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Bluesound Node (2021) PS upgrade to Teddy Pardo; is it worth it?

Hi guys, 

I was toying with upgrading my Bluesound Node (2021) power supply with the Teddy Pardo upgrade kit; around £400 with shipping to UK.

I was wondering if anyone here has done this, and was there a significant improvement to SQ?

I don't use the DAC in my Node, I use a Denafrips Ares II; with this in mind, would the TP upgrade be worth the money, or would I be better off putting the money aside and going for an upgrade to the Node further down the line i.e. a dedicated, stand alone streamer?

Thanks very much
128x128painter24
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I don't want to discourage you with my comment.  The Teddy Pardo is a great product and if do the Teddo Pardo upgrade to your Bluesound, it will definitely be a significant upgrade in sound quality. 

At £400, it will be money well spent.  You would have to spend upwards of £3,000 to get a better dedicated streamer with good linear power supply and clocks (such as Aurender or Auralic).

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,822 posts
 

My recollection is Pardo first made a name for himself with excellent LPS for NAIM analog products....

I do have two of his excellent PS running NAIM digital gear... servers...

 

cetla416
23 posts
 

I installed the PD Creative PS board in my 2i and added an inexpensive LPS that I found on Amazon in conjunction with my modded Orchid DAC. Heard a difference for the better right away. More relaxing sound, bigger sound stage cleaner presentation and the 2i is just streaming. I may try a more robust LPS down the road but I'm in no hurry to.

painter24's avatar
painter24 OP
213 posts
 

@auxinput thanks for that, that's really useful. I thought there would definitely be a SQ improvement, but not at the level you've described. Do you think I would see much improvement using only the coax digital out on the Node, as opposed to using the DAC in the Node?

 

Thanks very much 

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

It depends on your system (amp/speakers), but if your system has enough resolution, it will definitely show a difference when you upgrade a streamer/transport with a linear power supply - even if you just use it to send digital coax signals.

As far as Bluesound Node DAC vs Denafrips, it really comes down to personal preference on sonic signature. Based on what I have read, the Denafrips sound will have more weight and be thicker (maybe more natural as well due to the resistor ladder dac circuit).

If you want to try using the Blusound as a DAC, I would not do the Teddy Pardo solution. In addition to the types of caps and regulator Teddy Pardo has, the Buesound internal adapter card Teddy supplies does not have any additional filtering. It just has 3 regulators on the board to split the incoming voltage.

If you want to try to use the Blusound as a DAC and want to upgrade to linear power supply, I would get this internal adapter board (installs inside Blusound Node and replaces the internal power supply board):

bluesound-node-2-2i-upgrade-low-noise-psu-interface

Then you can use any external 5V linear power supply. I would recommend Farad Super 3. This solution is much more expensive than Teddy Pardo, but I think the results will be much better in the end if you want to use Blusound as a DAC.

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