[dcbingaman]

Hi, guys.  After being a vinyl / optical disc guy for 40 years I finally bit the bullet and got a streamer (actually three of them) - the Bluesound Node 2i.  What got me off the fence is Qobuz's new streaming service, and the simplicity of the Bluesound set-up.  I have been a Sonos user for a long time but was really looking for better sound and hi-rez digital audio streaming capabilities.  I get that in spades with the Bluesound / Qobuz combination.

I have to say I am really impressed with the sound quality - particularly using the Bluesound Node 2i as a source into my Meridian Apodizing DACs.  I am also very impressed with the variety of music available from Qobuz, (especially classical).  Although Qobuz does not use MQA, the Bluesound Node 2i is fully compatible with it, so if I use the Tidal service, I can decode MQA tracks with the same setup.

I am curious how many of you are using these new "i" generation NAD / Bluesound streamers and the Qobuz service and what your impressions are.  The GUI is not quite as intuitive as the Sonos GUI, but it's not bad.  The Roon (nee Sooloos) server setup is top dog, BUT more complicated to instantiate, and I don't have any interest in ripping 5000+ CD's, when they are already almost all available from a streaming service.   I would guess as time goes on the Qobuz GUI will get better.  What do you guys think WRT servers vs. streamers ?  Are servers OBE already ??

[JLM]

I run a NAD M10, the big, big powered brother of the Node 2i.  It makes the best sound I've ever had.  Very flexible, modern, and includes Dirac Live.  Have a hard time imagining going back to separates.  I run Tidal and have ~600 favorites (so I could fit the rest of my library on a flash drive that plugs in).  The result is a one box solution that can be controlled via touch screen, computer, or smartphone.

But it's not without it's issues.  Slow load time of the favorites.  M10 doesn't respond overnight if I don't leave it parked in an album (have to unplug/replug it in).  Same problem/solution after a recent BlueSound upgrade.  Occasionally it gets stuck between albums, rebooting BS resolves it.

Frankly have never found much advantage of any hi-res formats including MQA. 

[Drummerboy2]

I'm using this exact setup (Bluesound node 2i and Qobuz) and it's now 2 days since I first got it up and running. I'm really enjoying this streamer. Lots of music to choose from.

I don't like that there is hardly any info to help with setup but I was able to get it up and running pretty quick.

I will post back how my experience is going with the Bluesound and Qobuz after a few weeks. This may replace my tuners...maybe! haha

[bacobits1]

I have the Node 2i going into a Yggdrasil it works without a hitch and sounds good. Running Qubuz sounding quite good.
I do like Spotify's interface better. I have changed to a Wireworld Mini Electra power cable and using a Wywires Litespd Coax cable to the DAC.Makes a nice difference but the cables are more $$ than the Node 2i.

[Craig B]

I've had a Node 2i since last September, and I use it with Qobuz, Tidal, and to play files over my WiFi from an iMac. In general, I'm very happy. I love the sound I get from all sources (including Tidal's MQA files), but I find the Qobuz and Tidal native apps work better than when accessing either service through the BlueOS app. It's like the BlueOS app is adding overhead to anything I want to do, which slows things down a bit. It also handles shuffling of playlist content *very* awkwardly, and I haven't been able to figure out yet how to get either service to continue to stream similar content after a given album has finished playing. When I go directly through the Tidal app, for example, it does that. Not sure about Qobuz.

Unfortunately, the only way to access either provider's hi-res content is to go through the BlueOS app, so that's what I do. Doing that means the Node is the device pulling content from the web, and it has full access to the hi-res stream, whereas using the Tidal or Qobuz app means my phone is what's pulling the stream from the web, and passing it to the Node via AirPlay, and it's my understanding that AirPlay is limited to 16/44.

The one other area where the Node doesn't shine for me is its inability to "see" files that aren't stored locally on my iMac's internal drive. My entire iTunes library is on an external, due to its size, and Bluesound has acknowledged that while their software will allow the Node to read files on a server's local drive, it can't when the files are on an external. They haven't said (to me) if that's something they're working on or not. So for now, and possibly into the future, if I want to play anything from my iTunes library through the Node, I have to do it through AirPlay, using my phone's iTunes Remote app to choose the music, and push it to the Node.

So all in all, I love the device and the sound quality it's capable of. I love the content from both services - they complement each other nicely, and between the two I can almost always find what I'm looking for. But I'm a little disappointed in the BlueOS app, and in the limits of the device's network abilities.

[bacobits1]

For questions. have you tried  here?
https://helpdesk.bluesound.com/discussions/

I stream Qobuz and Spotify from the Android Tablet only, So no external library here. You should be able to run external files.Spotify's interface is a bit more sophisticated. I do like it better.
Maybe need to run Roon?