Location: Suffolk
Posts: 246
I'm Ray.
Last edited by StingRay; 03-07-2020 at 16:41.
I'm curious and potentially in the market if the upgrade costs under £200 and has clearly evident sonic improvement, but not if the outlay is more than the Node itself.
I'm interested to know your evaluation Ray, if you go ahead.
Johnny Dodgem.
Cartridges vintage MMs including Pickering xsv-4000/xsv-3000 : Stanton 881s/D81 : AT140LC/VMN40ML
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Streaming Qobuz : BluOS & Node2 (Fidelity Audio modified) : RME ADI-2 DAC
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Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 11
I'm Howard.
Yes, looking again I see the Fidelity Audio one in thge region of £400, I saw the cheaper prices on the thread and mistakenly applied them more generally.
I also saw the comments from the Polish manufacturer but I thought his product was a power supply. Can anyone explain in words of 2 syllables what is an 'interface'? I thought it was the app? Does the interface 'upgrade' relate to the app? I presume then the eager-to-upgrade punter has a choice of whether to change the interface alone or the power supply?
Location: Chelmsford, Essex
Posts: 433
I'm Gareth.
The ‘interface’ is the Node’s internal power supply (nothing to do with the app) and requires an external 5v 2a DC supply. So either a SMPS or LPSU.
Location: Chelmsford, Essex
Posts: 433
I'm Gareth.
Replaces the part highlighted in red
Has anyone heard any differences when comparing the Node 2 using WI-FI versus a wired Ethernet connection?
Thanks,
Johnny.
In my experience the Node sounds great without the ethernet cable. The sound is cleaner though perhaps not as layered as a wired connection. I prefer it set up wifi at the moment.
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Location: Suffolk
Posts: 246
I'm Ray.
It depends on your WiFi, bluesound recommend splitting your modem if you can, it certainly improved my WiFi speed on my iPad but I don’t think my WiFi is consistent enough for streaming, so use wired. Even with faster speed my iPad struggles on some sites. Others have had problems with WiFi using the Node. I have a BT homehub 6. The only WiFi streaming I have used is Bluetooth but I would not recommend that.
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 246
I'm Ray.
For anyone who is interested the test on the WAM has been done now. The Sbooster came out very well, so did a cheap chinese LPS, the iFi did not do so well.
The Polish interface is about £85 on ebay, the chinese LPS is about £50 inc. postage, so you are looking at around £135 for this upgrade. The Sbooster are around £300. Other option is Allo Shanti which is about £155.
I'm still undecided which one to buy.
Location: West Lothian
Posts: 88
I'm Adam.
I have had a Node 2 now for almost 3 years and I have been very happy with it, but I do like tweaking things and trying to extract more sound out of my system.
When I first read the thread on the Wam about pimping the Node 2i, I thought that it just applied to the 2i model and not the 2, but I was wrong.
Back at the beginning of July I pulled the trigger on an Allo Shanti and the Polish interface. I think that I paid £270 together with p&p.
Both items arrived quickly and I was keen to upgrade my Node 2 and hear what effect it had on it.
I am not an electrician, but I found the instructions easy to follow and I remember seeing my Dad change a board on my Schiit Bifrsot before, so I followed a similar process to him.
I found the most difficult thing was removing the multi-pin connector of the power board from the main board. It was very tight and a pair of long nosed pliers came in very handy.
I turned everything on and left it for 30 minutes while I had some food and to let my system and new power supply warm up.
When I came back I listened to my hifi for an hour or so and I was fairly pleased with what I was hearing, but the change wasn't that great.
The second listening session was similar, but there was more of an improvement all the way through from the bass to the treble.
Further listening sessions, and more time for the new components to burn in, have been very positive.
I have found some "tweaks" in the past not to improve everything in equal measures, but this one certainly does.
The bass is now more controlled and I can hear the rythym in some bass lines on songs much easier because it is more defined.
The mids and trebles are also better defined.
There is much better separation between the instruments when listening to music.
Overall I am very happy with my purchase because I like the Bluos App and system and this has given me more of everything,