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Not streaming yet and considering Bluesound Node 2i? What you need to know.

Two months ago question marks were orbiting my aching head. Now I have the 2i and an MHDT Orchid DAC. My real interest was getting decent radio over WiFi because my ethernet is on the wrong floor. The 2i one box budget solution was appealing. I got the 2i. Happy Days! I found the 2i playing Tunein radio over 5G WiFi decent. At least it beat my Sangean WFT-1 up pretty good. Adding the Orchid was stunning. How could free radio sound so good? Defined lows, vivid mids, nothing special up top but so coherent, musical and it swings - I could listen all day. Hey now, Music Streaming Services. How good could that be? Qobuz trial time. Hmm. The BluOS app acts as a remote control for the 2i telling it to stream and decode Tunein radio or Spotify directly from WiFi or Ethernet. Here’s the problem. The Node 2i can’t direct stream any music services except Spotify. You can only Bluetooth cast Qobuz (and others) to the Node from the BluOS app even if the Node is hardwired to ethernet and, believe me, the quality suffers. You can USB or Toslink to the 2i but then you don’t need the 2i at all if you’ve got a DAC. This is just an fyi, food for thought for the potential buyer. I’m quite pleased with Tunein Radio and the BluOS app is fun. Would do it again.
wlutke

Showing 3 responses by big_greg

big_greg
6,561 posts
 
@wlutke BlueSound has a pretty decent user forum, you might try poking around there to see if you can find more information about how to set up your specific devices. 

As mofi said, if you're using the Qobuz app as opposed to connecting to Qobuz through the BluOS interface, you're probably connecting by Bluetooth.  I don't think there's a way to connect using internet directly from the Qobuz app, however if you connect to Qobuz (or anything else) through the BluOS interface, it should be via the internet.

The Spotify app (outside of BluOS) will let you connect to devices on your network, but the Qobuz and Tidal apps won't to the best of my knowledge.
big_greg
6,561 posts
 
I don't think you understand how the Node 2i works. 

While it can connect over bluetooth, if you have it connected to your network via wifi or an ethernet connection and are using the BluOS interface, you're streaming over the internet, not Bluetooth.
big_greg
6,561 posts
 
I'm surprised to hear you describe the sound as "tipped up", especially if you're using the Orchid as the DAC instead of the Node 2i's built in DAC.  It still sounds like something is amiss.
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