Want to add music streaming to your hi-fi system? These dedicated streamers are simply sensational
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Bluesound Node (2021) £549
The third-gen Node is pushing budget music streamers in the right direction. At this money, it represents one of the most entertaining and comprehensive ways to add music streaming to your hi-fi system – and that’s why it is once more a What Hi-Fi? Award winner.
Bluesound’s proprietary multi-room wireless streaming platform, BluOS, is a given
for networked Bluesound gear – and, increasingly, streaming products from its sister
brand NAD and partner firms such as Dali. Via the reassuringly familiar BluOS app,
local and networked libraries, streaming services and internet radio stations can
be accessed, multi-room partnerships with up to 63 other BluOS-
compatible products can be established and controlled, and presets for easy access
to sources and music can be allocated.
The Node’s wireless nature means it also has Apple AirPlay 2 and two-way aptX HD Bluetooth compatibility. The BluOS app also steps in for general playback controls, and lets you switch between sources, wireless and physical. The latter comprises mini optical/3.5mm combo and HDMI eARC inputs for connecting audio sources or a TV, plus a range of outputs that includes RCA, coaxial, optical and subwoofer, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The digital connections are fed through an all-new DAC that supports both hi-res 24-bit/192kHz and MQA files. Bluesound has also packed in more powerful processors.
Considering their multi-tasking, software-reliant nature, it’s important for networked products to have a stable platform and app to operate within – and Bluesound’s offering is up there with the best. The Node does, however, offer some on-unit control that might prove handy if the unit is positioned within easy reach in a room.
The Node’s distinctly ‘Bluesound’ chassis is about the size of a wireless router, with a touch-capacitive top panel that lets you change volume via a slider, skip tracks or initiate one of five pre-allocated presets by tapping small dot and arrow symbols, which light up on the otherwise discreet touch panel when you are close by.
The Bluesound’s sonic character, one that we have very much become accustomed to over recent years, is direct and warm in tone, and it has an insatiable appetite for rhythms. That Bluesound character is distinguishable through our Burmester 088/911 Mk3 pre/power combo and ATC SCM50 speakers or more price-appropriate Marantz PM6007 amp and KEF Meta spea
