Which to sell, rbp4 or Bluesound Node N100

[Geertidow]

Dear forum members,

I have an old Bluesound Node N100 (the old square box) and a rasp pi 4b.
I can use both to feed my minidsp flex.
On the raspberry pi4 I'd prefer to use PiCorePlayer so can use my ssd with some music on it as well (SAMBA).

Is there any possible difference in sound quality (one goes via toslink, the other usb)?

And would that be theoretical or more than that.

Thanks for your response

 

[Mtbf]

The first Node (N100) is getting a bit slow after all these years (mine is eight years old), compared to the newer nodes, which you’ll notice when you choose a long playlist for example. But otherwise it still works fine and is still supported (unlimited support according to the website).
And power consumption is probably a bit lower than the Pi (only 6W). No difference in sound quality, not to be expected and not in practice, as long as you only use it as a streaming device.

 

[Stickler1]

You are more likely to notice a difference per the inputs on the DAC than per source device.
For the record piCorePlayer is a much better OS than BluOS. And you can easily change it rather than being handcuffed.
The biggest limitation for the N100 is that it only supports up to a 512 GB SSD.And you can't quickly pop on another one since it takes long time to index.

 

[jae]

A lot of people seem to be liking the new Wiim/Wiim Pro units, which are pretty cheap ($100-150) and have good usability and features. Personally I always have a computer on 24/7 and also have a NAS so I don't care too much about my local filesystem being directly on the streaming device, so in my case I would sell the Node n100 and replace it with a Wiim device, and keep the rpi4 in a drawer to find some other use for it in the future.

 

[Stickler1]

Good for you, never for me. I sold my Synology, a pita. I listen to curated files locally only. I moved the N100 outdoors for summer. I have 0 interest in a toy that won't play local files off of a SSD. Easy to load them remotely via network from PC with Samba. Except in the case of stupid BluOS I have 5 streamers all with 1 to 3 USB-A inputs. To each his own. 3.5 mm stereo jacks are the WORST.

 

[Tom C]

Sell the RPi. To me. For cheap.

 

[roog]

Sell the RPi. To me. For cheap.

Ha ha, yes I was going to mention, given the price that RPi 4’s are selling for right now, the RPi might return a profit, which I doubt the node could.

not a very good reason for selling my preferred device. I recently had to settle for a used RPi 3 rather than an RPi 4 due to cost!

 

[Stickler1]

Unless you are living in a one room shack why sell? Even then why?

 

[bloodshoteyed]

Sell the RPi. To me. For cheap.

i was just about to tell him, if anything, to sell the pi since they're selling for gold these days

 

[Geertidow]

Oke but in the OP: no expected difference in SQ what I hear.

I think I keep both. The pi as a samba server and the node as a streamer. The moment PiCorePlayer supports Tidal Connect (directly from app) the node can go.

 

[LuvTheMusic]

To get back to the OP's original question: Mtbf nailed it in the first response. Using either device is a streamer only, i.e., outputting a digital stream to an outboard DAC, the difference in sound will be essentially nil. As you have an older Node, that must be the one using TOSLINK, so the Node should not be messing with the steam at all; that is, you are bypassing the Node's DAC completely.

So the only other question is should you keep both, keep only one, or swap out both for something else? Well, since none of these options is likely to change the sound at all, go with whatever does the job. If you are dissatisfied with the software on either, get rid of that device. If you're happy with what they both do, just forget it and enjoy your music!

If the *real* issue is that you want to change something (because it's your hobby -- we've all been there, done that for sure), move your speakers around or investigate room correction or think about a speaker upgrade or even find a better streaming service. Any of those will make a lot more difference than swapping out a streamer.... (That's not supposed to sound snarky. We *all* love messing with our systems, and if we don't have a good reason we find an excuse. :^)

 

[Geertidow]

To get back to the OP's original question: Mtbf nailed it in the first response. Using either device is a streamer only, i.e., outputting a digital stream to an outboard DAC, the difference in sound will be essentially nil. As you have an older Node, that must be the one using TOSLINK, so the Node should not be messing with the steam at all; that is, you are bypassing the Node's DAC completely.

So the only other question is should you keep both, keep only one, or swap out both for something else? Well, since none of these options is likely to change the sound at all, go with whatever does the job. If you are dissatisfied with the software on either, get rid of that device. If you're happy with what they both do, just forget it and enjoy your music!

If the *real* issue is that you want to change something (because it's your hobby -- we've all been there, done that for sure), move your speakers around or investigate room correction or think about a speaker upgrade or even find a better streaming service. Any of those will make a lot more difference than swapping out a streamer.... (That's not supposed to sound snarky. We *all* love messing with our systems, and if we don't have a good reason we find an excuse. :^)

This is precisely it. But I'll keep the bluos for now because of the tidal connect version . Thanks everybody.