For what it's worth, I recently wrote a review for another site....here it is...
The Bluesound is good solid, heavy well-built unit. It can
operate in Wi-Fi or tethered via Ethernet connection. For my purposes it was
Wi-Fi. One of the selling points of the Bluesound is its abilities to wirelessly
connect to small Bluesound speakers around the house. (I don’t have any of
these speakers, therefore won’t comment on them.) Bluesound comes in around
$499. I connected the unit to my DAC with a toslink cable. Also, the Bluesound
does have an on-board DAC of its own, but offers the option to bypass it…which
obviously I did.
The ultraRendu is of a far less impressive stature… I did
get the power supply which is good and hefty…so it’s a two piece unit. It does
not offer Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth, it is basically a plug and play unit. It’s
priced around $1000 with the power unit. It was connected to my DAC via USB
cable.
Both units were connected to my Modwright Oppo 205 by their
respective cables of equal, but moderate quality. The processor was a Primaluna
Dialogue Premium and the amps were Primaluna Dialogue HP. The speakers were
Goldenear Reference, and I streamed Tidal through Roon for all music listening.
After beginning my comparative listening, it dawned on me
that there was a fly in the ointment. While reviewing some info on the internet
I remembered that after a firmware upgrade, the Oppo 205 could be used as a
Roon endpoint. Thus, I had to toss the Oppo into the mix as a legitimate
streaming source. From this point forward, for a point of clarity, when I refer
to the Oppo…I’m referring to the Modwright Oppo 205, a far different animal
than a factory stock Oppo 205.
Bluesound Node 2i: If you’re looking to get into streaming
for the sub $500 level, look no further…the Bluesound is great. Convenient and
easy setup…although I did struggle with getting it to recognize my network. It
recognized my neighbor’s network that is several hundred yards away, but
couldn’t find my network. I found it easier to just plug in the Ethernet cable,
set the device up and then move it downstairs to the media room. It interfaces
with your phone (app), and for the most part works flawlessly. It did drop my
network after a prolonged power outage and had to be set up again, and on an
occasion I would get a drop in sound, most likely because of spotty internet
reception. The audio is best described as warm and full. The soundstage was
solid with singers and instruments well placed and the depth was layered. So as
not to cast a shadow on the media screen when it’s lowered, the speakers are
set fairly wide apart. The Bluesound filled the stage with sound, but I felt
the width of the soundstage stopped where the speakers began. The clarity of
sound was solid and words and music were well articulated.
UltraRendu: If one can enjoy different types of art, foods,
and music, then why not sound? In a word the difference between the ultraRendu
and the Bluesound would have to be…clarity. It felt as if the Rendu lifted that
last little veil between the listener and the music. In fact I continued to
bounce between the Rendu and Bluesound to see if perhaps the Rendu was…to
sterile. In the end though, it wasn’t sterile, it simply was clear. The
placement of singers and music was precise…there was a real sense of presence
with the music. During one listening session I was extremely tired from a day
of teaching and drifted into sleep…humorously, while in-between the state of
sleep and consciousness, I envisioned Jim Morrison standing and singing in
front of me. When it came to the depth of the soundstage I kept vacillating
between being thin, or just highly detailed and well placed. Like eating some
new wonderful food for the first time and becoming accustomed to the taste, I realized
the Rendu removed the filler or fuzz from between the instruments and allowed
the music to present itself in a revealing and pleasant way. The unnecessary
filler was gone. As for the width of the soundstage, hands down the ultraRendu
was far superior. The sound extended well beyond the speaker’s edge to wrap
around the listener. A time or two, I had to remind myself I was listening to
stereo and not multi-channel music.
Modwright Oppo 205: I would say the Oppo was nearly the
equal of the Rendu in every way. In fact, I would have difficulty telling the
difference between the two in many situations. I did say, “nearly” and “many”.
When playing the higher res music, I felt the Rendu was more clear and
articulate…not by much, but it was there with careful comparison. From what I
have read and come to understand, the Oppo as a music server is incapable of
playing hi res music at the MQA resolution. I would say that my listening
experience confirms this…but then again, some would argue that we humans are
incapable of hearing this difference anyway.
Final word: If you’re looking to get into
streaming cheap with great sound and versatility, go with the Bluesound and
enjoy. In reality, to lessen my equipment load in the media room, the Bluesound
will probably find a home upstairs in my office. Perhaps we’ll give some of the
Bluetooth speakers a try in the bedroom and/or living areas. If you own a
Modwright Oppo 205 and you use it as a Roon endpoint, I would be very hesitant
to invest the extra dollars to gain a very minuscule advantage in sound with
the ultraRendu, but with that said, I look forward to many hours ahead of
exploring and listening to the ultraRendu.
