Just installed a bluesound node 2i , quality not so good

Dang it! Just checked my amazon history when I bought the fiber optic bridging gear. Prices have dropped by about half! Anybody streaming should do this tweak, you have no excuse now! Dramatically improves sound. Oh and I did get cat 8 Ethernet cable. 

Thorens td 125 (Hana eh)
vincent SA-T7
bluesound node 2i 
music hall dac/cd
bob latino st-120
bob crites cornscala speakers

ive had the node 2i for about 8 months now, and at first I wasn’t really impressed. I mean it sounded ok, but didn’t have the magic. But here’s the thing, (you know the thing! Lol) I was streaming over the WiFi. I learned about the fiber optic bridging people were doing and thought I’d give it a try. A reasonable tweek under $200. Well it was night and day, huge improvement! I think I bought cat 8 cable but I can’t remember.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T3K4U5E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AVRLZI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (you’ll need two)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S3SZ1GM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also a nice article about the fiber optic bridge here:

https://andreweverard.com/2015/06/08/high-resolution-audio-now-with-added-fibre/

https://darko.audio/2018/08/ethernet-or-wifi-which-is-better-for-high-end-audio-streaming/

This article explains the process better than I’m able to do. There are many other articles also on the subject online. So to answer your question, yes this is a “hardwire” connection. I also have the issue of my router being in another room, and much to my wife’s chagrin, I have optic cable running across a hall and under a foyer rug. However this isn’t  the first time I’ve caused her distress with my audio hobby. I will eventually pull cable up into the attic and down inside the wall to my rig, but I live in Florida and I’ll be damned if I’m doing that in late August/September. So as best as I understand, the advantages of the bridge are as follows:  one being a much faster data transfer than WiFi, two it galvanically isolates the connection, and lastly eliminated RF/noise from long runs of Ethernet cable .