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Blue Sound Node ( v3)

kjb

Proof reading not always a strength
I borrowed one of the new Blue Sound Nodes from my local Audio T last week and was so impressed I bought it. Normal replay was not that dissimilar to my Sonos Connect but HR was a step up ( although not yet available for a lot of music.)

I've been doing a lot of a/b comparisons as you might imagine, streaming via Qobuz and ethernet.

The HR replay is at least as good as my Rega Saturn via Audio Note DAC. It's got a different sound - a slightly richer, thicker lower and mid with a bit more low end clout. Its not revealed anything I've not been hearing so not an upgrade but it is going t open up a lot of music and hopefully save a few ££ in the long run.

The downsides? Doesn't support Bandcamp which is a pain as the previous Sonos player did. I'm also not particularly enamoured with the app - as far as I've been able to work out it puts everything you play into a playlist which you then have to clear rather than just playing a whole album. It seems designed for single track listening rather than whole album. Record info is poor - / non existent.

Nonetheless I'm impressed so far.

It is Roon ready. Does anyone use it as a Roon front end or is that a bit excessive for a cheap-ish machine? Does it add anything to the experience (apart from cost)??
 
Is it the BluOS app you’re using?
I use it with my NAD BluOS2 card and rate it, granted there’s no real album info but the rest of the app works well for me
 
It does play albums. Select your album and hit Play All on the track list. It does go into a playlist but Sonos did that too. I think a lot of people use them with Roon. I don’t bother though, it’s fine as it is and the DAC is an upgrade on the Heed that I have. One box fewer!
 
Is it the BluOS app you’re using?
I use it with my NAD BluOS2 card and rate it, granted there’s no real album info but the rest of the app works well for me

Yep that's the one - it works well enough but the playlist issue is a bit of a drag - unless I can find a work around. It seems it wont play an album without adding it to a list
 
Yep that's the one - it works well enough but the playlist issue is a bit of a drag - unless I can find a work around. It seems it wont play an album without adding it to a list

It always plays albums for me, not sure what you might be doing wrong, I’ll have a look …..
 
Maybe you’re clicking on the song title as opposed to the Circular Green play arrow button?
This is how it looks/ works on my iPhone
 
It is Roon ready. Does anyone use it as a Roon front end or is that a bit excessive for a cheap-ish machine? Does it add anything to the experience (apart from cost)??

Cheap-ish machine? Haha I use a Chromecast with Roon!

Does the V3 do DSD? The Node I borrowed some time ago did not.
 
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It always plays albums for me, not sure what you might be doing wrong, I’ll have a look …..

It does play albums - but also adds them to the playlist so you have to clear it later - otherwise the album starts to play again when you finish the next one you play. A niggle, nothing more.
 
It does play albums - but also adds them to the playlist so you have to clear it later - otherwise the album plays when you finish the next one you play. A niggle, nothing more.
Aah, I get you now, slight misunderstanding on my part.
It actually adds them to the queue I think, once your queued tracks finish it carries on with the album
 
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I have just replaced a Sonos Port with a new Node and agree with all of the origional post. The album that shows the greatest improvement so far is "Greetings From Asbury Park-Bruce Springsteen" where the CD I have sounds dire but the Amazon Music UHR stream sounds vastly better. High Res may well not sound that much better but perhaps it encourages the use of origional master tapes that are then treated with skill and respect, rather than, as I am sure some CDs were, any old copy just used to get a disc to market.
 
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It does play albums - but also adds them to the playlist so you have to clear it later - otherwise the album starts to play again when you finish the next one you play. A niggle, nothing more.
You can probably turn that auto play feature off.

Play queues are an essential part of streaming software for me. If I'm not in the mood to play an album I just queue up selected tracks and keep adding to the queue as I find stuff I like.
 
My wife bought me the new Node for my birthday. I thought I would need a separate DAC…not so much. It sounds great right out of the box. I’m very impressed!
 
Hmm sounds really interesting especially as the latest version has USB out which is a new feature. I like Bluos because of its Amazon HD/UHD integration; I have the Nodes 2 and 2i both running to DACs within my amps, and a couple of days ago on the 2i used the network cable for the first time even though the wifi is excellent. I was not expecting any real difference but the benefit it was clearly audible - well pleased and surprised!
 
Been heard Powernode model few days ago. I am impressed with the software and everything is operated very easily whithout any glitches. I like it's immediate response on anything, ETH, USB, touch panel, etc.

Soundwise it is relatively ok. I found it to sound powerful for the size, but with small imaging and upper octave is somehow artificial with brightish strings, but this is a problem with many affordable gear today.
 
Been heard Powernode model few days ago. I am impressed with the software and everything is operated very easily whithout any glitches. I like it's immediate response on anything, ETH, USB, touch panel, etc.

Soundwise it is relatively ok. I found it to sound powerful for the size, but with small imaging and upper octave is somehow artificial with brightish strings, but this is a problem with many affordable gear today.

It may depend on what it is played through. I don't get this with the Node through my system - the high level is if anything less bright but also a bit less detailed than my CD playback. In terms of imaging I was streaming the HR 3D Kraftwerk remasters last night and when I shut my eyes I was in a space twice as large as my room.

The thing CD replay offers by comparison is a little more space between instruments and, on the best recordings, more of the resonance of an instrument in a room. The HR stream is a slightly denser and heavier sound and this is even more apparent by comparison with vinyl.
 
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Been heard Powernode model few days ago. I am impressed with the software and everything is operated very easily whithout any glitches. I like it's immediate response on anything, ETH, USB, touch panel, etc.

Soundwise it is relatively ok. I found it to sound powerful for the size, but with small imaging and upper octave is somehow artificial with brightish strings, but this is a problem with many affordable gear today.

I also had a Powernode 2 until recently as a back-up. For its price range it was very good and easily competitive sound quality wise with a Yamaha 602 streamer/amp I also had (and compared concurrently). This was running into £3k+ RRP speakers. However the non-amp Nodes as streamers (especially in to a higher quality DAC and amp) were very, very good VFM indeed. I am tempted to upgrade the 2/2i to a 3.
 


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