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Specific Node/Airplay question

I know very little about digital and don’t have much interest in it; I bought a Bluesound Node 2i a few years ago to try Tidal but canceled the subscription shortly afterwards. The Node sat unused for years. The other day I learned I can stream Apple Music over the Node; SQ wasn’t great, but it’s coming from my phone, so I wasn’t expecting much. Here’s my question… if I only use my Node to stream Apple Music from my phone, does having an external DAC make a difference? Or, is the music so compressed, that it won’t matter? I’m asking because I’m shopping for a new preamp and considering a McIntosh c2300. But there are C2500s (built-in DAC) for the same price and the c2600 (better DAC) for a little more. The C2700 is too expensive and I don’t plan to ever “up” my digital game; I’m a vinyl guy and this digital stuff would likely be for my wife.

ron325
ron325 OP
50 posts
 

What I don’t understand is… I assume using Apple Music via Airplay that there is a certain amount of compression happening with the files, right? (We aren’t talking about lossless files.) Like when a new tv mode is released (like 4k), but I don’t subscribe to anything broadcast higher than 1080… having  a 4k tv is no different than a 1080 tv… is that a fair analogy? If so, at what point is a DAC chip upgrade not making any difference in my lo-fi example?

dinosore
100 posts
 

Be aware that when you use AirPlay2 on an iPhone or iPad, the Apple Music app will down-sample the stream to a very lossy 256kbps (versus 1,411 kbps for 16/44.1 CD quality). This is a function of the Apple Music app and has nothing to do with the Node. According to Bluesound tech, if you stream from a MacBook Pro, you can get 16/44.1, but not from an iPhone or iPad.

I didn't know this when I first tried Apple Music via AirPlay2, and I couldn't understand why it sounded so bad on my system. I normally stream Tidal, Qobuz and FLAC files from a NAS drive and the difference is very noticeable. You can find discussions on this on the Bluesound support pages, What HiFi, and John Darko's web site.

parker65310
209 posts
 

No, Tidal has lossless cd across the board, MQA (which is comparable, but limited to the better recordings and basically dead since the company went out of business) and they recently added FLAC files which I find overall to be better than Redbook CD and MQA. Using the internal DAC of the iPhone is never going to sound good. You’ll only want to use it as basically your remote control. That said, the Node has an ok internal DAC; however it sounds great in my setup with an MHDT DAC (with tube output stage) and an external Teddy Pardo LPS (linear power supply) for the Node’s streamer. It’s a big step up from the cheap and noisy internal switching power supply the Node comes with to hit a price point.

 

chocaholic
188 posts
 

Don’t connect your phone to the node via Bluetooth. A common mistake and major SQ reduction. 

ron325 OP
50 posts
 

(I don't know how to reply directly to a comment, but THIS is what I was talking about)... From dinosore:

Be aware that when you use AirPlay2 on an iPhone or iPad, the Apple Music app will down-sample the stream to a very lossy 256kbps (versus 1,411 kbps for 16/44.1 CD quality). 

 

I suppose I wasn't clear... this would be typically my wife playing music from her phone, or me playing music (from my phone) when we are doing chores (not necessarily in the room with the stereo). Actually, we live in NYC and don't have a "listening room" like many of the folks around here (I can't imagine what that would be like).

So, it seems that the DAC (either Bluesound or external) isn't going to make much of a difference since the Apple Music app will be killing the SQ anyway.

Thanks for the responses!

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