Sorry man. If you’re going hardwired I’d recommend the iFi Zen Stream that at $399 seems to punch above its weight sonically and many seem to prefer it to the Node. The glitch is if you use Qobuz over Wi-Fi as you need to use the MConnect app that might lose connection with the Zen, which is a pain. By all accounts if you go hardwired direct from the router or through an extender there’s no issue, and it likely sounds even better that way anyway. To significantly improve over the Zen Stream I think you’re looking at something like Innuos (if you have CDs too) or Lumin, which are both obviously much more expensive. But, if you’re going hard wired I think the Zen Stream is hard to beat although their customer service is even worse than Bluesound if you ever need it. FWIW, and best of 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
Showing 4 responses by soix
+1 @61falcon if you’re using Wi-Fi to streamer, especially the uninstall and reinstall the app part but it all matters. If I have to deal with any of this crap going hard wired to streamer I’d absolutely punt my streamer out the window and look elsewhere. |
@12many Im not 100% sure, but I don’t think it matters whether you go wired from an iPhone, a switch/router, or Wi-Fi extender as I think Wi-Fi to the Zen Stream from Qobuz/MConnect is what occasionally causes the problem. Everyone I’ve heard from who’s hard-wired into the ZS has had no problem. |
@wahoostewjr What a great example of how much everything matters in a streaming setup — wish everyone understood this. Great amp and speaks BTW. Now start playing with Ethernet cables, switches, digital cables etc. and max it out cause it’ll all help get even more outta your nice Lumin. There’s no end. |