Please be gentle with me! šŸ™


I am a vinyl diehard and know very little of the streaming world.

My son has just bought his 1st amp and speakers a Leak 230 integrated and some JBL 4312G speakers and is currently streaming his music using an Android phone via the USB C on his phone into the USB B input on the amp, using the built in DAC on the amp. So the question is would something like a Bluesound Node N130 as a straight streamer be an audible improvement to his phone?

128x128alan60

As others have mentioned, Bluesound makes a good product for one to dip their toe in to streaming. I too had started with a BT transceiver and using my phone or iPad as my source but I quickly learned that was a far from optimal solution.

So I got a BS Node2 and started learning. My first lesson was hard wiring from my wifi/Mesh node and making sure the node was far enough away from my rig to not be impacted by the wifi's RF. Then I stepped up to an external DAC, bypassing the internal DAC of the Node2. Eventually I also upgraded the power supply of the Node2, there are several products out there, as my final incremental change.

I've been very happy from the start with the Bluesound product and the beauty is that it can be improved with incremental, and affordable, changes. Someday I might make the leap to a better streamer as there are many out there, but for now this setup suffices.

Happy listening!Ā 

If you want to learn more about the unit and its capabilities and specs, go to Crutchfields website and do a search.Ā  The product is no longer available but all the specs are there.Ā  There's a good video that does a good job explaining its capabilities.

Some good older used DAC around on usaudiomart and tmr for littleĀ  < $400 for a next phase.

Wadia 121,Benchmark Dac1,TEAC 501, Moon D-DAC

@alan60

while your strategy yields sonic improvements, a very modest (in terms of cost) DAC upgrade would yield ā€œsignificantā€ sonic uptick. There are many choices.

We look at your entire audio chain and the DAC seems to be the weak link.

FYI- in the last ~10yrs+ digital audio has made significant sonic improvements especially in DACs