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Not streaming yet and considering Bluesound Node 2i? What you need to know.

Two months ago question marks were orbiting my aching head. Now I have the 2i and an MHDT Orchid DAC. My real interest was getting decent radio over WiFi because my ethernet is on the wrong floor. The 2i one box budget solution was appealing. I got the 2i. Happy Days! I found the 2i playing Tunein radio over 5G WiFi decent. At least it beat my Sangean WFT-1 up pretty good. Adding the Orchid was stunning. How could free radio sound so good? Defined lows, vivid mids, nothing special up top but so coherent, musical and it swings - I could listen all day. Hey now, Music Streaming Services. How good could that be? Qobuz trial time. Hmm. The BluOS app acts as a remote control for the 2i telling it to stream and decode Tunein radio or Spotify directly from WiFi or Ethernet. Here’s the problem. The Node 2i can’t direct stream any music services except Spotify. You can only Bluetooth cast Qobuz (and others) to the Node from the BluOS app even if the Node is hardwired to ethernet and, believe me, the quality suffers. You can USB or Toslink to the 2i but then you don’t need the 2i at all if you’ve got a DAC. This is just an fyi, food for thought for the potential buyer. I’m quite pleased with Tunein Radio and the BluOS app is fun. Would do it again.
wlutke
big_greg
6,618 posts
 
@wlutke BlueSound has a pretty decent user forum, you might try poking around there to see if you can find more information about how to set up your specific devices. 

As mofi said, if you're using the Qobuz app as opposed to connecting to Qobuz through the BluOS interface, you're probably connecting by Bluetooth.  I don't think there's a way to connect using internet directly from the Qobuz app, however if you connect to Qobuz (or anything else) through the BluOS interface, it should be via the internet.

The Spotify app (outside of BluOS) will let you connect to devices on your network, but the Qobuz and Tidal apps won't to the best of my knowledge.
wlutke OP
724 posts
 
Yes, I did delete the app and use BluOS.  I had CD and Hi -res next to the songs.  Pardon my confusion but the sound being tipped up was a deal killer anyway.  Good to know it does stream direct from the web though.  Thanks out to all you responders.  Next time I need help I'm going to post something wrong! lol!  
big_greg
6,618 posts
 
I'm surprised to hear you describe the sound as "tipped up", especially if you're using the Orchid as the DAC instead of the Node 2i's built in DAC.  It still sounds like something is amiss.
wlutke OP
724 posts
 
Could be but Tunein Radio uses the Orchid without a problem.  The only difference between that and Qobuz is the stream source.  The hardware chain is identical.  My system is quite sensitive to cables and front end so I'm going with that.  It's like Qobuz is throwing detail at me instead of presenting it in a coherent manner.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,962 posts
 
I'm pretty sure that TuneIn uses MP3 streams.  No way this can sound better than Qobuz...no way.  Unless you are so used to MP3 that the much added detail of Qobuz, (or Tidal or Deezer) seems "tipped up" to you?  It's not.
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