John Darko
“Good. Better, Best.”. Bluesound’s press notice doesn’t say those three words exactly (I’ve added them to the image above) but it’s how one might reasonably interpret today’s announcement of three new streaming DACs: the NODE Nano, the (2024) NODE and the NODE Icon.
The Canadian company’s BluOS platform powers each new model for two-way aptX Adaptive Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Roon Ready with Qobuz, Amazon and many more streaming services wrapped by the BluOS app. That app is available for iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS.
The NODE Nano is the ‘good’ — a dinky streaming DAC whose conversion circuit is built around an ESS ES9039Q2M chip for RCA analogue output. Coaxial, TOSLINK and USB outputs also show up on the back panel. Your choice of Gigabit Ethernet or dual-band wi-fi. The NODE Nano features two user-programmable capacitive touch buttons for easy access to playlists and radio stations, two more for volume up/down and one for play/pause.
‘Better’? That’ll be the (2024) NODE. Its form factor will be familiar to many but its internals predominantly come from the limited edition NODE X that came and went in 2023. The (2024) NODE uses the same DAC chip as the Nano but not the same power supply. The Nano’s is external but the NODE’s is internal; and it’s ‘low noise’. The 6.3mm headphone socket fronts a THX AAA-78 circuit for a rather modest power rating of 230mW into 32 Ohms or 22mW into 600 Ohms. In addition to USB, coaxial and TOSLINK outputs, we also get a subwoofer output (with BluOS bass management) and HDMI eARC. Capacitive touch control is the order of the day here too: five programmable presets, play/pause and a slider for volume.
And that brings us to ‘best’. The NODE Icon puts a pair of ESS ES9039Q2M into a dual mono D/A conversion circuit and powers it internally with anย ultra-low-noise power supply. Connectivity mirrors the (2024) NODE but adds balanced XLR analogue outputs, a USB-C input and a digitised single-ended analogue input to the rear and balanced headphone outputs to the THX AAA-78 module (output power TBC). Capacitive touch control dominates the top panel to make lighter work of controlling playback from above but the 5″ non-touch display on the front will be hard to miss — and will likely be the NODE Icon’s main draw card. Well, almost…
The 2024 NODE and NODE Icon will be ready for Dirac Live when they begin shipping in September and November respectively. My contact at Bluesound confirmed that the Dirac-adjusted signal can be pulled from the NODE and the NODE Icon in the analogue and digital domains. BYO Dirac Live licence and room measurement microphone.
The 2024 NODE will sell for US$529 / โฌ599 and the NODE Icon for US$999 / โฌ1099. The NODE Nano is available from today for US$299 / โฌ349.
Further information: Bluesound
