Just got a new Bluesound Node. Very disappointed!

the node is decent sounding devicehowever a better server does improve the sound quality in a very audibile way

we are streaming specialists and sell the node roon nucleus and 432evo servers servers as well as a few others the idea that bits is bits is a fallacy the difference in a streamer can dramatically improve the sound comming from the dac

to date we have tested auraylic aurender Inous sotm  modified mac minis and a few others the 432evo servers have proven to sound better theprevious servers and allow for mode lto model upgading

Dave andTroy

Audiointellect nj

streaming specialists

Peddlers peddling. 

It's funny, below Troys name is Audiointellect NJ, and I have never considered him that way. 

I have the N130 and it sounds great. Although the first thing I had to do was turn off the volume control in the app. It made a huge difference in the sound quality.

All the best.

I bought a NODE 2021 a few weeks ago and ran it in for about 100 hours, connected to a Jolida Glass FX tube DAC via either a coaxial or toslink cable. SQ was disappointing at best. I experimented with the settings, until I ultimately arrived at what @christianb5s4 found to work best in his system:

"I had tone control off, subwoofer off, fixed output, MQA external on."

After over 100 hours I gave up and put the NODE away, thinking I’d return it to the dealer and trade up.

Today, about a week later, on a whim, I put the NODE back into my system and was very pleasantly surprised at how much better the unit sounded. I have no idea why because I made no other changes in my kit.

So the takeaway for me is that "for the money" the BS NODE is an excellent investment. The app works great on my MacBook Air, and the NODE is clearly (no pun) better than using the Mac into the DAC.

Plus a big fringe benefit is that I got rid of a long USB cable which was awkward and unsightly. I may upgrade eventually- Lumin, Aurender, Gold Note, Naim, etc, but for now I’m quite pleased.

Hope this helps.