Like others, I had a great deal of difficulty with connectivity of a Bluesound Node 2. I think (hope, pray) that I’ve permanently solved that by putting an access point (google Wifi mesh) and connecting the Node via Ethernet. It’s been stable since I made that change. I have two Node 2’s in separate homes connected this way now. For the price, Node 2/2i is a great device.
I also have an Aurender N100 in another system. To satisfy my curiousity, I compared the Node 2 to my Aurender N100 going into the same DAC playing the same file and while streaming via Tidal. On another post, I talk about how I did this and the cables used (turns out they’re pretty important).
Conclusions:
1) The DAC in the Node 2 is decent for the price, but is easily and significantly bested by my outboard DAC - which is no surprise given the significant cost differential.
2) the Node 2 is a great device as a streamer but is significantly bettered by the Aurender in every regard too.
3) Aurender’s conductor app is significantly better than Bluesound app in every regard.
4) Aurender conductor app is severely limited in that it only runs on an iPad. This is a major frustration. We have adult kids who don’t travel with iPads - so they can’t control an Aurender server - hence my use of the Bluesound Node 2 in two of these systems.
My $.03 (inflation)
mgrif
