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New Bluesound Node – First Impressions

I'm new to streaming. To get started, I ordered the new Bluesound Node, the just-released successor to the Node2i. It arrived Friday. System: Sonus faber Olympica III speakers, McIntosh MC402 power amp, Magnum Dynalab MD208 used as a preamp, Denon DCD-1600NE SACD/CD player, and various cables, mostly Audioquest. I offer my first impressions, FWIW. I don't claim any particular expertise.

I connected the Node to the pre via Audioquest interconnects. It doesn't accept my aftermarket power cords. Used wireless, not ethernet. I have free trial subscriptions to Amazon Music and Qobuz.

First, Amazon Music. Tried some Beethoven, and some Rameau, with poor results. Compressed, tinny, and unlistenable. 10 minutes of Amazon HD was more than enough.

Next, Qobuz. Brahms, Schumann, Led Zep, Bowie. A very substantial improvement on Amazon HD. Notably, on the same tracks, the Qobuz high-rez sounded significantly better than the Qobuz CD-quality. Differences were immediately apparent on Led Zep's Dazed and Confused, available in both formats.

But the Qobuz high-rez can't compare with CD quality sound on my system as currently configured. On the same recordings, CD quality is clearly superior to Qobuz high-rez played through the Node. Detail, presence, dimensionality – there's no contest.

As a means to explore music to purchase on CD, the Node, playing Qobuz, may or may not suffice. As a substitute for CDs, I very much doubt it will do.

Let me re-emphasize that these are only my first impressions. I don't know how the Node will sound after further break-in, or with an ethernet connection, or with an external DAC, or with different interconnects/preamps/amps/speakers, or with other streaming services. I hope this post is helpful to other forum members considering this or similar equipment.


gg107
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,017 posts
 
When I purchased my Node 2i the dealer convinced me to purchase a Project 2 DAC.  When I got it home I felt the DAC made the sound too thin.  I also wanted to play MQA via Tidal.  Maybe MQA is a gimmick, but there must be a reason why they offer this.  I preferred the bass response of the Node 2i played by itself.  I almost purchase a Belcanto DAC.  I wonder if you can hear a significant sound quality difference between the Bluesound Node 2i and a high end DAC.  If so, what is the difference in sound quality and how many participated in a blind test.

I personally think a lot of achieving a perfect very expensive system might be over done.  This seems to reserved to a very few who are very rich and don't know how to spend their money.  I must admit I wouldn't mind being one of them.  The dealer also sold the Cutest DAC and he said that was a really high quality DAC.
mapman's avatar
mapman
23,046 posts
 
Don’t change a thing until you find the right DAC first. 
mapman's avatar
mapman
23,046 posts
 
Steaming alone is not hard and need not cost much. I have yet to hear any decent quality streamer in the last 15 years sound bad and have heard some of the the best systems for reference to compare. The dac makes all the difference when it comes to the sound. I find Streamer differences alone are much more subtle if it even matters at all. Been streaming for a long time now and it really does not matter. Choice of interface technology USB versus coax versus optical matters more I find. Now just go with modern asynchronous usb and any good quality dac of your choice and forget about it.
aberyclark
1,410 posts
 
I wished the Node would pass a dsd signal onto a dac thru usb
vinylshadow
533 posts
 
@mapman I agree with that. Gots to have a great external DAC. A streamer is just a computer.

The Node 2i was $500. The PD Creative PSU board interface was $100. The SBooster LPS was $350. The Canare coax cable was $20. $1000. But having a great DAC is the cherry on top.

It all sounds great. I was advised to get a Benchmark DAC3B to bypass my Classe's DAC. Maybe that is the last frontier.
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