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Bluesound Node 2

I'm a complete newbie in the digital space, not counting CD players of course. I'm also on a path to upgrade my system from other various angles, mostly preamp and speakers. All that said, I'm currently using a Bluesound Node 2 with a hifi Tidal subscription. No computer files or hardwired USB connections. My first question is where does Bluesound fit in the digital wireless streaming quality hierarchy. And a related question is what would be a good upgrade path, again assuming only wireless streaming as the source. I see a lot of high end DACs out there, some several thousand dollars and wonder if those are only used for connection to a laptop and running computer hirez files, etc. Not a whole lot about wireless streaming. All in all, some guidance in the digital wireless streaming space would be appreciated. Thanks.
kalali
mahler123
633 posts
 
I use Bluesound.  I started with the Vault 2, subsequently added a Node 2 for a system in another room, then a Pulse Mini for my kitchen .
  Do you have more than 1 system?  The Node was intended to be part of a whole home unit, similar to Sonos but better quality.  If you do I would but the Vault and rip your CDs with that.  It is possible but not easy to integrate the Blu Sound with another Source of files, such as a PC.  Since you haven't started saving music to another system I think you will find it easier to keep it all under 1 roof
. If you only have 1 system, and you want to rip your CDs, I would suggest buy the Vault anyway and sell the Node.  You will take a slight beating on this but since you already like what the Blusound sounds like with Tidal this is still an easier and potentially less expensive than going the PC route--and certainly less frustrating .
kalali's avatar
kalali OP
1,645 posts
 
Thanks. I actually don't have much of a need to store my existing CDs in a separate storage device mainly because I can listen to almost all of those CDs using Tidal. At this time, I'm primarily looking to upgrade to another device that can play the Tidal-sourced content with higher quality audio. Of course it also needs to provide a simple user interface - similar to the Bluesound app, to access Tidal selections, etc.  Unless I'm missing the details, the majority of the high end outboard DACs or even the high end preamps with a built-in DAC only seem to support hardwire/USB connectivity for content retrieval.
mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,152 posts
 
@mahler123, @kalali...sorry to hijack this thread, but I have a quick question.

On the Bluesound Node 2 using Tidal, does the Artists folder, list your saved (favorite) Artists in alphabetical order?
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