Streamers — Bluesound NODE ICON

The NODE ICON is a network streamer made by Bluesound of Canada, whose players run on the BluOS multi-room software. Its model code is N530. Housed in an aluminium cabinet with a large front glass panel, it adds a 5-inch full-colour HD display (non-touch) for artwork and track data. Bluesound lists it at CAD 1,599.

Key specs that matter

A dual-mono layout with two ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC chips does the conversion, supported by an ESS ES9826 ADC for analogue input and a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor running at 1.8 GHz per core. Native sample rates reach 192 kHz at 16 to 24 bit, and DSD256 files are accepted as well. Rated signal-to-noise is 129 dB from the balanced XLR outputs and 121 dB from RCA, with THD+N of 0.0004%. The chassis measures 220 x 84 x 193 mm and weighs 2.23 kg, while the two-pin AC socket takes any mains voltage from 100 to 240 V.

Engineering and use context

The back panel carries HDMI eARC with Dolby Digital decoding, optical Toslink, RCA analogue, USB Type-C for a computer and USB Type-A for external storage. On the output side there are balanced XLR and RCA stereo pairs, each with a fixed-level option, plus USB Audio 2.0, optical, coaxial and a dedicated subwoofer RCA. Two 6.3 mm headphone jacks are driven by a THX AAA stage rated at 150 mW into 16 ohm, 235 mW into 32 ohm, 56 mW into 250 ohm and 23 mW into 600 ohm at under 0.1% THD. The power supply uses Nichicon capacitors. With one DAC chip per channel, the left and right conversion paths are kept separate on the board, and the analogue input can be digitised by the ADC for streaming to other BluOS players. Wireless links cover dual-band Wi-Fi 5, two-way Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive and Apple AirPlay 2. Supported file formats include MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA-L, OGG, ALAC, OPUS, FLAC, MQA, WAV, AIFF and MPEG-4 SLS.

Pairing

The balanced outputs make the NODE ICON a natural feed for a preamplifier or power amplifier with XLR inputs, while the fixed RCA outputs suit any integrated amplifier. The HDMI eARC port lets a television route its audio through the same system, and the subwoofer output can drive a powered sub directly. Within BluOS it can group with other Bluesound players around the home.

Alternatives

Bluesound's NODE N132 is the smaller streamer in the range, using a single ES9039Q2M DAC in a 46 mm tall chassis listed at CAD 849.