I haven’t read the entire post, so my thoughts might already have been touched on, but my history with Bluesound is that it performs best when hardwired and it is also dependent on a very strong signal since you’re streaming lossless. I have almost 1mbps internet speed and have no troubles. Before I upgraded my internet signal, I too had drops due to buffering. I recommend you run through a separate DAC for best performance (I use a Chord Qutest). I a/b’d the Bluesound streamer with an Aurender a couple of years ago through the same DAC and could detect no different in sound quality (even though I really wanted to). The streaming of high resolution files is challenging for any setup since you are dependent on a strong signal coming in. Good luck!
BluSound Node and Node 2
The purpose of this post is to make everyone aware and think twice before buying BluSound Node / Node 2.
Blusound's customer service is the worst I have ever experienced. As far as sound goes it's decent for the price. Are there better-sounding streaming dacs? Absolutely. I'd spend extra 300 / 400 dollars and get something more reliable vs wasting $549.
Issue::
Six months after buying my 1st node it failed. It would play songs from the middle and only for 30 seconds and then skip to a random song regardless of what service I used. There are numerous blogs that talk about this same exact problem. It happens if you are streaming locally from your NAS or directly from quboz or deezer. You guys can google this issue.
After several failed attempts with customer service, I sold the device for $75 and bought node 2. I was told by blusound that they have fixed the bugs in node 2 and it sounds way better.
Well there is no difference in sound between node 1 and node 2 and my node 2 failed within 3 months of purchase. After 2 weeks worth of back and forth with blusound tech support and 20 emails from them telling me to reboot / reindex / factory reset my device I was told today that they will take a look at the logs and get back to me.
Its possible that blusound node owners have owned their devices for years without any problems but it looks like songs skipping and starting from the middle and stopping randomly is a well know issue with the device.
My suggestion is to look at other brands, spend a little more in order to avoid wasting your $549.
Im thinking of either getting a used Lumin d2 or the simaudio 280d.
my system:
Simaudio 340i with builtin dac [2019]
Dynaudio C20
2x REL T9is