Bluesound mode not really cutting it

@moonwatcher

I have the Black Ice Glass FX DAC and opted to have it sent with the Sovtec 12AX7 LPS tubes and it sounded pretty good connected to my Bluesound N130. But then I swapped the tubes out to 1960 NOS GE5751 Triple Mica Black Plates and it sounds fantastic. Feeding via USB and connected to an Odyssey Candela Tube PreAmp utilizing 1960 NOS GE Triple Mica 5814A Black Plate Tubes. Recently just auditioned it at our Audiophile’s Frankensystem Event and the general consensus amongst the attendees was impressive, sounded great and very musical. It’s a good little DAC, just have to find the right tube synergy for your system.

@jetter , I too have the Node 2i with the PD Creative LPS and was happy with it. I am a tinkerer and am currently using a NUC with Roon or a Volumio streamer. For our casual listening I am invested in the Bluesound ecosystem and it is nice being able to connect and transfer music between devices.

I know it’s not their main focus, but I wish Bluesound would develop a standalone streamer to compete with the lower level devices from Aurender,  Innuous, and similar level. I think that market doesn’t care about the upgraded headphone output, larger touchscreen, and built-in DAC.

You have to realize a $600 streamer is maybe $150 from China 

you can’t expect much ,

innuos has a nice little one $1500 retail , then upgrade power supply later to a LPS .

I’ll be in the minority here - but the problem is not the node. It’s your DAC or preamp. The node is just serving the file so to speak. 

There is nothing wrong with the Bluesound Node when used with a competent external DAC. It wouldn’t constitute a bottleneck even if your system were anchored with $20K speakers. Its UI is better than most as well.

You would be far better off investing that $3K into better speakers, and to a lesser extent, better amplification. 
 

I am not familiar with the Black Ice DAC, but if it’s one of those that incorporates a tube buffer, then chances are you’d get a considerable improvement by moving to one of the perfect-measuring “Chi-Fi” units from Topping or SMSL. Even if, say, your system was anchored with $12K speakers, the Node and a Topping DAC would not be your bottleneck. It’s far more likely that the room or those $12K speakers would still be your bottleneck.