Anyone have Bluesound Node 2? I have some questions, and I'm hoping for feedback from users.

Onebean

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I spent some time with a Bluesound Node 2 in a nice system at a hi-fi shop this weekend. Overall I was pretty impressed. The app seemed a little confusing, but I'm sure I would catch on to it quickly. I like the idea of unfolding MQA files from Tidal, along with streaming background music from other apps like Spotify. Here are my main questions, answer any you can. Also, feel free to chime in with any other positive or negative things for you personally. I'm currently unfolding MQA with Audioquest Dragonfly Red, and it's pretty good for $200 (my Lenco L-75 / Denon 103 still sound much better though).

1- Will the Node 2 provide better sound quality from MQA files than my Dragonfly? I assume yes, based on the fact the Dragon fly is a tiny stick, and the Node is much larger allowing for less compromise in design.

2- Can I play hi-rez downloads from sites like HDTracks if I plug a jump drive or hard drive with the hi-rez files into the Node 2? Does the Node have a digital out so I can use the D/A converter in my Marantz SACD player?

3- How does it sound with standard streaming content from Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon Prime music?

4- What does the SUBW OUT RCA connection do?

5- Do I need a hard wire connection to my router, or will it be reliable with WI-FI? I'm currently using wi-fi with my MacBook Pro and Dragonfly setup with no buffering issues.

6- If your a user, tell me what you love, and what you don't like about it.

7- Is there something other than the Bluesound Node 2 I should be considering?

My main goal is to get maximum performance from MQA, and the added benefit of streaming for background music helps me justify the cost.

Onebean
 
I've been using Bluesound Node 2s for some time in several systems, so I'll answer the ones I can.

I spent some time with a Bluesound Node 2 in a nice system at a hi-fi shop this weekend. Overall I was pretty impressed. The app seemed a little confusing, but I'm sure I would catch on to it quickly. I like the idea of unfolding MQA files from Tidal, along with streaming background music from other apps like Spotify. Here are my main questions, answer any you can. Also, feel free to chime in with any other positive or negative things for you personally. I'm currently unfolding MQA with Audioquest Dragonfly Red, and it's pretty good for $200 (my Lenco L-75 / Denon 103 still sound much better though).

1- Will the Node 2 provide better sound quality from MQA files than my Dragonfly? I assume yes, based on the fact the Dragon fly is a tiny stick, and the Node is much larger allowing for less compromise in design.

It's certainly better than the older Dragonfly, but I haven't compared it with the newest versions.

2- Can I play hi-rez downloads from sites like HDTracks if I plug a jump drive or hard drive with the hi-rez files into the Node 2? Does the Node have a digital out so I can use the D/A converter in my Marantz SACD player?

Yes, and yes.

3- How does it sound with standard streaming content from Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon Prime music?

It sounds very good. It will let you hear the differences between these services and CD-quality or higher, though.

4- What does the SUBW OUT RCA connection do?

Just what you'd think - it provides a line-level subwoofer output, and puts a high-pass filter on the main outputs. The crossover frequency is 80 Hz. Works fine, but not adjustable enough for me.

5- Do I need a hard wire connection to my router, or will it be reliable with WI-FI? I'm currently using wi-fi with my MacBook Pro and Dragonfly setup with no buffering issues.

It will be fine with wi-fi, if you've got a strong signal. I had some issues with dropouts and losing sync until I set up a mesh wi-fi network, but since then it's been fine. You can use the diagnostics in the player help menu to see how strong the signal is.

6- If your a user, tell me what you love, and what you don't like about it.

I love the sound quality, and ability to sync any combination of rooms. Indexing is good. The iPad/iPhone controller is quite good, the Windows controller is still a work in progress. The interface is still not as good as Sonos, but it doesn't have the Sonos limitation on number of tracks indexed, and will play higher-resolution files. It also sounds better than the unmodified Sonos Connect. The digital out is great, and the built-in DAC is actually quite good.

7- Is there something other than the Bluesound Node 2 I should be considering?

My main goal is to get maximum performance from MQA, and the added benefit of streaming for background music helps me justify the cost.

Onebean

I'm not yet sold on MQA, but for what I do - mainly streaming from CDs ripped to a server - it's great.
 
Rich did a great job answering your questions. I agree with his comments. I have a Red Dragonfly but not directly compared to BS as I use the 'fly for travel. I am running my BS into a Music Fidelity DAC that has a linear power supply to my pre. I tried it naked initially but feel the DAC improves details.

I upgraded from a Sonos Connect due to sound quality. Very happy user since my purchase 2 months ago. Only gripe is the UI of the app. Hopefully they will work on improvements.
 
Jbailey, I have a question on using an external dac. Can you have the Node 2 unfold MQA, then use an external DAC to convert to an analog signal? I'm not sure I would want to, but just curious.
 
I am all in! Owning both a BlueSound Vault 2 and a Node 2. The PowerNode 2 is on the to buy list at some point. I do However use Roon instead of the BlueOS interface, I like it a bit more and find it more robust. However, I could live with BlueOS if I had too.

Jbailey, I have a question on using an external DAC. Can you have the Node 2 unfold MQA, then use an external DAC to convert to an analog signal? I'm not sure I would want to, but just curious.


The Node will do the first unfold in this instance. The Dac will pass along the MQA signal but it will not give you the full MQA effect unless the DAC is MQA capable. If it is, the second unfold would occur in the DAC before it passes the signal along.
 
Jbailey, I have a question on using an external dac. Can you have the Node 2 unfold MQA, then use an external DAC to convert to an analog signal? I'm not sure I would want to, but just curious.

In my relatively limited experience with MQA from Tidal, I've found that I prefer the sound of the Node 2 through my Benchmark HGC2 DAC (which indicates a 24/96 signal) to the analog output of the Node 2, even though the Node 2 is doing the full MQA rendering. But if you have a DAC that will do MQA, you can use the external DAC to do the MQA rendering https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006191908-Why-Isn-t-My-External-DAC-Playing-MQA- So, I am getting only part of the MQA rendering in my setup.
 
In my relatively limited experience with MQA from Tidal, I've found that I prefer the sound of the Node 2 through my Benchmark HGC2 DAC (which indicates a 24/96 signal) to the analog output of the Node 2, even though the Node 2 is doing the full MQA rendering. But if you have a DAC that will do MQA, you can use the external DAC to do the MQA rendering https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006191908-Why-Isn-t-My-External-DAC-Playing-MQA- So, I am getting only part of the MQA rendering in my setup.
So, I will do a couple of more comparisons. The MF dac is not MQA capable. I do 'hear' improvement in SQ playing those tracks vs. non-mqa via BS to this dac.

I can't use the Dragonfly Red, but I could route the BS through my Oppo 205 to decode and use its built in DAC.
 
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