Bluesound Node 2i

[Bourneendboy]

Before I borrow one for a home demo, has anyone put the Bluesound up against a Raspberry Pi/Dac hat?

Interested in sq differences only really.

[Bourneendboy]

Popped down to my local Sevenoaks and borrowed a Node 2i this afternoon. There is a good deal on at the momemnt with £70 off if you trade in another electrical item. I offered a broken pair of headphones that came with an old phone from a few years back and these will be accepteable if I had decided to go ahead.

Anyway, I wont be buying it as it was very obvious to my ears straight away that it wasn't to my taste, I much prefer the sound of my existing R-Pi/Allo Boss set up. It has what I would describe as 'bloated bass' in my system, although otherwise quite similar to the Boss. However, it is nice to be able to use Tidal from the app, rather than as I currently do through Volumio.

[webby60]

Out of interest did you listen through the Bluesound dac or an external one?

[Bourneendboy]

It was the internal Dac.

[Cycleallday]

i have the original version of the node and a selection of pi hats including allo and much prefer the whole bluesound experience over the pi.

Mel

[Bourneendboy]

How do you find the sq comparison?

[Cycleallday]

I am a great fan of the Pi and what it does and probably have around 6 or 7 dac hats so its a unit I like and use a lot.

However the Bluesound is a significant step up in both the sound and usability aspect. Mine is played through a WAD EL84 valve amp and WD 25T speakers and the bass and indeed all other frequencies are clear and sharp and the unit very musical.

I still find the PI streaming software (Volumio and Moode) a bit buggy and unfriendly but at the price i have no complaints. Mine are mainly used out on the patio powered from a battery through Bose speakers. I also have a unit connected to each of my hifi systems and they do get very close in sq to my permanent streamers - again to me its mainly the user interface i do not like. My favored hat is the Audiophonics ES Sabre but i have a pi zero with a Boss which is very nice also.

Mel

[Bourneendboy]

I gave it another go yesterday before returning this afternoon, to my ears it's not as good as my current set up. A good product though!

[Cycleallday]

Is there any reason you looked at the node when you have a nice streamer in the pi ?

I have owned mine since they first were launched and it was my first experience of streaming; there was little else around apart from sonus at that time.

I have used pi's since they came out for various computing purposes so started using dacs with them as soon as reasonable software became available. Had I had a working pi streamer I would probably never have even looked at the node. That said i still like it and it fits well with my valve system. I have no issues with its dac and would certainly never consider adding another (dac) box to my system. In my view if the dac is not liked then go look at another item as there is no shortage of choice now.

I would say streamed music, including my own large library accounts for around 70% of my listening but I still have a good vinyl collection which is still being added to.

My 2 main systems are now based on Naim streamer/amps as I like the one box approach and the Naim amp character though its software could be much better.

Mel

[Bourneendboy]

I have had my eye on one for ages and just thought I'd give one a try to see how it compared to the R-Pi, no other reason (other thanthe £70 off deal at the moment).