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Bluesound Node 2021 DAC - I sold my Denafrips Ares II

I assembled my system last summer, after 20 odd years in the hifi wilderness. I’ve never been a vinyl guy, so wanted all the convenience of streaming, plus a CDP for my old collection.

I went for the latest iteration of the Bluesound Node - N130, a Naim Nait 5si and a pair of Quad S2 speakers, and Audiolab 6000CDT.

From reading various forums, watching YT videos, you know the script; I convinced my self that I needed an external DAC, as the majority view seemed to be that the BS Node DAC wasn’t very good. As I hadn’t owned hifi since the late 90s (Naim Olive) bi-amped system and Audo Alchemy DDE, I had no reference for how DACs sounded these days.

Anyway, in my new found conviction that I must purchase an ext. DAC, I purchased a Denafrips Ares II. Got it, plugged it in, and didn’t look back. I was content, it sounded good.

Then, about 2 months ago, I was fiddling around inside the Bluos app, with the subwoofer crossover, with a mind to buying a sub to supplement the LFs on my little Quads, and I had the belated brainwave to a/b the Node DAC and the Denafrips. I whipped out some spare ICs and off I went.

OK, I felt like such a fool, really stupid - I a/b’d for literally hours, trying to convince myself that the Ares II was night and day difference - it must be right? The Node DAC is sub-par, not good enough, mediocre, if things I read were correct.

But, in my system, to my ears, this wasn’t the case; I had difficulty discerning any significant improvements, certainly not £800 (£600 pre-owned) worth of difference.

I’m not knocking the Ares II, but in my system, the cost and the difference it made - and the difference between it and the much maligned Node DAC could not be justified sitting in my system at that cost.

Feeling like a complete tool, for rushing headlong in to the DAC game, I re-sold the Denafrips, bought a REL T5x and here I am.

I’m not going to look a further fool and say the Node DAC is the best, but i feel it is criticised unduly, at least the newest version at any rate.

Thanks for reading, I’m not sure this is a cautionary tale, but I just thought the experience worth sharing

 

 

128x128painter24
tennisdoc56
128 posts
 

My experience with the bluos dac streamer may be of relevance to you. I have the NAD 368 integrated amp with the bluos module from 2021.   Used it as an amplifier and as a dac preamp feeding spectral power amp.  Excellent dac and stable platform.  Was getting a new cartridge when I heard  my first r to r dac playing.  It was the most analogue digital component i had heard, and I’ve heard break the bank dcs stacks.  It came with an 8k price tag.  Read all I could on these dacs including yours.  I had a credit with underwood and had a credit with underwood hi. Bought the audio gd r 7, with a plan to put together more money and look for used models of the first dac . No need for the upgrade, and honestly have spent little time with my vinyl rig.  Not cheap at 3500.  Sounds best with usb, but toslink works very well .  You have multiple options for native or or oversampling as well as filters to tune it to your liking.  Could have been happy with bluos, but a higher level r to r is worth a demo 

rob

mr_m
1,900 posts
 

@seanheis1,

 

Just a small correction to the filter settings you recommended for the Denafrips Aries ll. The slow and sharp filters are only accessible in OS mode. You can't access the filters in NOS. ;-)

 

seanheis1
595 posts
 

Thanks for the correction. On a side note it would be helpful if people gave their impressions based on what OS filters used or if using NOS.

IME, each setting is like having another DAC.

tbevan
4 posts
 

This is a great thread.  I have a newer node 2i with an USB output.  I hooked up an Ares II with a good quality coax cable and noticed a significant reduction is sound quality.  I could have come to the conclusion that the Ares II is a POS, but....., I hooked it up to my older SACD player and heard a very significant improvement in sound quality.  The USB sounds like it might be the solution to the problem.  Thanks to all of the commenters. 

jin78's avatar
jin78
37 posts
 

@painter24 Yes indeed, reached out to Alvin and he confirmed that the USB out on the new node is the best way to hook it up. He said the coax out on the node may not be compatible with the denefrips in high res possibly due to a lower the normal voltage output, however I heard a significant drop in sound quality on anything streamed whether high-res or CD quality. When using the USB out from the node, the data retrieval is handled by the dac, and since the dac is of a higher quality it will result in better sound quality. When using the coax out on the node, the dac now has to try to correct the information and apparently is not doing a great job of it due to incompatibility issues. Hence the lower sound quality when using coax. This obviously could all change if using a different streamer. 

 

 

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