BlueSound Stinks(!), anyone?

My Node 2i has worked great from day 1.
It's connected to a gigabyte switch with cat7 cable (yeah, I know cat8 is available now).
My devices include Windows 10 and Android OS, so I can't comment on the Apple iterations. Since the Node 2i does the streaming over wired ethernet, it doesn't really matter what handheld device I used to control it.
Lack of documentation was my peeve at first, but it was easy & intuitive to set up and it just works...any and all the time. The BlueOS app has support for a vast number of internet radio stations and streaming services and, it has it's own sleep timer, which allows me to stream at bedtime without waking up to music playing on my class A/AB system all night.
The Pulse 2i powered, BlueOS speaker is better than my Harman Kardon Onyx 4 and it syncs perfectly with my main system...so music can be playing wirelessly in the kitchen, etc, with no annoying time delay.
That said, the pulse is OK for a remote wireless speaker... not even near-critical listening.
Had the Node 2i for a year now and I consider it to be a great addition to my system.

Are you hard wired or WiFi?  These things don’t work worth beans unless they are hard wired.  At least for me anyway!  Good luck!

I have a Vault 2 and initially I had some very frustrating problems!

I did get Blue Sound on the phone at one point (limited availability) and there were several issues... the main one, if I am recalling correctly, was that the router supplied by Xfinity, which is also my phone modem, was total junk, and was creating confusion in WIFi land since I use an Apple Time capsule for my actual Wifi router which was hardwired to the Xfinity unit.  

I have my Vault 2 hardwired to the Time Capsule with a 25ft CAT5 cable... nothing fancy, and had the Xfinity router WIFI signal shut down by Xfinity... Recently the junk unit died completely and they came out and replaced it one with one supposedly better... no issues with that one... again hard wired to the Apple Time Capsule.  Both routers are plugged into a battery backup UPS surge protector, critical for where I live.

I can control the Vault 2 with iPad, Power Book, or my iPhone... it does occasionally do a software update which takes a few minutes.  
All in all the Vault 2 has not had any issues in several years...

I love being able to rip CDs into it and it sounds quite good through my ARC system...
Not up to the level of my REFCD9, but quite good and very easy to use. Handy back in the day when I could have friends over for dinner and be able to stream or set up a play list and control the sound from the dining room or kitchen.
NOTE: ALL the original Vault 2 issues were with the WIFI in my home not the Vault 2... Lovin it!

I use the Node 2i plugged into a Nextgear extender. Make sure your tablet/phone is on the same network as the Node.
The BluOs App is easy to use. Wish it had an option to alphabetize my playlists.