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Bluesound Node 2 as a preamp?

Source: Bluesound Node 2
Amp: Belles Aria Integrated
Speakers: Vandersteen 2ce Sig II’s

Prior to last night I had been taking the analog outputs of the Node 2 and plugging them into 1 of the 3 stereo inputs on the Belles. I had read a thread here about bypassing the preamp and plugging the Node 2 directly into your amp. I did that last night by using the Bypass input on the Belles, using the volume control on the Bluesound OS app to conrol volume.

I don’t know if it’s expectation bias or some other phenomenon, but I swear my system has never sounded sweeter. More bass extension, more defined sound stage, better detail.

Has anyone else tried this experiment? What were your findings? Am I losing it?

Thanks!
Joe

128x128audionoobie
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
I have tried it in my system but I have separates and my results were quite opposite. Putting my tube preamp in between Node 2 and my amplifier profoundly improved the sound quality, in particular the soundstage depth/width was much more pronounced and of course the added lush midrange from the tubes. There are a few threads about folks going directly to amplifiers from DACs and the results are very mixed and highly system dependent. In your case it sounds like the preamp section of the Aria is not contributing to the sound quality.
gdnrbob
4,460 posts
 
+1 Kalali.

B
audionoobie's avatar
audionoobie OP
374 posts
 

@kalali

Thanks. I'll try to search for those threads.

dgarretson
2,605 posts
 
In a modest streaming bedroom system, I use the Node 2 with good results direct into an Acurus amp and a pair of Jamo bookshelf speakers.  You just can't beat the compactness and good quality of this simple set-up.  Does anyone hear improvement with an aftermarket power cord on the Node 2?  For this purpose I wish that it had a standard IEC female instead of a cable box-type two-pin AC connector. 
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