My 2 week old Vault 2 using Tidal is amazing for its sonic quality and I am just using the RCA outputs... haven't played with the Bluetooth aspect of it yet. Still exploring...
Audioengine Bluetooth vrs. Bluesound node 2
I am currently streaming internet radio from my iPad through Audioengine Bluetooth connected to my hi end system. Sound is just ok, not comparing to my dedicated CD player.
If I replace the audioengine with Bluesound node 2 will I hear a major improvement in internet radio and other streaming services?
Thanks.......
If I replace the audioengine with Bluesound node 2 will I hear a major improvement in internet radio and other streaming services?
Thanks.......
9 responses Add your response
@yashu .. as always, it depends. If you only care about using the Node 2 as you would your Audioengine gizmo I wouldn't bother. The Node 2 can (and does) Bluetooth just fine and is a nice convenience but it's strength is with higher-resolution files. Streaming Tidal and/or your own personal library (16/44.1 and above) is where you would see the most benefit. That being said, if you're only interested in a better Bluetooth solution you should check out the Wyred 4 Sound bLINK. This little wonder uses a femto re-clocker and SRC (everything is upsampled to 24/96) for taming nasties. It is by far the best Bluetooth I've heard (including the Node 2's), but I haven't heard the Audioengine. The caveat is the bLINK costs the same as the Node 2 and the Node 2 does quite a bit more than Bluetooth. BTW, John Darko gave the bLINK a Knock Out Award if you care about such things: http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/06/wyred-4-sounds-blink-delivers-high-end-bluetooth-audio/ |
The Node 2 provides very good sound, so if you consider the Audioengine to be just OK, you should experience a significant improvement. However, the quality of internet radio is subject to the bit rate the stations stream at, so that could be the bottleneck in sound quality. You can purchase the Node 2 from someone who allows a 30 day return offer to see how it works for you. |
Good wifi based streaming gear streaming CD res or higher should compare and perhaps even surpass CD depending. Bluesound has very good reputation and I would not expect that to bottleneck sound quality possible especially if external high quality DAC of your liking used. Not saying Bluesound dac is good or bad, I expect it is pretty good but have not heard and compared. The book is still out for me regarding Bluetooth but I am encouraged. It works well in many cases but not sure it can match wifi quality yet or not (have not compared technical specs carefully), though it has certainly improved in recent years on paper. So far I have been happy with Bluetooth when I use it (higher quality newer bluetooth speakers and car audio) but have not done any meaningful critical comparison yet on a more resolving system or with external DAC of my choice. I agree the DAC used can make a huge difference in either case. Much like phono carts do with records. |
I was with some friends a while back and we were playing with the range of the audioengine-the range was great. The next part of the experiment was to use my HTC One phone running Tidal, streaming to the Audioengine. Sound was good. We then used the digital out from the Audioengine to a Chord Hugo. You won't believe how good it sounded. I was SOLD! My advice, try a nice DAC and you will be pleased. |