Signal break up on 7 month old Bluesound Node 2i

I called Tidal and they told me to turn off the power to the Bluesound and let it reboot.  That solved the problem.  I am hardwired CAT6 from the modem to the Bluesound so thought signal interruption from the modem was not an issue.

I wish I had not listened to the dealer who suggested adding a ProJect S2 DAC by way of digital coax cable.  I should have listened to my gut at the dealer because I kept saying I thought it sounded better without the DAC.  For some reason I felt there was a sound difference being able to unfold MQA completely.  I ended up selling the DAC and the cable on Audiogon for half the price I paid for it.  From now on, I will have to trust my ears.  It is kind of like the story, "The Emperors New Cloths".  If you spend more you try to convince yourself it sounds significantly better.  It is quite obvious there are quite a few of extremely wealthy people in the group.  I have thus far $15,000 invested into my system with an additional $2,000 left to finish it off with rear ceiling speakers and calibration for my home theater part of my system.  Fortunately, I play 2 channel 70% of the time.  So far the best investment I have made is adding a pair of S3 SHO REL subwoofers.

This group is incredibly knowledgeable and I am grateful for their feedback and to read some of their comments.  I have learned a great deal from everyone.

Thank you.

Your best investment would be to separate home theater from 2 channel. Far better than worrying about DACs, Tidal, etc.......

Oz

To wlutke,

I hard wired my Bluesound Node 2i using CAT6 and this I feel is the way to go.  Before I purchased my Bluesound I was streaming using an Apple TV.  I had signal break up streaming wirelessly.  As soon as I hard wired the Apple TV using CAT6, the problem went away.  My modem is located in my family room about 60 to 70 feet away.  The signal needs to pass through the kitchen.  I discovered my stainless refrigerator was the culprit.  Problem solved.

I think could connect a 2 channel amplifier to my ARCAM AVR 550 and us the ARCAM as a Pre Amp.  Not sure how much sound quality difference I would hear and if the ARCAM would introduce too much noise or more than what I have?  I wish I could have afforded to purchase the ARCAM AVR850.  Their G technology is incredible, as the first 50 watts is Pure A amplification.  It completely blew the doors off the 2 channel MacIntosh amp next to it.  Far greater detail and plenty of power.  However, the ARCAM AVR850 was twice the price.  You never hear anyone in this discussion group talking about ARCAM.  It must be a dirty word in the audiophile world.  My goal when I started out was to be able to enjoy both 2 channel and HT in my living room.  We transformed our museum, I mean our living room, into a music listening room.  We used to sit in the living room at least once a year prior to that.  So far, for the money I do like the sound of Parasound.  I think at the time, Parasound did not make a HT processor.  Be curious to know what people would do in this group.  My problem is the wife factor.  She is still not over what I have spent thus far.  However, she is the first to show off our sound system to her girl friends when they come over.  Funny how that works.

I thought I would share this while I am at it.  A realtor sends me real estate listings in my area every day.  After looking at more than 500 homes, I have yet to see a pair of speakers standing in a living room or family room.  I also see some very expensive home theater pieces sitting in a family room with a wide screen TV and I have yet to see built in wall HT speakers.  You kidding me..  People live in homes $700,000 to $1.2 million and are satisfied listening to their TV speakers?  We have a neighbor who was remodeling their entire first floor..  They were rebuilding their fireplace and I asked where the wires for their center channel was as well as left and right front and rear speakers for surround sound.  The wife must have gotten upset because they both dropped us like hot potatoes.  She obviously was the boss and he was the pilgrim.  Here they could have easily wired speakers in the wall while they were in the middle of construction and she won.  Now they get to look at movies in their family room and hear sound on their built in TV speakers.  I think people today must be allergic to music.  I remember the Wendy's TV commercials, "Where's The Beef"?  Now I say, where's the speakers  No wonder why audio dealers are struggling.