capabilities with automatic time alignment, crossover including bypassoptions and so on...
 
Haven't seen any measurements and dirac isn't available last I checked, so what makes this sound better than the competition?
Let's assume that the engineering has worked properly.
Maybe sounds better due to MQA QRONO.
The first experience reports from those switching from Wiim & Co. probably point in this direction.
 
Let's assume that the engineering has worked properly.
Maybe sounds better due to MQA QRONO.
The first experience reports from those switching from Wiim & Co. probably point in this direction.

Do you have a link to these reports? I am curious.
 
No need for UPNP with native Samba support. I think Airplay2 vs. Chromecast is debatable.

Anyway, I have a WiiM Ultra which has a mild ground loop with my active speakers. I am going to try grounding it with a separate cable.

That said, I put in my order for a Node Icon to compare. Hopefully I will be able to measure some differences between it and the WiiM Ultra which might explain why people hear a difference in sound. Otherwise, it’s just sighted bias.

Hard to best the WiiM Ultra which has 116 dB SINAD and bundled PEQ. Qrono is a different digital filter which might make 44.1 kHz audio better?

@amirm, has anyone sent you a Node Icon? It would be interesting, like the Denon ALPHA processing review to look at the new Qrono d2a digital filter from Lenbrook.

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Digital filters are pretty difficult to distinguish in many cases, but if the algorithms are better, it would be neat.
 
Measurements are already available, see also the Technical White Paper :rolleyes:

I didn’t see 44.1 in the white paper, just 48 kHz. I must have missed the measurements on the Node Icon, or did you just mean d2a?
 
Anyway, I have a WiiM Ultra which has a mild ground loop with my active speakers. I am going to try grounding it with a separate cable.
What do you end up doing for this?
 
You will achieve better results with Dirac Live ;)
What sample rate does Wiim use for post-processing?

Even recording 24/96 and no EQ enabled the WiiM downsamples to 48 kHz.

I like Dirac but my room is pretty reasonable and I am running active speakers, so hopefully there is a bandwidth limited version for a lower price.

What do you end up doing for this?

If you have a line conditioner with a grounding lug, you just need to connect the wires together. Panamax is one company with legitimate UL listed surge protection, so presumably it’s all done to code.

Alternatives


For the record, I actually like my Yamaha CX-A5100 for Yamaha musiccast and HDMI ARC support. A reconfiguration of the multipurpose room means that I need a mini-sized reliable AVP with ARC/CEC for 2.0 active speakers. The Onkyo RZ50 with its bundled Dirac on sale at $700 clearly offers better value than the WiiM Ultra and Node Icon if you weren’t space constrained. The Fosi ZD3 was nice but had some HDMI CEC issues with my TV. (Sony A9G). Maybe Yamaha will eventually make a new WXC-50 with HDMI support.
 
If you look at the QRONO measurements, this also seems to reduce the load on the amplifier, i.e. additional unwanted distortions do not have to be amplified.
 
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Even recording 24/96 and no EQ enabled the WiiM downsamples to 48 kHz.
According to the measurements, QRONO seems to show its full potential at higher sample rates. I assume that the Icon, like my M33, also allows post-processing at 192kHz.
And I'm still hoping for QRONO (d2a/dsd) to be rolled out for my M33 as well ;)
 
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