Streamers...next step from Bluesound Node?

[TheFlash]

Conversely, I’ve decided not to throw time and money at my Node. It’s fine for the limited headphone use (with a separate headamp) I bought it for but even plugged into a Chord 2Qute, it is surprisingly worse than a MacBook Pro going into the same dac and the speakers.

Counter-conversely my ex-Node has spent the last few days wowing the happy buyer. He has used a laptop for years and resisted getting a streamer but was attracted to the convenience; what he didn’t expect, and loves, is the substantial improvement in sound quality. I’d love to understand more about the ways each of your laptop and Node was connected to your DAC but that would be a diversion too far.

 

[radamel]

I also have an upgraded Node, it might be worth going for the Fidelity Audio clock upgrade as for me it has delivered further improvements. That with a DAC that is supposed to have first class jitter suppression. I grabbed mine from Nye and it has both an upgraded clock and the RFI pads:

https://www.fidelityaudio.co.uk/clocking--emi--rfi-treatment-380-c.asp

The Teddydac is an excellent DAC at it’s price point, it may be worth borrowing another
one but I imagine you’d need to spend a couple
of grand to significantly better it.

Nigel, is the Innuous kit much better as I have to say mine sounds pretty darn good?

That reinforces the view that a better clock may be a positive even when using an external DAC.

 

[Konteebos]

Out of interest in what way?
I think the Sense app is excellent but I've never used the Naim one.

I've found the Sense app to be buggy, temperamental and prone to freezing. The Naim app is much more stable. I'm using the Andriod version of both, rather than IOS.

 

[Alex S]

Counter-conversely my ex-Node has spent the last few days wowing the happy buyer. He has used a laptop for years and resisted getting a streamer but was attracted to the convenience; what he didn’t expect, and loves, is the substantial improvement in sound quality. I’d love to understand more about the ways each of your laptop and Node was connected to your DAC but that would be a diversion too far.

Too boringly for either of us I suspect.

I’m repeatedly told I need an expensive streamer and maybe I do but I’ve never been unhappy with the sound from my MacBook so that’s for another day.

What I would like to do is try one of the superb measuring ASR Chinese dacs to test, if anyone would like to lend me one

 

[TheFlash]

That reinforces the view that a better clock may be a positive even when using an external DAC.

Yup.
The Node has no USB out so the timing is embedded in the (SPDIF) music signal. I (and @Lurch) both find a Mutec to be beneficial as this strips the clock part of the signal and reclocks it before forwarding to the DAC. I suspect one of the reasons the Innuos boxes sound better is because they have more stable clocks. We both found that the Mutec made the Node sound better but made the Zen/Pulse sound worse...

 

[webster]

I've found the Sense app to be buggy, temperamental and prone to freezing. The Naim app is much more stable. I'm using the Andriod version of both, rather than IOS.

Understood.
I use the web browser on my laptop with none of the problems you describe - completely stable whether playing local files or streaming from Qobuz.

 

[JezmondTutu]

Conversely, I’ve decided not to throw time and money at my Node. It’s fine for the limited headphone use (with a separate headamp) I bought it for but even plugged into a Chord 2Qute, it is surprisingly worse than a MacBook Pro going into the same dac and the speakers.

Time was limited, money also as bought upgraded units s/hand and sold my old ones:

£75 for Fidelity Audio interface and matching LPSU

£160 for clock upgrade with RFI treatment.

So all in, £635 for my new Node plus upgrades.

 

[JezmondTutu]

That reinforces the view that a better clock may be a positive even when using an external DAC.

Daniel Weiss thought it would make no difference. He’s wrong!

 

[JezmondTutu]

Counter-conversely my ex-Node has spent the last few days wowing the happy buyer. He has used a laptop for years and resisted getting a streamer but was attracted to the convenience; what he didn’t expect, and loves, is the substantial improvement in sound quality. I’d love to understand more about the ways each of your laptop and Node was connected to your DAC but that would be a diversion too far.

Same Nigel. I had a Mac Mini running asynchronous Firewire with Pure Music and I’d say it was uninspiring compared to what I have now using the same DAC. Funny old world is hifi lol.

I still generally play vinyl mind..