New Bluesound Node – First Impressions

+1 on all the Node2i > MHDT Orchid posts. Then have Grannyring modify your Orchid - huge improvement - Then add an adapter with a NOS 7308 tube. Wow, rivals my analog rig. Not quite on par, but SO good and SO convenient.

Yikes!  By the time you spend the money on a decent DAC and decent power cable, you could purchase a Lumin and get an audiophile grade streamer and be done with it!  

That sounds like 6 of one or half a dozen the other. Or as my wife likes to say, “that’s a 6/half” 

Geeez, enough already! This thread is enough to deter a anyone  from wanting to buy a streamer...Such BS to say you need to buy an external DAC to get the most out of the Node..Or that you need $$$ cables. To even know what DACs hold what chips and what specs the DACs hold you are ate up! Your into gear more than you are music..Your splitting hairs with here...Buy what you can afford  and listen to the music already..My Node plays Im entertaining, out by my pool where zone 2 provides the music, or working in the home...Be hard pressed to tell the difference  if I had a Node or pissed away 4k on a DAC that does the same to the digital signal Id be hard pressed to tell the difference.. And If there was a difference, who cares...certainly wouldn't  be worth another 500 or 1000 dollars.  Guys take the fun out of music. 

As the OP of this thread, I'll add that after a week of living with the new Bluesound Node I can't recommend it as a standalone streamer/DAC.  My Denon CD player is inexpensive by audiophile standards, but in my system it is far superior to the Node.  The differences are particularly noticeable on non-high-rez classical recordings; less so on rock.  

My wife, an experienced recording and concert artist, thinks we should just send the Node back during the 30-day return period.  The other alternative is to add a decent quality DAC.    I appreciate the suggestions for better cabling, ethernet, etc., but ultimately the critical limiting factor is very likely the Node's DAC itself.  I'll give it a little more time to see if break-in makes a significant difference.  

OP, you have proven what most of us have recommended here.  For audiophile sound you simply have to add an external DAC.  Yes, for background music or zone 2 by the pool, maybe, but I still want the best sound regardless where or when it is playing.  I have the Schiit Gungnir and it is fantastic for $899.  Keep the Node, you need a streamer and as far as I know it is one of the best for the money.  Pick a DAC that is in your budget or has a trial period as well.  Schiit gives a trial on their gear.  Don't give up!  Quality streaming is awesome.

it is what it is -- you no likey you go buy somethin’ else

as far as i am concerned it is an excellent streamer with a terrific user interface, feeds my system very nicely -- for 500 bucks that is already a good value

furthermore, 2 or 3 nodes can work in concert so multiple outboard dacs can be compared easily with the same clean bitstream

+1 to what @patrickdowns and @lalitk suggested for improved sound quality. The suggestions from @lalitk align with my experience as well

To get the best out of Node, you need to use,

1) Ethernet with decent quality LAN cable, like Supra CAT8,
2) External DAC as @hilde45 pointed out,
3) Decent power cord, try Cullen PC with figure 8 IEC,
4) Decent quality Digital Coax cable,

I went through this journey last year of building a digital front end for streaming. Background on all of this is that I’ve mostly avoided digital for 32 years because of the harshness that I hear from a lot of digital music and because I think vinyl has sounded more musical. I got a Pro-ject Stream Box Ultra S2 streamer which I started using via Wi-Fi. My initial DAC was an AQ Dragonfly Red with a 3.5mm to RCA cable to plug it into my main system.

Two tweaks that you might try before returning the Node streamer. My perception is that these changes will improve sound quality no matter what streamer you end up with.

1. Turn off Wi-Fi and use an Ethernet cable: As @lalitk suggested, the most significant improvement that I saw in digital with my initial tweaks was to turn off the Wi-Fi receiver on my Pro-ject streamer and use an Ethernet cable.

I can share one trick for doing this. My audio system is upstairs and my Ethernet port is downstairs. I didn’t really want to run 75 feet of Ethernet cable through my house. So I got a TP-Link RE230 Wi-Fi extender (https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/range-extender/re230/) and used that as a remote Wi-Fi receiver to create an Ethernet access port from which I could run an Ethernet cable to my Pro-ject streamer. Creating an Ethernet access point with that $30 TP-Link Wi-Fi extender has been one of the most significant sound quality tweaks that I found in digital.

2. Try a better sounding Ethernet cable: When going to an Ethernet cable from Wi-Fi, I got two Ethernet cables:

• AmazonBasics Cat 6 - basically just a generic Ethernet cable
• Supra Cat 8 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/402913510909?hash=item5dcf8445fd:g:5UwAAOSwB4NW07FZ) - Well reviewed and pretty inexpensive

I’m not sure what I expected to hear, but got the Supra cable to cover my bases. Well, going from the AmazonBasics cable to the Supra cable gained about 50-70% of the improvement that turning off Wi-Fi made. From what I’ve read, the reason is lower noise due to better shielding from RF interference and other electro-magnetic interference.

These were the improvements that I heard from these changes:

• More presence to voices and instruments which sound more forward and distinct in presentation
• Richer tonality
• Less grain to the sound
• Better resolution due to a lower noise floor (This is audible when comparing a cleaner signal to one that is less clean)
• Easier to follow bass lines
• Pace seems faster due to more clarity and better definition to the leading edge of notes.

I’ve since tried out a number of DACs and have ended up with a Denafrips Pontus II DAC, but the initial inexpensive changes I suggested above (with a total cost of about $100) were very worthwhile even before laying out significant money for more expensive DACs.