Bluesound Node 2i question

Phil_G

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I recently changed my phone and discovered that the Control App for my Pioneer N50 streamer is no longer available for Android. This renders the the unit almost useless, as lying on the floor and pressing the button 500 times to get to Zak Brown soon loses its appeal. I have been looking to replace the device, and research seems to suggest that the Bluesound Node 2i fits my needs and budget. On reading the AVForums review, the summary says that one negative is that the streamer is "Not a true UPnP product". As all my CDs are ripped and stored on a Netgear NAS, I want to make sure that I can access the library using DLNA. Does anyone know what is behind that comment and whether it is significant?
 
Yes the Node can access your NAS. UPNP in this context normally refers to a server (AKA DLNA) however the Node just uses standard network storage protocols and accesses the files itself.

I can't really find much info on the N50 but is it worth giving the Bubble UPNP Android app a go, if the N50 used DLNA/uPNP you may find it will be shown as a renderer to be controlled by other devices and doesn't necessarily need the pioneer app.
 
I can't really find much info on the N50 but is it worth giving the Bubble UPNP Android app a go, if the N50 used DLNA/uPNP you may find it will be shown as a renderer to be controlled by other devices and doesn't necessarily need the pioneer app.
I can confirm that Bubble UPNP works well with the Pioneer N50 with the exception of gapless playback. Unfortunately, the latter isn't supported by anything other than the Pioneer control app itself.
 
Hapless is one of those things that matters to me but in practice is applicable to a very small proportion of music I play.

If gppless is that important it would be entirely possible to use Logitech Media Server and the DLNA bridge plugin with the flow option enabled, this transcodes the files for an album to a single stream so gapless will work.

BubbleUPNP is brilliant though if you can do without gapless playback.
 
I can confirm that the UPnP/DLNA Bridge LMS plugin's Flow option setting got my old Pioneer N-50 to appear to play gaplessly. The only issue is that UPnP streaming doesn't support multiple track metadata to be sent along with a single stream, meaning the N-50 will have no means of displaying the current track being played and its album art.
 
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Does anyone know what is behind that comment and whether it is significant?
Bluesound's proprietary private streaming mechanism is entirely alien to industry standard UPnP/DLNA, so completely unable to access UPnP/DLNA media servers, Bluesound's streamers not appearing as controllable devices on UPnP/DLNA controller apps, etc.

Bluesound's streamers not being '"true UPnP products" is a gross understatement - they most certainly are not UPnP products!
 
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Bluesound's streamers not being '"true UPnP products" is a gross understatement - they most certainly are not UPnP products!
But just to reiterate to the OP in no way does this impact the ability of Bluesound products to access the existing files on his Netgear NAS via their proprietary OS :smashin:
 
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I can confirm that Bubble UPNP works well with the Pioneer N50 with the exception of gapless playback. Unfortunately, the latter isn't supported by anything other than the Pioneer control app itself.
Sorry, you are correct, I have used Bubble for accessing my ripped CDs in the past and will try that again. Losing the Pioneer Control App means that I cannot control the N50 for Internet radio though and the very basic information on the display makes it fairly useless for this.
 
But just to reiterate to the OP in no way does this impact the ability of Bluesound products to access the existing files on his Netgear NAS via their proprietary OS :smashin:
Thanks for this, I am interested in a device that gives me Internet radio and other streaming services but one that I can also use to play the FLAC files stored on my NAS. I have never really understood DLNA but recognise that it is a standard in music circles. As long as the Node can create a library of music stored on my NAS that I can access using a decent Desktop or smartphone app then that is what I want. Will the fact that it is not UPnP cause me any problems?
 
I use my Blusound everyday. I find the OS clunky. Commonly have go through a series of reboots and shut downs after updates and there is a lot of updates. After playing an album it reverts to the last playlists which means you seem to listen to the same songs over and over.
 
@Phil_G the Node 2i should be ideal for your needs and you'll be impressed with the wealth of streaming options compared with your Pioneer. Sound quality is similar to the Pioneer but perhaps a little warmer. Unlike @Big B I find the app to be pretty smooth and trouble free.

You shouldn't have any issues with the fact that BluOS doesn't use UPnP provided that your Netgear NAS supports SMB 2.0 or later.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm fairly sure that the Netgear NAS supports SMB but I will check.
 
@Phil_G , I don't understand this UPnP terminology either but as someone who has their music stored on a NAS I just enter \\DISKSTATION\Music in the network path, enter the password and all my music becomes available. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks Ray, and all those that have responded. After hours of research, I have finally got into the advanced settings of the music share on my Netgear NAS and it tells me that it is running SMB3. I should be good to go. :lesson:
 
@Phil_G the Node 2i should be ideal for your needs and you'll be impressed with the wealth of streaming options compared with your Pioneer. Sound quality is similar to the Pioneer but perhaps a little warmer. Unlike @Big B I find the app to be pretty smooth and trouble free.

You shouldn't have any issues with the fact that BluOS doesn't use UPnP provided that your Netgear NAS supports SMB 2.0 or later.
As I said I use mine everyday. I find the os a PIT but I do agree decent sound quality and there are quite a number of streaming opportunities that I should use. Eventually I will get tired of my large library.
 

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