Bluesound Node 2i with Denafrips Ares ii

I don’t think you need to use tidal connect. You should be logging into tidal from the BluOS once to set it up. From that point forward you should be streaming with BluOS from your smart phone or tablet. 

I do have a good ethernet cable so covered on that aspect. Of course things went pair shapped again. Went into Tidal via BluOS and Tidal Connect was not showing. Deleted and re-installed the Tidal app but all my downloads and Playlists went missing, oh joy. I guess this is why I will never get rid of hard copies, vinyl, of the music I love. I did install the ethernet switch between the router and the Node but Tidal does not see the Node streamer anymore; give me strenght! But the Node is seen by Qobuz, go figure. The Node is ahown as a Player in the BluOS app and, as I said, with Qobuz. I do not see an option to add a player in Tidal. Looks like I will dump my Tidal subscription. Time to pour some wine and put a record on the turntable which all works without issue.

Cool. As to switch…unless you are looking to split Ethernet don’t bother. Get a good Ethernet cable instead 

audphile1 and cbrez, thanks for your help. I have the Node connected to the router with an ethernet cable; soon to have an ethernet switch between them as that is suppose to improve the SQ. I think my problem was getting the BluOS app to recognize the router. I went throught the 'Settings' again and named the router and re-entered the password. Now I go into Tidal via the BluSO app and when I select the source I get the Airplay & Bluetooth option but also get the Tidal connect option for the Node which is the one I pick. Now the Denafrips selects the appropriate resolution during playback. All a bit of a learning curve for an old analogue guy.

So a few things. I used my Node with a direct Ethernet connection, so my WiFi is not configured and if you don’t plan on using WiFi, I would leave it that way as well. That way there is never any confusion about the digital input.

While I don’t use Tidal (Qobuz and a few others for me), Bluesound supports both Tidal directly in their app - from the Music Sources screen, click the ‘+’ button and a list of supported streaming services will appear and you can add Tidal there. BluOS also supports Tidal Connect, so you can Google this as a setup option. 
As @audphile1 mentioned, make sure you are using the version of Tidal that supports their highest resolution. Do not stream via Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay unless a streaming you want to use is not natively supported by BluOS as you will use resolution. 
The best thing about Bluesound IMO and really the only reason I still use it at all is the number of integrated streaming services it affords a user. 
Final note, the BluOS interface indicates HR when the streaming musical selection is in fact high res.

+1 @audphile1 

First of all AirPlay is not what you want to use. That won’t give you high res.
You should be using BluOS native app and login to Tidal from there. Stream using BluOS and not the Airplay.
In tidal settings in BluOS make sure you select Max. That’s your high res. Not familiar with BluOS so don’t know where that setting is but every streamer should be configurable when it comes to Tidal resolution.