Milco
Established Member
A couple of days ago I became the proud owner of a Bluesound Node 2i streamer, purchased for £499.00 (plus free CA500 interconnect!) from Richer Sounds in Liverpool. My previous streamer was the humble Google Chromecast and both streamers run / ran through my trusty and redoubtable Arcam A18 amp using Amazon HD.
Now here's the thing... I am slightly underwhelmed by the Bluesound. It's OK. It sounds a little better than the Chromecast. There is slightly more clarity and definition and the bass has touch more meat and punch. But that's about the sum of it. The difference certainly isn't night and day sound-wise.
So my question is this: am I missing something? When I started listening to the Bluesound, I checked into the audio settings and found that anything other than the 'fixed volume' setting and 'non-variable tone' control settings would make the volume level drop off a cliff. I don't understand what the variable volume setting is all about with its minimum and maximum db settings. With everything nailed down on 'fixed' it seems to sound best.
Am I expecting too much? Have I not got the best out of the somewhat arcane and confusing audio settings? Is the difference between a £30 and a £500 streamer really not that great?
Advice, opinions, comments would be really welcome. The Bluesound is OK -- it just doesn't blow me away like I thought it would.
Now here's the thing... I am slightly underwhelmed by the Bluesound. It's OK. It sounds a little better than the Chromecast. There is slightly more clarity and definition and the bass has touch more meat and punch. But that's about the sum of it. The difference certainly isn't night and day sound-wise.
So my question is this: am I missing something? When I started listening to the Bluesound, I checked into the audio settings and found that anything other than the 'fixed volume' setting and 'non-variable tone' control settings would make the volume level drop off a cliff. I don't understand what the variable volume setting is all about with its minimum and maximum db settings. With everything nailed down on 'fixed' it seems to sound best.
Am I expecting too much? Have I not got the best out of the somewhat arcane and confusing audio settings? Is the difference between a £30 and a £500 streamer really not that great?
Advice, opinions, comments would be really welcome. The Bluesound is OK -- it just doesn't blow me away like I thought it would.