BLUESOUND NODE 2i ONE YEAR REVIEW – STILL GOOD IN 2020?

Since it's introduction, the Bluesound Node has helped numerous HiFi enthusiasts to upgrade their existing system, in just a few simple steps, with streaming and wireless music playback. But, is it still good in 2020?

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[anderssvensson]

Mine is still going strong in 2024. Excellent bit of kit.

[Marzen]

I admit I am occasionally a rabid track skipper, especially when searching out new music. Never once has the Node locked up on me. I have really enjoyed dipping my toe into the streaming space thanks to Blusound. Convenience and solid engineering win again.

[petervanderham]

I love my Node2i. Use it almost exclusively with Tidal Masters and I really like it for that! Coming from a Chromecast, this was a really nice step-up.
Great review!

[petebredehoeft]

I find the built-in DAD great, especially the MQA files. I have not tried yet an external DAC, since I prefer the built-in DAC.I love the Bluesound Node 2i.

[bluejeanblues]

I purchased it yesterday as a streamer it’s awesome. I agree with you that the Dav lacks in sound quality noticed it as soon as I played the first track. But combined with my externalTeac dac the sound is very good. The node 2i as a streamer is very good as is the BluOS app.

[andreaswoehler]

Great Gadget. I run it with Sennheiser HDVD 800 Headphones Amp and XLR balanced active speakers ELAC Navis ARF51. Hi-Res via Qobuz Studio Account sounds awesome to me. Either with the internal DAC or the one in the Sennheiser HDVD 800.
I love it. Mine is black.
Thinking about buying the remote...

[gj]

I am so impressed with my Node 2i that I started ripping my CDs onto a USB drive and listen to them on the 2i. I do find the DAC in the 2i a little weak when compare to the rest of my setup that consists of Mac amp and pre, Cary 200tsDAC, Sonus Faber Sonetto 3 and Nordost Red Dawn power, interconnect and speaker cables. My biggest gripe was that $2 power cord that came with the 2l. And it doesn’t even come with proper HiFi receptor that allows me to use a half decent power cord. So I cut off the connector that goes to the 2l and soldered it to a Nordost Red Dawn. Wow. What an improvement, especially with music ripped from CDs. Bigger sound stage, more details, articulate bass. Mind you, the Red Dawn casts as much as the 2l. Lol. But we’ll worth the money. Suggestion to BLUESOUND...sell an adapter that allow people to use a proper HiFi power cord.

[dpfreedman]

Excellent, concise, fair assessment of the Node 2i. I own three of them (each connected to an external DAC) and an NAD C658 preamp with BluOS. Needless to say, I'm a fan. It's the only platform I know of that natively supports both Qobuz and Idagio, the two classical music streaming services I subscribe to. BluOS was also able to index my 500+ gb NAS-resident FLAC music library and make it available from any system in the house.

[richardshepherd]

Hi Yuri. I currently use a pc with an audioquest cobalt dragonfly external dac will the bluesound improve this set up? The only downside currently is the noise generated by my pc's fan when it gets hot. Just bought a bluesound node today on ebay so l hope its going to sound better than my present set up! Thanks

[thomasmead]

I agree here that the internal DAC is not the greatest. I run Coaxial out to the DAC of my Marantz CD player. I also replaced power cable with a high-end Audio Quest cable.

[artmaltman]

Thank you for your frank and perceptive review!

And I never realized that I could just plug in a hard drive bypassing all the network issues. Thanks!

[alexjgrant]

Thanks for the review. How would the headphone jack compare with a laptop/dragonfly red playing Tidal Masters? Better/worse/sameish?

[julesstanden]

Great and helpful review thanks you. I have one on order!

My Signal Chain will be: Bluesound Node 2i - Mutec MC3+USB re-clocker - Grace M903 headphone amp / speaker volume - Adam A5X Self powered speakers with Sub.

One question (I am a Mac user) regarding hard drives - can I nominate an attached external one for Amazon Music HD's offline download? what would be a good off the shelf drive to order (that I wont have to format with a PC)

Thank you

[franciscoortiz]

good honest video. I got rid of my bluesound node... now I have Marantz/Denon devices that use HEOS. To me Heos is a more polished complete solution. Built in to good quality equipment and also has a very nice app. Heos supports free, freemium and subscription services.

[dugdugi]

Thanks for a fair and quick review. I just recived mine and i am trying to get and external storage drive. In your review i see one but not sure what brand it is.can you please tell me or recomend any. Thanks

[clemleg]

Nice one, thanks. I do have the Node 2 and I love the convenience.

[jarmartin]

What would be the benefits in comparison with the integrated streamer that my Marantz A/V amplifer has? Thanks!

[pvl]

Nice review, thank you. I have been thinking about going this route, but I would like to know which external DAC you have used, and also - I couldn't quite catch what products you suggested may sound better than the node 2i?

[simianinc]

Thanks for your review. I was worried about the DAC. I do have some external DACs, but none which support MQA. Still searching for a streamer that supports Tidal...

[carlitomelon]

I have the Vault2.
7000 songs ripped and subscription to Qobuz.
The lack of upnp is a pain.
I use it a a "NAS" to my old Mu-Fi M1CliC in a second system, but have to use a laptop in between:-/
Shuffle play of a genre is a pain too!