Bluesound Node Nano Wireless High Resolution Multi-Room Music Streamer

First I’d like to address some of the reviews about usb out not working or tidal having issues, the software being buggy, these issues are OPERATOR ERRORS. All this stuff works so well! I can’t imagine what they’re doing wrong, usb digital out works just fine, as does indexing a hard drive and playing my library. If you’re reading these reviews and being mislead by people spreading false information, you’re going to miss out on a great product. And I paid for mine with my hard earned money. Blue sound actually made me believe a streamer can be great! And it’s so easy to setup, that I just can’t imagine what they’re doing wrong, you seriously can’t try to do it wrong! Anyway, here’s some thoughts…This is perfect for someone that already has nice equipment and just needs a streamer. Some would argue that the wiim mini is just that, or any wiim especially pro/pro plus, since they cost less. They don’t have usb out, BluOS, among other things, nor do they feel as substantial, look as sleek and clean as the node nano or have the capability of serving as a dac near as well. Before you think the ultra at $30 more is the obvious choice, take a long hard look at the two. Do your research. Do you want analog inputs that digitize it and then convert it with the ultras internal dac? Even the phono input is digitized, kinda defeats the purpose. Now for a lot of people, these things may not matter and they just want convenience. But I just wanted a great streamer. It’s just a bonus that the nano happens to have a really nice internal dac, just in case something were to happen to my external dac(s). My audio setup is complete for the foreseeable future! I can’t express how impressed I am with this, I’d say give it a shot and you’ll see. I’m not an influencer or anything like that, I had all but figured a laptop would serve as my streaming device until I tried this vs the ultra, and this thing blew me away!! I even discovered that the BluOS controller app on a Chromebook of all things, worked, it actually didn’t resample the audio, like all android/chromeOS devices seem to do. The first time I got bit perfect from the Chromebook. IYKYK!P.S. I’d suggest buying somewhere else. Amazon has given me nothing but issues with audio equipment, I’ve been lied to, hung up on, I’ve ordered equipment like this that didn’t get packed in a box, they put a shipping label on the item and sent it that way. Then they’ll make you wait for the time it takes to send it back after you obviously need an exchange because the item is broken. Just happened to me with a dac the 1st week of December. If you’re buying audio equipment, you might consider somewhere more professional with some integrity and customer appreciation. Amazon does not care. I’ve spent several thousand on audio equipment just in the last 6 months let alone all time, and it still matters not. I can’t imagine certainly recommend the Nano, I’d just choose another place to order it. There’s plenty others. Thanks for reading. I hope those that have had issues finally figured out what they were doing wrong. This device deserves a much higher rating and some serious attention in the audio world!

Super easy to set up. Sound quality is outstanding.

Bluesound’s recently released Node-Nano has become the perfect addition to my older high end audio system. As a Mac user I had been investigating how best to add its internet music services in a system lacking internet capability and the Node-Nano fits the bill. It makes use of Bluesound’s proprietary app BluOS to connect to either my iPhone, iPad and computer via Airplay 2 to receive and play lossless and hi-res audio from Apple Music and Apple Classic. It will work with many other internet music providers such as Spotify and Amazon although I limit my listening to Apple with its audiophile quality of music. I have no experience with other providers except Spotify which at its base subscription price offers lower quality audio. Because of limited listening time I’ve yet to take advantage of the thousands of available world wide internet radio stations which BluOS makes easy to access. Apple (per usual) is an exception to these other sources in not providing direct access to internet servers. Instead it uses Airplay-2 to connect between devices which has none of the limitations of Bluetooth transmission. The Node-Nano with BluOS (and I assume its Android and Linux versions) accepts Airplay-2 transmission as easily as direct internet sources and can be controlled by any wifi enabled device like my iPhone and iPad. How much easier can listening to high quality audio be!The Node-Nano isn’t the least expensive device that serves this purpose but is Bluesound’s latest addition to a highly regarded line of wireless servers. The setup was easy and with only a few minutes delay incorporated the latest software. Connected directly to my tubed preamplifier I found the sound from its internal DAC impressive but may if curiosity has its way evaluate use of an external DAC which this device allows. Many of its other impressive features including multiple room connectivity will remain untested for the time being.The Node-Nano has provided much pleasure and a great solution for unlimited listening enjoyment.

Set up was a piece of cake and it’s a nice looking compact streamer/DAC. And the most importantly it sounds great. Certainly there are better sounding streamer/DACS for $1000 $2000 $3000, but for $300 this is great! I have this connected to a Pass Labs INT 60 powering my Wilson Audio Sabrina X speakers.

Using this to Airplay music to my high-end integrated amplifier. Is it better "quality" or does it sound "better" than what I had before? Maybe a bit? Honestly, I'm not sure most people would notice a difference, but even I, someone who works in audio, do not really notice much of a difference between this and my old Airport Express.The one MASSIVE advantage I've noticed with this is the ability to set the output level to "Fixed". This has been one of the biggest pain points of Airplay for me over the years. Someone has their volume on their phone set too high, or too low, or it's impossible to find the just-right volume setting, you hear the high gain hiss (raised noise floor) or distortion. It's sooo nice to remove the volume chain from the mix and just let the actual pre-amp/amp do that work. That alone makes this a great item in my eyes.Price, however, is still hard for me to swallow, considering how happy I was with the Airport Express (which can be found for peanuts on the used market).