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Dead Bluesound Node 2

I have a Bluesound Node 2 that died recently and I'm wondering what I should do next. 
First off, it was only 3 years old.  I got conflicting reports from customer service as to what went wrong, but either way, it was working fine one day and the next day it would not respond and it would not re-set.  I have been round and round with customer service and as far as they are concerned, it is out of warranty, so tough toenails; they will not take it back for a repair.  They offered to sell me a new unit at a reduced price or a refurbished unit at an even lower price but somehow that doesn't sit right with me. 

My habit has always been to buy reasonably good gear and keep it for a long time.  It's also my habit not to reward a manufacturer with additional purchases once they have done me wrong.  I have never had a piece of gear fail so quickly.  I have never had a manufacturer tell me they would not repair or service a component.  This little guy was not abused, and barely moved from the time I plugged it in, so I don't think I did anything wrong. 

Now I know a lot of you folks love your Nodes.  Admittedly, I did too.  I used it almost every day, created dozens of playlists (which are presumably gone forever) and I even added a Qobuz subscription about 6 months ago.  I can't tell you how many friends I demonstrated this set-up for.  I was actually considering adding a 2nd unit for my primary system.  Basically, I was all in.  Now I'm just stuck. 

That's my tale of woe, so here's what I'd like to know:
Were my expectations for this component too high?  I understand that computer products have can have a short lifespan, but this seems a bit extreme.  So should I pony up for another unit?  Or do I try to save up for something more upscale and presumably better built (or better supported)?  Cambridge Audio has a streamer I think might work, but I heard not all streamers can handle 30k+ files.  I have actually heard several really nice units like the Aurender (at AXPONA) but that's probably out of my league.  So what affordable alternatives are there, that also sound decent? 

This is my first post/discussion thread here on A-gon, so go easy on me : )
Thanks for listening. 

WoofMan74
128x128woofman74

Showing 4 responses by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,376 posts
 
I realize it is frustrating to have a component die an early death, but those thing do happen. One marginal component (out of hundreds) in the middle of a circuit board that may have been good enough to pass QC at the factory can fail down the road. Every product made has that potential issue. Even a Rolls Royce will sometimes break.

Can't say that I've heard anything before about Bluesounds having a bad reputation (but I don't own one). I think you may be overreacting in turning down their offer to sell you another unit at a discount.

You obviously liked the unit until it broke. So, unless you just have an itch for something new and different, you might want to reconsider Bluesound's offer.
mlsstl
1,376 posts
 
zkidd -- you missed my point. The only reason I used Rolls as an example is they do break in spite of their initial build quality and stringent standards. I was not extending the analogy to post-sale service and repair. It doesn't surprise me that many lower price-point electronics are simply discarded if they break. In such cases, if under warranty, the unit is just replaced. That's simply the nature of computer based electronics these days -- things simply aren't repaired at a component level. At best, you might get a whole new circuit board, but even that isn't as common as it used to be.
mlsstl
1,376 posts
 
corelli - our world runs on computer databases these days -- your money in the bank, investments, medical records, and so on. The key for any of these data collections, whether yours, a big comany's or the government's, is backup. This even has an advantage over a CD collection. A fire, tornado, thieves or other casualty could easily decimate your CD collection. It is very easy to keep an off-premises backup of your ripped music, but very impractical to do the same with physical CDs. While I don't use a Bluesound, a fire could take down my entire house but my personal music collection would still be safe.
mlsstl
1,376 posts
 
@woofman74 said: "Second, to the CDs are dead crowd, when my Bluesound Node decided to commit suicide, it was the ancient technological dinosaur silver discs and reliable Oppo player that saved the day when guests were here..." 

First, I don't think anyone said CDs are dead. I just like the advantages of convenience and greatly improved access that my ripped collection gives me. I still have most of my CD collection.
 

Second, I have had three CD players die on me over the years. One I fixed and the other two were discarded. I don't have a CD player in my main system anymore. Yes, it is sad that they broke, but I didn't question the worth of the CD format and go back to cassette, Edison rolls or player pianos. Things do break and need repair or replacement -- just a fact of life.
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