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Music streaming has become more popular over time, and why wouldn’t it? With streaming services, you have a world of songs and albums from your favorite musicians at your fingertips - or, with voice commands, at your beck and call! You can even stream in high resolution (high-res) - so you get BOTH convenience and excellent sound quality too.  

Simply put, music streaming is the process of listening to music or other audio content over the internet, in real-time, without the need to have physical media such as a record or CD - and even without needing to download and store it. Some of the best-known streaming services include Spotify, Apple Music, Sirius XM, Amazon Music, Qobuz, Deezer and Tidal. Many of these services are free, or available with additional features for a modest monthly fee. 

There are lots of nice-sounding entry-level music streamers. There are also many high-end streamers in the 6 figures and up range that sound fabulous, but these are beyond the reach of many. Perhaps the most popular streamer in what we call the “affordable high-end” is the Bluesound Node.  

Bluesound has announced not one replacement for Node, but a family of new Nodes: Node Nano, priced at $299; Node N132, the direct replacement for the current Node, is priced at $549; and Node Icon, likely @ $999 and planned for later in 2024. Node Nano is shipping now, available @ SKY by Gramophone, and Node 132 is scheduled to ship in September 2024.

The biggest upgrade to all three took place early this year when Bluesound upgraded their app to BluOS 4.0. Streaming can be easy, or sometimes challenging, and the app you use makes all the difference. Bluesound is now on its 4th version of this app. It gets easier to use every time - easier to find your favorite songs, and especially to build playlists of your favorites for easy recall. Everybody in the family can use these Node products because navigating the BluOS 4.0 app is a pleasure.

Another great benefit of using Bluesound products is that you can link them with other Bluesound speakers throughout your home. They can all be used and played individually, or you can use them together, each playing the same thing in “party mode”, for a wireless whole-home audio system that doesn’t require a backbone of cabling all through your house. 

The space-saving Node Nano features a cool-looking compact chassis, and actually uses a DAC that is an upgrade over the former Node - even though Nano retails for just $299! This is a game-changing, entry-level price streamer that sounds excellent.  

The new Node, again priced at $549 as was its predecessor, features loads of upgrades vs the prior, best-selling Node and the entry-level Nano. Some of its many improvements are as follows:

• A THX triple A headphone amp and front panel jack will sound great. 
• On-board power supply, vs Nano’s external power supply, lowers noise and distortion.
• The included subwoofer output is a terrific way to upgrade the performance of your speakers if you choose to add a power amp and speakers for a stand-alone system.
• An HDMI eArc connection makes connecting to your awesome flat panel TV easy, enabling you to use your TV remote to control your video content.
• A 3.5 mm combo Toslink input enables connecting to your legacy TV, as older sets did not have eArc connections.
• It is DIRAC-ready, so you can use DIRAC software to get the best sound in any room.
• It is Dolby Digital enabled, for best sound with content recorded in Dolby Digital.
• It’s so easy to use the top-panel controls, especially with the proximity sensor that makes adjustments simple.
• The two-button volume adjustment on Nano is replaced by a cool user interface on top, which features a volume slider up and down, 5 presets instead of two, the ability to skip to the next track or back to the previous one, etc. 

What will you get with the audiophile-grade Node ICON, planned for $999 and shipping in late 2024? Here’s what we see: 

• A 5” front panel display, not a touch screen, but it looks cool. 
• The DACs are dual mono ESS 9039’s, for an even quieter background, better signal-to-noise ratio, and separation of instruments.
• An ultra-quiet upgraded power supply.
• Balanced XLR outputs for connecting to preamps with XLR connections, which should be 6dB quieter and even better sounding.
• Twin headphone jacks for listening with a friend while not disturbing other family members.
• More connectivity, with added analog and digital outs.

At Gramophone, we’re jazzed to see this very popular NODE music streamer replaced by the three awesome new ones. Come visit us in Timonium, Columbia, or Gaithersburg MD for a demo, or shop at SKY by Gramophone to pick one up (or place your pre-order). We look forward to seeing you soon!

-Joe Finn