Bluesound Owners & Discussion Thread

[Guest jakeyb77]

6 minutes ago, Music2496 said:

I've seen similar reports across other forums.

 

As mentioned earlier, I really would suggest everyone drop Tidal an email about it.

 

Email is support@tidal.com

 

I have sent a report to Tidal and had a reply. They seem to be leaning toward the issue being a Node issue. Guess who Bluesound blame? 

I think the buffering length on Tidal is insufficient for the size of the data causing the devices to stop 

[rand129678]

27 minutes ago, jakeyb77 said:

They seem to be leaning toward the issue being a Node issue. Guess who Bluesound blame? 

Crikey. Typical finger point isn't it.

 

But hopefully if enough people ping them an email, they will notice more reports in a one or two week block, than usual... and maybe look into it.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

 

[Rockymc]

1 hour ago, Mat-with-one-t said:

It looks like different setups encounter different issues?  I have been considering all sorts of setups to allow for high quality digital streaming and playpack from storage (as well as an easy option to finally get around to burning about 800 cd's).  I've looked at the likes of sms-200, Raspberry Pi, setting up a NUC, etc.  I've looked at Roon subscriptions and Tidal.  I reckon simplicity is going to outweigh the pursuit of highest sound quality, given that the whole point in my setting is to encourage the family to listen to more music!  Dropouts and complexity will quickly put them off.

I have also come to realise that (in my case) digital streaming will be for "music about the house", and if I want highest quality sound, I'll head for my vinyl!

That's lead me to the Vault 2i, which I reckon I'll get once the price comes down a bit.  I will have it hard wired via ethernet to the home network, and use i-things to access it/stream Spotify.  It'll eventually hold our CD collection as FLAC files.  I also have a drive with a load of music on it.  Even though I have access to a few quality DAC's, it sounds like the 2i's internal DAC should be pretty damn good? 

I see members here are encountering various issues.  Is this the overriding experience, as my research suggests these units continue to represent perhaps the easiest and best convenience/simplicity vs SQ solution to high quality streaming?

Thoughts?

Mat

KlappAV has the Vault 2i for $1799. You might be able to play that against one the the "lowest price" dealers?

[Rockymc]

On 07/02/2019 at 3:02 PM, Pops110 said:

Hey Mat,

I have had the vault 2i in my system since Christmas and I must say I'm very happy with it. I have never really been that keen on the streaming side of things before but being able to explore new music say on Tidal and having all my music at my fingertips won me over in the end.

I got a great deal locally in the boxing Day sales, great local service, advice and ongoing support from West Coast Hifi was an added bonus.

The unit definitely isn't cheap but for an absolute computer numpty like myself it is well worth the extra coin. Unpack, plug it in and chuck a cd in and all the work is done for you. The streaming side of things with Tidal was an absolute breeze as well, I have been looking for and listening to some great new music so I'm stoked.

Yes you could spend a hell of a lot less to get the same outcome, but the convenience and having a onebox plug and play solution is well worth it for myself.

I have been very impressed with the sound quality as well. I'm not running an external dac so only using the inbuilt dac and I think it's a winner. I have a Meridian cd player that I still think sounds better but it is very close. I don't feel that I'm missing much not using the Meridian. An external dac will be on the cards at some stage but it's not a priority.

One last thing is the missus is happy with how it looks and sounds and also has no problem using it. Bonus

Hope this helps a little.

Cheers Dave.

Just curious how much did you get it for? Might be useful for negotiating a price.

[Pops110]

I would suggest popping into West Coast Hifi midland or giving them a call. They should be able to help you out.

[Mat-with-one-t]

5 hours ago, Rockymc said:

KlappAV has the Vault 2i for $1799. You might be able to play that against one the the "lowest price" dealers?

Yeah I’d spotted that - 1st I’d noted below the standard $2k.  

[crisis]

Interesting stuff as I was heading toward a Node 2i after all the good reviews. I wanted to use it to stream Tidal and for the immediate future via wireless until I get the room plumbed. Might give it a miss.

[Guest jakeyb77]

45 minutes ago, crisis said:

Interesting stuff as I was heading toward a Node 2i after all the good reviews. I wanted to use it to stream Tidal and for the immediate future via wireless until I get the room plumbed. Might give it a miss.

The units are phenomenal sounding and working.. when they work. I’m sure this will be fixed by Tidal ASAP. They have already been back to me to advise investigating. 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I had all of the dropout issues until we got the NBN connection.

 

I found the problem to be extremely inadequate buffering (wifi or Ethernet) on a 10MBs connection.

 

Switched over to 60MBs NBN and I’ve never had the problem again.

[Guest jakeyb77]

16 minutes ago, furtherpale said:

I had all of the dropout issues until we got the NBN connection.

 

I found the problem to be extremely inadequate buffering (wifi or Ethernet) on a 10MBs connection.

 

Switched over to 60MBs NBN and I’ve never had the problem again.

Thanks! I’m thinking this is going to be the issue also.

unfortunatley I won’t have NBN until July or September 

Edited March 13, 2019 by jakeyb77

[Guest]

Ah yes, ANOTHER morning with no connection with the IOS app. 

Now lets play the turn everything off and then on again game, good for an hour at least. 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

19 minutes ago, Sime V2 said:

Ah yes, ANOTHER morning with no connection with the IOS app. 

Now lets play the turn everything off and then on again game, good for an hour at least. 

Is the app not recognising the player at all, or is it losing the streaming service?

[Guest]

@furtherpale it’s only ever an app communication issue, it’s alway online though. 

[crisis]

11 hours ago, Sime V2 said:

Ah yes, ANOTHER morning with no connection with the IOS app. 

Now lets play the turn everything off and then on again game, good for an hour at least. 

Looks like this purchase remains on hold until or unless something resolves itself.

[rantan]

41 minutes ago, crisis said:

Looks like this purchase remains on hold until or unless something resolves itself.

A while back, I did have some very vague and "what if " thoughts about this but not anymore. I do use the free version of Spotify on my desktop only, but it is just for discovering new stuff and trying new releases from familiar artists. If I find something good  I can buy it and hearing it first means no money wasted.

[crisis]

19 minutes ago, rantan said:

A while back, I did have some very vague and "what if " thoughts about this but not anymore. I do use the free version of Spotify on my desktop only, but it is just for discovering new stuff and trying new releases from familiar artists. If I find something good  I can buy it and hearing it first means no money wasted.

I actually subscribe to Spotify and use it outside or when camping through a Bluetooth speaker. Also use it at work from time to time and love being able to listen to stuff I dont "own". I would like to explore Hi res music like that on my system but want this to work before taking the plunge.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, crisis said:

Looks like this purchase remains on hold until or unless something resolves itself.

I “May” have figured out the problem, my airport express was missing in the airport express app, though it was still moving data, but I reset it and it’s showing a green light on the app, and my Node2 came back, but I’ll report back in the morning

[wolster]

As I posted in the Tidal/Bluesound thread, all is now working perfectly again after reporting the problem to Tidal last week.

I have painfully slow broadband but that doesn’t seem to be a problem, apart from the initial wait when you first press play.

[Guest]

So yes, it seems the culprit was the Airport express. If any network guru’s can tell me why that device can stream tidal, play YouTube on the Telly, and give me flawless access to my security cameras, but show that it’s offline on its app and not allow the Node2 to stay connected to it’s app. I never gave it a thought as to being the issue being as everything else was working. But did a factory reset, it’s showing as online and my Node2 is happy as Larry this morning, for once

Edited March 18, 2019 by Sime V2

[Marc]

Being part of the BluOS ecosystem, I thought this might fit here:

https://www.stereo.net.au/reviews/review-nad-m10-bluos-streaming-amplifier

 

I'd eagerly awaited the first sample of this as I suspected it ticked a LOT of boxes.

Sadly, my accident happened after setting it up and before completing the review.

What I can say though was my wife was gobsmacked that connected to my JBL K2s (yes!) it powered them with ease and essentially replaced over $100K worth of electronics. That didn't go down so well, actually.

A marvellous product that sits in the BluOS ecosystem, that Mark Gusew has now been able to complete the review on.

His findings echoed mine.

[Hi-Fi Whipped]

19 minutes ago, Marc said:

What I can say though was my wife was gobsmacked that connected to my JBL K2s (yes!) it powered them with ease and essentially replaced over $100K worth of electronics. That didn't go down so well, actually.

Thats Gold! 

[Danhifi]

Hi folks,

 

Could anyone tell me pls. Is there a difference between:

 

1) playing a song on my Node 2i using the BluOS app on my IPhone using the Tidal service, and

 

2) opening the Tidal app on the same IPhone and playing the song using AirPlay to select my Node 2i as the player. 

 

Does anyone definitevely know the answer? I’m wondering whether

 

- in scenario 1. - the Node plays the song from the Network internet connection, and perhaps

- in scenario 2, the phone uses its internet connection to receive the song and then streams it to the node. 

 

In any event, say it’s a Master or HIFI quality song on Tidal, is there any difference in quality between 1 and 2?

 

Many thanks for your help.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Danhifi
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[Guest]

The only difference might be is that I think that over AirPlay, files get compressed, but I could be wrong. 

 

Using the BluOS App especially if your music is on a HDD/SSD connected to the node is ultimately the best scenario possible. 

[Snoopy8]

Why not try it?  Both scenarios are using the same equipment, so you can change any time.

[Danhifi]

1 hour ago, Snoopy8 said:

Why not try it?  Both scenarios are using the same equipment, so you can change any time.

Thanks - have tried both. 

 

 It’s a new system and the Blue Node is the only input source I have so not easy to tell what the ‘right’ sound it. 

 

The two methods sound different to my ears but I was hoping someone would know whether with AirPlay the phone is the source and whether that adds a layer of compression/compromise. Thanks.