BLUESOUND POWERNODE EDGE
£599 / bluesound.com
Some folks think of Bluesound as a Sonos equivalent for those obsessed with superior sound quality. And this, unsurprisingly, often comes with a slightly higher price attached. Well, the Powernode Edge’s job is to twiddle that pricing knob a bit and open up Bluesound’s legendary chops to a slightly wider audience.
The premise is simple: you plug any passive speakers you like into the Powernode Edge and it turns them into smart streaming speakers. Yep, even those boxy old things from the ’80s in the loft. This means the Edge has a built-in amplifier, and it’s far more elegant and lounge-friendly than the average stereo hi-fi amp. It weighs just 1.37kg, is 219mm long, and has just about all the most important features of the long-standing, much-loved and higher-priced original Powernode.
You can plug your TV into it, removing the need for more of those separates boxes that your other half hates. And it slots into the BluOS multiroom platform, for smooth access to loads of streaming services including Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal and Qobuz.
Unlike some older-style streaming units, there’s no big colour screen here. But do you really need one with that phone in your pocket? Instead we get a row of capacitive touch-buttons for basic playback control.
The techy stuff that really matters is on the inside, such as aptX HD Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and – for the real hardcore folks – Roon. There’s no Chromecast on offer here but you can hook up a pair of wireless headphones because, unusually, the Edge has two-way Bluetooth.
So why on earth would you buy the older Bluesound Powernode when it costs £250 more? Good question. The Edge’s amp has 40W per channel, to 80W each in its big brother. If you’re planning on hooking up a pair of giant, hard-to-drive behemoths, you might need that extra power.
But for a set of bookshelf speakers playing at polite volumes much of the time? Bluesound knows what it’s doing – you’ll be fine with this more affordable option.
● 40W+40W Class D ● HDMI eARC, Ethernet, 3.5mm, USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi ● 219x193x45mm, 1.37kg
NOW ADD THIS… Roon
To get all the way down the streaming rabbit hole, you have to try Roon. This platform aggregates your locally stored music, iTunes libraries, Qobuz and Tidal. It costs as much as a full streaming service but doesn’t unlock access to music itself. However, it does get rid of those classic NAS drive jukebox streaming headaches, with a nice shiny interface. from $10/m / roonlabs.com
ALTERNATIVELY…
This NAD streamer is what we consider a classic design for this style of hi-fi separate. There’s a large 5in screen on the front to show off all that album art, taking us back to the day when a dream hi-fi was a box that would fit a whole musi
