new to streaming- help!


Hi all-

I'm a long time audiophile but have always gone the cd/vinyl route.  I am trying streaming but having trouble setting up a Bluesound Node X.  Something about my wifi it doesn't like...I am enjoying Tidal on my Macbook, however.  Which brings me to a question.  Would I get better sound quality anyway if I just connected my laptop to an external dac?  Should I scrap the Blue Sound?  And if go that route, does it matter if I have my laptop connected to ethernet, or will sound quality be the same on either ethernet or wifi?  (Asssuming a cable from MAC to DAC...).

Alternatively, would it make sense to run Tidal from Ipad to DAC? Or does one need  a streamer like Blue sound to do that?

I'm sure this will get sorted out, but feeling slightly overwhelmed at the moment.

Thanks!

Margot

mcanaday

An external day of Quality is key , for 1 get rid of the wallwart power supplies to the router ,most are modem- router combos ,war wart power supplies Horribke noise makers buy a linear power supply, then a Ethernet  bridge LHY-SW8  sell very good LPS also loook on the wall wart most are 12 v and you need 4 amps or more in your LPS.

and SW8 Ethernet switch which gives alot for the money and your Ethernet cables 

pin a budget $200 each the Wireworld starlight ,usb cable too same brand  these are essential items , the $1k Denafrips Aries 12-1 dac excellent value 

and always use respectable power cords it does make a difference , Pangea awg14, Sig MK-2. Use Cardas best #1 Copper and all gold plated Copper connectors  

I've had issues with a non-BlueSound product running updated 64 bit programming where my streamer version, iPhone and iPad are all operating on 32 bit devices. Hence, "i" devices are not recognizing the streamer. No one has brought that up, but it might be worth vetting if your iPhone or iPad are older.

Keep at it, the bluesound NODE is an excellent piece of equipment and the bluos app is as reliable as it gets. When I started with bluesound streaming I had plenty of difficulties to wrap my head around but with patience I got rewarded.

I agree with above post to dump Tidal and get Qobuz. Also, if possible just avoid Wi-Fi completely and go hardwired, and in addition to working better it’ll sound better as well. If it’s inconvenient to run a cable from the router to your Node you can get a Wi-Fi extender from TP Link, etc. (buy local or from Amazon so you can return it you still have issues) and run an Ethernet cable from that to your Node. That’s what I’d do if you can’t or prefer not to run direct from the router. Hope this helps somewhat.

@styleman I’d also highly recommend you get a dedicated streamer and buy either a Wi-Fi extender or a Mesh system so you can easily run an Ethernet cable from that to the streamer. Both work very well and provide much better performance than going over Wi-Fi with no cable. Some prefer Mesh as they think it sounds better and may work better if your system is a good distance from your router with the downside being it’s a little more expensive, but not all that much by audio standards. Again, hope this helps, and best of luck.