[A_shah]

Hello,
I have been using nVidia Shield to stream Tidal & Quboz , the set up goes like this Shield HDMI to LG C8 TV HDMI lifetac glass optical cable from TV to PS audio DAC , or ARC HDMI to OPPO 205 connected to Coax PS audio DS , today I decided to get from Amazon Bluesound Node 2i  streamer thinking it would be a dedicated streamer made for audio  and having MQA capability connected it Directly via analog outputs to Don Sachs DS- 2 pre-amp to take advantage of full capabilities of its it DAC & MQA   and the Toslink connected to PS Directstream DAC and Coax to the OPPO 205 to bypass the DAC in the Bluesound Node 2i , to my surprise I found not much of a difference between the Nvidia Shield Bluesound Node 2i except with the analog outputs ? anybody else has had that experience 
Amir at audiosicencereview seems not to have a good impression of the Bluesound node 2i, although it is a very convenient product since I do have two sets of powered speakers , one set in the Bedroom (audioengine HD6) and another in my desktop system Kef LS50W
would others who have Bluesound node 2i share their experience  ( hope what I have written makes sense he he he :

Asghar

[zappan]

So, you sent digital signal from your NVidia through the TV to your external DAC.
And, you sent digital signal from your Node to your external DAC (actually two, the PS, and the Oppo).
Now, you have external DACs performing the conversion, thus both (all three) combinations sound similar.
And, only your analog from Node to the amp sounds different.

That is what digital should be all about. My experience with my Node 2 (not 2i) was the same - analog sounds worse than digital through the NuPrime DAC-9 via coax, and then the Raspberry Pi based streamer sounds similar/same to Node when going through the external DAC, for both coax and USB from the Pi.

I’d say that this is exactly how things should be with digital streaming - everything before the DAC should have minimal impact. And then PS and Oppo DACs make a difference compared to a lesser DAC in Node.

————

Additionally, when people write about Node, looks like bad impressions are not about the digital outs, but they write about it as a streamer which produces analog output. I’ve not found an article yet explicitly talking about Node as a purely digital source, connected to an external DAC, and compared to other streamers in digital domain only. My experience with Node vs. RPi supports that theory.

[witchdoctor]

I like the Node for MQA and use it almost exclusively for that running the analog outs. It sounds GREAT in MQA so much that I don't even use it for redbook anymore.

[A_shah]

So, you sent digital signal from your NVidia through the TV to your external DAC.
And, you sent digital signal from your Node to your external DAC (actually two, the PS, and the Oppo).
Now, you have external DACs performing the conversion, thus both (all three) combinations sound similar.
And, only your analog from Node to the amp sounds different.

That is what digital should be all about. My experience with my Node 2 (not 2i) was the same - analog sounds worse than digital through the NuPrime DAC-9 via coax, and then the Raspberry Pi based streamer sounds similar/same to Node when going through the external DAC, for both coax and USB from the Pi.

I’d say that this is exactly how things should be with digital streaming - everything before the DAC should have minimal impact. And then PS and Oppo DACs make a difference compared to a lesser DAC in Node.

————

Additionally, when people write about Node, looks like bad impressions are not about the digital outs, but they write about it as a streamer which produces analog output. I’ve not found an article yet explicitly talking about Node as a purely digital source, connected to an external DAC, and compared to other streamers in digital domain only. My experience with Node vs. RPi supports that theory.

Thanks that makes a lot of sense  , the actual idea was to use it as a dedicated  streamer of better quality than the shield , which  IMHO is a very good unit , low noise less distortion and " probably"  competes with high end streamers assuming one has resolving a system to tell the difference 

Asghar

[ginetto61]

   Thanks that makes a lot of sense  , the actual idea was to use it as a dedicated  streamer of better quality than the shield , which  IMHO is a very good unit , low noise less distortion and " probably"  competes with high end streamers assuming one has resolving a system to tell the difference 
Asghar

Hi i am very interested in the performance of the Nvidia Shield as i own one 1st version model. P2571. 
Unfortunately i get stuck during the installation process ... i cannot access two different gmail accounts of mine  ... i am really confused 

However ... i would like to suggest you to try before buy an usb to spdif converter.  I have done this before and as long as the android tv recognizes the device the sound can be very good indeed.  I was using an android TV box from Himedia and a Gustard u12. The sound was very good. 
Just search around for a usb to spdif interface compatible with the Shield ... you will be surprised. 
A dac insensitive to incoming jitter will help a lot. 
I was using an Apogee Rosetta 200 ... fed with different digital signal the sound has been always at least very decent and sometimes even great.