HiFi Bargains: Bluesound Node 2i - Twittering Machines

Streaming is, without question, one of the major advances in music listening. Costing anywhere from free to around 20 bucks/month, a huge chunk of the big wide wonderful world of recorded music can be delivered directly to your ears. That’s a game-changer if ever there was one.

Getting a music streaming service into one’s hifi used to be, back in the dark ages, a somewhat difficult task, especially so for those people who did not grow up with a smartphone embedded in their palm. Today, the world of hifi is filled with network and/or Bluetooth/WiFi-capable devices, like the streaming integrated amplifier, where music streaming is just another input away. For a certain demographic, I’d imagine something labelled “MM” and “MC” holds much greater mystery than “LAN” and “Bluetooth”.

What about those fine folks who already own and love a hifi but one that is devoid of any way to stream and/or add their owned file-based playback? While there any number of solutions to adding one of the major advances in music listening to your hifi, one of my favorites is the Bluesound Node 2i.

the Node 2i is simpatico with all of these service

Why? Because it offers everything you need (and then some) for $549.00.

While I know there are less expensive and more expensive options out there, I see the the Node 2i as being aimed at people who have already invested in their hifi who are equally concerned with sound quality, budget, and convenience. If this sounds like you, and you want to stream from services like Tidal and Qobuz, and play back files from your digital music library through your beloved yet streaming-poor hifi, the Bluesound Node 2i is a very worthy contender.

Bluesound provides their free BlueOS app for Android and iOS devices for controlling the streaming flow so adding the Node to your hifi consists of connecting it to your network (Ethernet or WiFi), connecting it to your hifi (via analog RCA or, if you want to use your own DAC, via Coax or Toslink), plugging it in, connecting it to your streaming service(s) of choice (using the free BluOS app), and hitting play. The Node 2i also houses its very own app-based volume control.

If all that sounds like too much work, it really isn’t, you can opt to send your music to the Node from any Bluetooth-enabled device and you can skip the entire hifi bit and just connect your headphones to the Node’s front-mounted 3.5mm jack. Another huge selling point, according to my preferences, is the Node is also a Roon-Ready device, meaning you can use Roon as the interface for all of your filed-based music and streaming needs. The BluOS app and Roon are also multi-room-ready so you can add more BluOS or Roon-Ready hifi devices around your home while controlling all of them from the same app.

I’ve never, ever, used those top-mounted controls

Did I mention the Node 2i sounds just fine even when using its internal DAC? Well it does (I’ve been using one for the past nearly-a-year directly connected to my early ’70s-era Sansui AU-555A integrated amp). I’m also a fan of its looks and about-the-size-of-a-book size (8.7 x 1.8 x 5.7 in).

Depending on where you reside, you can buy the Bluesound Node 2i direct.

Specifications

Audio

Supported File Formats

MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, WMA-L, ALAC, OPUS
Hi-Res formats – FLAC, MQA, WAV, AIFF

Native Sampling Rates

32 – 192 kHz

Bit Depths

16 – 24

Performance

SNR – 110dBA
Distortion, THD+N – 0.005%

DAC

32-Bit, 192kHz

Supported Operating Systems

Plays music from network shares on the following desktop operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, Vista 7-10, Apple Macintosh 7-10

Free Internet Radio

TuneIn Radio, iHeartRadio, Calm Radio, Radio Paradise, LiveXLive, Radio.com

Supported Cloud Services

Spotify, Amazon Music HD, TIDAL, Deezer , Qobuz, HighResAudio (VAULT Required), Napster, KKBox, Bugs, Taihe Music ZONE, SoundMachine, IDAGIO, OraStream

Voice Control Integrations

Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant Skills

Integration Partners

Control4, RTI, Crestron, URC, push, iPort, ELAN, Lutron, roon, Airplay 2

Album Art

JPG

Connectivity

Network

Gigabit Ethernet RJ45
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac, dual-band)

USB

1 x Type-A port for connection to USB memory sticks (Fat32 or NTFS formatted) and supported peripherals
1 x Type-B (mini) for product servicing

Audio Input