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Streamer Advice: Bluesound Node 2 vs Aries Mini vs Oppo

Hello,

I know a lot of these advice threads already exist, and plenty of useful info from those. I’m looking for a network streamer with a budget of $500 ($600 is my absolute max). I’ll be playing my own redbook quality FLAC files, and streaming via Tidal. The Bluesound Node 2 and Auralic Aries Mini each check a lot of boxes for me, but I’m having a hard time finding an Aries Mini for sale.

My questions are...

Is there a significant benefit to the Aries Mini over the Bluesound Node 2? If folks think I’m better off with the Aries Mini I don’t mind waiting, and continuing the search for one.

And would an Oppo BDP-103 or BDP-105 be a better choice compared to either the Bluesound or Auralic?

I can’t afford the prices that Oppo UDP models are fetching, but I’m finding a lot of BDP-103s between $300-$500 and even some BDP-105s around $500-$600.

Having a Blu-Ray, CD, SACD player coupled with streaming is very enticing. Since Oppo’s digital components are no longer in production my hesitation is software support potentially going away.

Thanks, and cheers!
- MD


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maritime51's avatar
maritime51
1,288 posts
 
I love my node 2, and Tidal masters. 
hemoncdoc
71 posts
 
You may also wish to consider the cambridge audio cxn. You can purchase a refurbished series 1 in your price range on their website. It comes with a one year warranty.  I use it on my system at my mountain house to play FLAC, ALAC, Tidal, and internet radio. I  have been very happy with its performance. Their software also works well and is easy to set up and use.
jond's avatar
jond
5,841 posts
 
Auralic stopped making the Aries Mini so if you want one you will have to find one used, and they almost never come up. I've never heard the Node but many here seem to like it and it does all the same things the Mini does in terms of functionality.
yashu
196 posts
 
I have both Oppo 105 and Node2.

Sound quality streaming Tidal is far superior on my Oppo compared to the Node 2 on its own.  Both apps are quite similar.  And both are run through my integrated amp.  DAC in Oppo has much more detail, and has larger soundstage, with a beautiful musical presentation.
everest_audio
285 posts
 
If you have the digital out going to a DAC, the Node 2 is superior to the Oppo. Now, the interesting thing is that the brand new Node 2i just came out and it is supposed to be considerably better than the old Node 2 and the price has remained the same. I haven't tried the Node 2i yet, but we brought in the new Powernode 2i and we're really impressed straight out of the box.
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