I will state I have not heard other music servers for comparison to the Bluesound Node 2. I have used the original Logitech Squeezbox as a music server, then started using my Iphone as a server for Spotify via a Pure I20 charger/stand. I also used my MacBook Pro with various software programs over the years. As the years progressed I used external DACs. I had last used a Benchmark USB DAC1 and a Schiit Bifrost Uber as of 2016. When I switched to the Node 2, I knew that it had the benefit of NAD engineering and I knew DACs were getting better and better every year. So the idea of a specifically designed digital audio component to replace my computer and provide the latest DAC technology to deliver all my ripped digital files AND stream hi-res files was within reach for $500 was very appealing. To my surprise the time had arrived for digital to sound really good.
The sound of the Node 2..... Separation of instruments is much more defined. One can pick out each instrument while listening to music. When I listened to Crosby Stills and Nash vocal harmonies, I can clearly differentiate each voice. When listening to Diana Krall’s jazz ensemble, the timbre of sounds match the instrument more exactly. A piano tone sounds like a piano key strike, the decay of the sound trails off slowly. On older and contemporary jazz recordings horn players like trumpet players and saxophonists don’t sound shrill or strained, they sound smooth and very easy on the ear.....natural and organic. Probably more than any other characteristic of the sound is the silence between notes, or passages. Deep dark backgrounds where there is NO sound, helps one hear each individual instrument note. I listened to the Ray Charles song “Deed I Do” and the song bursts from silence into a full orchestra. The dynamics are there full force, and where Ray sings his voice is clear, natural. After this the dynamic range dies down and the soundstage narrows Ray’s voice is low and tender and the piano notes are more delicate. Most of what I describe is from MQA material on Tidal. All of that with the Bluesound internal DAC! If, as one noted, you ran a cable out to an Ayre Codex..... it would sound even more heavenly.
