Our friends at Bluesound have updated some of their most popular pieces. It is pretty incredible to us that they have made some major improvements and have not raised the price! That is just fantastic.

We thought it would be fun to take a look at the updates they made to take already exceptional tech and make it even better.

For those of you, who do not know anything about Bluesound, we will first get into their two most popular pieces to help you understand why these are some of our favorites at Audio Advice.

When music started moving from physical discs to content stored on a hard drive, there was a big change in the audio industry. Companies like Sonos came on the scene with a great user interface along with pretty decent sounding gear that made listening to your computer audio files easy and simple. Then we saw smaller, more high-performance brands like Naim get into this same category offering up the very best performance for computer audio. Later, as streaming music emerged, this category of music products exploded in popularity.

Bluesound came on the scene over a decade ago to offer up gear that was in between the entry-level products and the very best. Lenbrook is the parent company of Bluesound and you may be familiar with them as the owner of NAD- a company, that for decades, has made great-sounding audio gear that is a very good value. The result was some Bluesound pieces that were a pretty big audio level up from the likes of Sonos, but nowhere near the price range of units from companies like Naim.

The two main units from Bluesound are called a NODE and a POWERNODE. These have gone through what is now four updates as technology has improved.

The NODE is a streaming unit you can add to any home audio system just like a CD player. It can access audio files on your network (including HiRes), use Apple Airplay2, has two way aptX Bluetooth, plus, works with just about all of the major streaming services including Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and many many more. It can also playback MQA files and works great with Roon.

The NODE also gives you one more audio input that can be used as a digital or analog input, plus, you get a subwoofer out. Unlike many units that just have a fixed sub out, the Bluesound app gives you the ability to fine-tune the crossover.

Some people use the NODE with a separate power amplifier as you can change its output to be variable for this use case.

If you take a NODE and add power to it, you get the POWERNODE. The POWERNODE is designed to just add a pair of speakers and is basically like a small streaming integrated amplifier.

Another similarity between Bluesound and Sonos is the fact you can sync many units in your home for whole-house music. This is really simple to do in the app and allows you to play the same — or different —music throughout your home.

NODE and POWERNODE Updates for 2021

Now we finally get to the part where you can learn about the upgrades!

DAC Upgrades

DAC stands for digital-to-analog converter and is a critical component that has a big impact on sound. The NODE goes from a Burr-Brown 5122 24bit/192K DAC to a 5242 fully balanced DAC that is 32bit/384K compatible. By having a fully balanced design, the signal-to-noise ratio improves to 113 dB. That is quiet!

Interestingly, the POWERNODE got this same upgrade in its last generation, so the only DAC change is in the NODE, which gets improved to the same level as the POWERNODE.

Processor Upgrades

With every music streaming application having some kind of different new twist, it is quite a challenge for hardware manufacturers to have enough processing power for any application. Both units get upgraded to a state-of-the-art Quad-Core 1.8ghz ARM® Cortex™ A53 processor. This should future proof them for a very long time.

Input Changes

The POWERNODE already had one more combination analog/digital mini plug input, as well as an HDMI input that worked with both Arc and e-Arc. HDMI Arc is just a great system. If you have a TV that has an HDMI Arc output, you can connect a player to that jack and it sends the audio back down the HDMI cable but more importantly, allows the TV remote to control the volume and power of the unit.

The POWERNODE did not get any changes as it already had the HDMI Arc connection, but the NODE had this great feature added to it for 2021.

Power Output Changes

The real big deal for the POWERNODE is that Bluesound really upgraded its amp section. It now has 33% more power, going from 60 watts per channel to 80, but the amp itself is also improved, allowing it to drive even a larger variety of speakers.

The NODE is not powered so this does not apply to it.

Convenience Upgrades

We think this one is really great. Both units have had their top panel completely changed. They both used to have the basic volume up/down, pause/mute, and skip function buttons.

For 2021, they get a brand new glass top that includes a proximity sensor. It will stay dark until it senses close motion. The volume control is upgraded to a slider, skip and back are still there, and play/pause is now a cool blue button. But the best part is the addition of 5 presets that can be configured in the Bluesound app. You can add a favorite playlist or radio station to a preset and simply access it without even having to open up the app! Yes, you could just walk up to your NODE or POWERNODE, touch a preset, then control the volume right from the top panel. We just love this feature!

Finish Upgrade

Both units get a new “eggshell” type finish that should be better for environments where there is a lot of humidity.

And as we said earlier, the price stayed the same!

To help you make sure you are looking at the brand new models, the new NODE is called the N130 and the new POWERNODE is the N330.

Performance Testing

Being the audio geeks we are, we set up the current NODE and this new model to compare them. We used the exact same Transparent cables on each unit. Using Roon, we started up the same track about 10 seconds apart so we could easily flip back and forth between the two. Well, that bombed-out instantly as the new Node was much louder, even in fixed output, which is probably due to the balanced DAC. We then put them both in variable output and got the levels the same.

We used a variety of our favorite test tracks and it is clear, the new model is superior. The biggest thing we heard were more subtle details in voices and instruments. If you are using your Node in a pretty revealing system, we feel it would be worth upgrading. However, if it is used for whole-house background music or casual listening, you are good to stay put — although the proximity display and presets are really cool!

We love that Bluesound made all of these updates and did not increase the price of what is already the best value streamer on the market under $1,000.

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