Bluesound Node 2i Network Audio Player Review & Comments

Is this for local audio files I presume? How have you ripped them and what software did you use?

I use dBpoweramp and rip to FLAC, it adds album artwork as Folder.JPG in with audio files and it also embeds a copy into the FLAC file too. - I've never had an issue, used it on PC and now Mac.

They also make a bit of software called PerfectTunes that has an album artwork part to it, you would point at the NAS and see if the files are missing the artwork etc. Believe you would need to pay for it to save the artwork, but if you've lots of albums and tracks it would likely be worth it as it has an auto 1 click fix up or something like that. - Worth looking into even if you use it unregistered to just identify those albums with issues and fix up manually if it's not too many.

For what (little?) it's worth, I believe that only .jpg images of less than 500kb can be displayed.
 
For what (little?) it's worth, I believe that only .jpg images of less than 500kb can be displayed.
Yep just checked mine and biggest is 475KB, turns out 600KB but there are some rules and options that allow for bigger than that if needed:
 
Is this for local audio files I presume? How have you ripped them and what software did you use?

I use dBpoweramp and rip to FLAC, it adds album artwork as Folder.JPG in with audio files and it also embeds a copy into the FLAC file too. - I've never had an issue, used it on PC and now Mac.

They also make a bit of software called PerfectTunes that has an album artwork part to it, you would point at the NAS and see if the files are missing the artwork etc. Believe you would need to pay for it to save the artwork, but if you've lots of albums and tracks it would likely be worth it as it has an auto 1 click fix up or something like that. - Worth looking into even if you use it unregistered to just identify those albums with issues and fix up manually if it's not too many.

Hi Thanks for replying again.
Yes it is for local files held on the Mac, there are quite a lot of ripped CD's @1200. I ripped them using the iTunes ripper, files set to Apple Lossless. I don't believe there is an embedded artwork file with these(?).
I have recently been buying HD tracks as FLAC files which do have a Jpeg artwork file. Some have appeared in the app, most haven't which is really odd.

Andy
 
I'm not sure about iTunes and ALAC, I believe it can have embedded artwork but generally a folder.jpg makes life easier (and in the case of Bluesound takes precedence over embedded art).
Tbh even being a full Mac user on desktop and mobile I still use FLAC and Foobar2000 as it's just so much better and easier!

It's probably a library/file issue, and if it all displays ok in other software then it's probably a case of file size being too large. Enable Optimize Artwork setting in the Bluesound App, that will likely take care of it.
Tbh I'd try that PerfectTunes tool, I've downloaded it and looks very good an easy. Can embed artwork, create a folder.jpg, re-scale and size existing artwork to say a 500KB limit etc. And if you point it at the root folder of your collection it's very easy to quickly update it all.
 
Haven’t had much chance to play with my Node but was pleasantly surprised tonight. I sent some ordinary hifi quality tracks from the Tidal app via airplay to the Node and also directly to my Yamaha 3080 receiver. The difference was very obvious. The Node presentation was fuller with much more active bass and the instruments more obvious in their own right. The direct presentation seemed weaker and I wasn’t expecting such as an obvious difference. Very pleased and now a believer after having had streamers in the same ball park price range from Pioneer and Yamaha that made no difference at all. Onto MQA...

How did you find the MQA tracks, when you say the node was fuller, was it a noticeable improvement? Not many people seem to use them with an AVR. This is my plan to try and improve on 2 channel music without buying a dedicated stereo amp.
But £500 seems a lot, decent stereo amps are 1k now. But I want to keep the AVR with the power-amp.
 
How did you find the MQA tracks, when you say the node was fuller, was it a noticeable improvement? Not many people seem to use them with an AVR. This is my plan to try and improve on 2 channel music without buying a dedicated stereo amp.
But £500 seems a lot, decent stereo amps are 1k now. But I want to keep the AVR with the power-amp.
With one thing and another haven’t really had the chance to try MQA. Will report when I do later this month probably, after changing my AVR.
 
With one thing and another haven’t really had the chance to try MQA. Will report when I do later this month probably, after changing my AVR.

Ok mate fair enough. Just I can pick up a Marantz 6014 for almost the same price as the Bluesound Node2i, so curious if its sounds better than direct to the avr.
 
Just for info 3.8.17 BluOS is now available. You can check the progress of the update by clicking the Home icon top-right. Went through in less than a minute. Don't know what's changed.
 
Just for info 3.8.17 BluOS is now available. You can check the progress of the update by clicking the Home icon top-right. Went through in less than a minute. Don't know what's changed.
Nothing's changed apart from new access to Xiami Music (Chinese streaming provider)
 
Ok mate fair enough. Just I can pick up a Marantz 6014 for almost the same price as the Bluesound Node2i, so curious if its sounds better than direct to the avr.
More playing and I’ve come to my own conclusion that MQA in Tidal is no revelation. When I use the Node to my Yamaha AVR it sounds brilliant regardless of source. But then I AirPlay CD quality to my Denon receiver and that routinely sounds great too. I don’t regret the 500 spent but I now don’t think the quality goes up leaps and bounds for the money.
 
More playing and I’ve come to my own conclusion that MQA in Tidal is no revelation. When I use the Node to my Yamaha AVR it sounds brilliant regardless of source. But then I AirPlay CD quality to my Denon receiver and that routinely sounds great too. I don’t regret the 500 spent but I now don’t think the quality goes up leaps and bounds for the money.

Yeah, I'm gonna change my denon for a Marantz first. Then at least I can stream tidal or something other than Spotify. If still slightly disappointed I'll try a Bluesound with a Marantz
 
Yeah, I'm gonna change my denon for a Marantz first. Then at least I can stream tidal or something other than Spotify. If still slightly disappointed I'll try a Bluesound with a Marantz
I don't think you'll be disappointed with sound of the marantz.
 
Software update today, took just a few minutes. Now seeing MQA in the option list, clicking on it takes you to a link for Jazz re-fest 2020 which will be a live stream on Sunday 23rd at 1700 BST with MQA & Bluesound.
 
Within the Bluesound app I have to keep the volume down to 1/5th to 1/4th otherwise the sound is badly distorted from both Amazon and Tidal. Thereafter I can use the receiver to raise or lower the volume. Anyone else have similar? I'm connected via standard RCA to the receiver.

I recently ended my Tidal membership and they made me complete a survey before finalising the cancellation. Bit naughty that.
 
Hmm, something doesn't sound right. In most cases the node 2 analogue outputs should provide an undistorted 2v line level signal with the output either 'fixed' or 'variable' set at maximum. On the Bluesound community site a few users have reported similar distortion effects but, as far as I'm aware, there is no resolution other than setting the output to variable and reducing the gain.
Is the problem limited to just Tidal and Amazon streams or is also present on TuneIn and Paradise Radio? You could try performing a full factory reset to see if that has any effect - otherwise it might just be due a quality defect in the Node 2.
 
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Thanks, Ive never been on the community before but can see I’m not the only one. I’ve mailed support.
 
Hey guys, i have a few questions in the hifi speakers department too, but no response yet. It is of course different questions then the ones I have now. Ps, if anyone read my questions in the hifi speakers department feel free to participate. My question now is as following does the Node2i support chrome book laptops? From my understanding it’s only windows or Apple. Anyway I was hoping to rip my cds with a Chromebook laptop, then transfer them to a Samsung SDD, or HDD and my Node2i streamer. Connection method would be as following either to my router or my Node2i. Would this method work to transfer my files too my network? Thanks!😊 Bump, does anyone now if you can rip your cds with a Chromebook laptop pc or not? And if my Node2i can play these cds from Bluesound own library.
 
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New software 3.10.0

  • More robust WiFi drivers.
  • Support for TIDAL My Mix playlists.
  • Updated audio libraries, including FLAC, Ogg and MQA.
  • Better error handling for audio dropouts.
  • Support for exFAT USB storage
  • BluOS Controller now supports collapsible groups in the player drawer.
  • BluOS Controller Desktop apps can setup new players.
Enjoy
 
New software 3.10.0

  • More robust WiFi drivers.
  • Support for TIDAL My Mix playlists.
  • Updated audio libraries, including FLAC, Ogg and MQA.
  • Better error handling for audio dropouts.
  • Support for exFAT USB storage
  • BluOS Controller now supports collapsible groups in the player drawer.
  • BluOS Controller Desktop apps can setup new players.
Enjoy
Can you rip your cds with a chrome book laptop then transfer them to your Node2i library using a HDD, SDD hard drive?
 
Anyone having sound problems after latest update. The sound suddenly disappears. It only works using Bluetooth via Appel tv. But it’s all okey now. Just wondering if other had same issues.
 
Hope some nice people can help me with the questions above.Happy weekend.
 
Can you rip your cds with a chrome book laptop then transfer them to your Node2i library using a HDD, SDD hard drive?

don’t know about chrome books directly, don’t they run some sort of android based OS? But if you can get ripping software for it then sure, rip to FLAC, transfer to a usb storage device and then plug it into the node 2i. There’s a few caveats doing local usb storage compared to serving files from a network share, but if you just have a single node then it’s nothing major just be aware the index is rebuilt each time if you have to power it off - which can take a while if you’ve a big library.

As for the drop outs, haven’t upgraded to the very latest, I’m on the one before and actually experienced 2 drop outs- something it’s never done in maybe 18months ish. Given the release notes I’d hope this latest version fixes its otherwise perfect reliability.
 
Thanks TB Rich. Yes, unfortunately it’s google’s own software. I don’t plan on ripping a lot of cds, but I don’t want to rebuild the index all time if I turn it off. Probably about 200 cds in Flac. It probably need to rebuild index then. A Samsung SDD 500GB, or Seagate HDD well do nicely.
 
Anyone having sound problems after latest update. The sound suddenly disappears. It only works using Bluetooth via Appel tv. But it’s all okey now. Just wondering if other had same issues.
Radio Paradise preset behaving oddly - playing sequentially fine but clicking next volume drops dramatically and needs to be reset -very strange!
 
Yes, I too have had some minor issues which still is annoying. Reminds a lot of an old CD player. The Bluesound forum perhaps know something we don’t. But anyway I don’t like being a member on Blusound forum. Much better here on AV forums.
 

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