Bluesound Node Icon

What is I2S ?

I too am hoping Bluesound will come out with a Higher end streamer only product.

I2S is a serial bus interface specially designed for communicating digital audio data between integrated circuits (ICs). The I2S protocol sends pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio data from a controller to a target.

That's a Google result.  It's a digital connection much like USB.  If your dac doesn't have an I2S input, it wouldn't be much of a benefit for you. 

I too am hoping Bluesound will come out with a Higher end streamer only product.
 

I doubt they ever will as they are part of NAD. Being a budget conscious company I’m guessing the icon is going to be their flagship when it comes to the streaming end. 

In general, one of the major benefits of i2S is that the data and clock signals are carried separately so the DAC doesn’t need to go through the extra process of having to separate them when the signal comes in as it does with all other inputs.  The downside is that It was originally designed to transmit signals within a component, not externally between components, so it does not do well with distance and the signal degrades rapidly with distance.  The implication is the cable (usually HDMI) that you use to transmit i2S should be as short as possible.  The experts I’ve read say the cable should optimally be 1 foot or even less — mine is 6”.  The good news is many have reported that significantly upgrading the cable only produces marginal improvements so you likely don’t need to spend big $$$ to still get great sound with i2S (my cable cost $6 from Monoprice and I’m getting great sound).  I got a large improvement implementing a DDC to take advantage of i2S with my DAC compared to just going USB straight from my streamer.  However, I don’t know how much of the benefit was due to i2S or how much was due to the clock and galvanic isolation the DDC also provides.  All I know is adding the DDC and using i2S made improvements on the level of making a significant DAC upgrade — it was really that significant.  Hope that helps. 

I too am wondering if the streaming section of the new Bluesound Icon is significantly improved from the Bluesound Node 2i that I am presently using. I'm using the Bluesound for the OS; it's the only OS that supports both of the streaming services that I use, Amazon HD and Idagio.

My Node2i has been moded with a Teddy Pardo LPS which made a significant SQ improvement. I'm using the SPDIF Coax out into a PS Audio Directstream DAC Mk1 moded by APS transformers. My guess is that most of the improvement in the Icon is in the DAC section, and would not see much SQ improvement over what I now have, but I would like to have that comfirmed if possible. For now, I will spend the  money instead on a Denafrips Hermes or Gaia DDC, which from what I've read from multiple sources WILL significantly improve SQ.

I too wish Bluesound would produce a audiophile quality streamer only. I know there will be a lot of disagreement on this next statement, but I think that their OS is the best of any of the streamers; it supports the largest number of services, and it's intuitive to use and very stable.