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Bluesound Node 2i with Denafrips Ares ii

I recently decided to improve my streaming experiance by adding an out board DAC, Denafrips Ares ii, to my Node 2i whilst keeping the Node as a streamer. The set is an improvement but the Ares only see music files as 44.1 by x1 even when hi res files are being played. I think there is some conflict with BluOS and Tidal apps but cannot solve the problem. In the BluOS Settings - Audio, I have turned on the Digital Passthrough and turned off the Audio Clock Trim but the problem still exists.In Settings under Player how should the WiFi be set? the Configure Wireless shows the name of my router. What should the Customize Sources be set to? there are three options here, Bluetooth, which is set to Automatic, and Analog Input and Optical Input that I have not messed with. When in Tidal and I select the input device, little speaker on the top right of the screen, I get the option of iPhone and Airplay & Bluetooth so I pick the latter which gives me the option of the iPhone and the Node so I pick the Node. But when I pick the Node I sometimes get the message 'AirPlay- Unable to connect to "Node 2i - stereo". Should I start Tidal from inside the BluSO app or should I start it in the Tidal app? This is all incredibly frustrating; time to put some vinyl on the Linn.

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audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,393 posts
 

First of all AirPlay is not what you want to use. That won’t give you high res.
You should be using BluOS native app and login to Tidal from there. Stream using BluOS and not the Airplay.
In tidal settings in BluOS make sure you select Max. That’s your high res. Not familiar with BluOS so don’t know where that setting is but every streamer should be configurable when it comes to Tidal resolution.

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,064 posts
 

+1 @audphile1 

cbrez
71 posts
 

So a few things. I used my Node with a direct Ethernet connection, so my WiFi is not configured and if you don’t plan on using WiFi, I would leave it that way as well. That way there is never any confusion about the digital input.

While I don’t use Tidal (Qobuz and a few others for me), Bluesound supports both Tidal directly in their app - from the Music Sources screen, click the ‘+’ button and a list of supported streaming services will appear and you can add Tidal there. BluOS also supports Tidal Connect, so you can Google this as a setup option. 
As @audphile1 mentioned, make sure you are using the version of Tidal that supports their highest resolution. Do not stream via Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay unless a streaming you want to use is not natively supported by BluOS as you will use resolution. 
The best thing about Bluesound IMO and really the only reason I still use it at all is the number of integrated streaming services it affords a user. 
Final note, the BluOS interface indicates HR when the streaming musical selection is in fact high res.

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