Contrary to a lot of thoughts the preamplifier is the most critical source component a great one can make a system and a so so or bad one can cripple a system so yes find a preamp that does not change or alter the bluesound and if your lucky find one that enhances it and yes macintosh components are not the most transparent of components they are a perfect example of listen to our sound not accurate sound.
Scratching my head...Bluesound Node 2i direct to amp
Hello friends, long time lurker, first time poster. Earlier today, I hooked up my Bluesound Node 2i directly to my PS Audio Stellar S300 amp, just as an experiment and used it as preamp. Everything that I read would say that this would be an inferior way to listen to music to usual setup.
My usual setup is a 2.1 system that goes like this Bluesound Node 2i<Bifrost 2<McIntosh MAC-3 (I use this as a preamp I know that it wasn't its original intention when made)<PS Audio Stellar S300 amp<Elac Carina, sub is an SVS 2000. With the Bluesound direct to the amp, the sound was cleaner, more alive, and had significantly more bottom end from the Carina's (note-when I ran the Bluesound direct, it was just as 2 channel the sub wasn't running), so much so that I was shocked when I looked over at the sub and remembered that it was off.
So my question is this, how could this be? Is my "preamp" the weak link? I really felt like the Carina's came into their own running direct to the amp. I know that the Bifrost 2 is a better DAC than the internal DAC of the Bluesound. Only thing that I can think is that it maybe time to upgrade my pre :). Any thought's friends?
Thanks!
*Source material was a variety of MQA and CD quality tracks from Roon
My usual setup is a 2.1 system that goes like this Bluesound Node 2i<Bifrost 2<McIntosh MAC-3 (I use this as a preamp I know that it wasn't its original intention when made)<PS Audio Stellar S300 amp<Elac Carina, sub is an SVS 2000. With the Bluesound direct to the amp, the sound was cleaner, more alive, and had significantly more bottom end from the Carina's (note-when I ran the Bluesound direct, it was just as 2 channel the sub wasn't running), so much so that I was shocked when I looked over at the sub and remembered that it was off.
So my question is this, how could this be? Is my "preamp" the weak link? I really felt like the Carina's came into their own running direct to the amp. I know that the Bifrost 2 is a better DAC than the internal DAC of the Bluesound. Only thing that I can think is that it maybe time to upgrade my pre :). Any thought's friends?
Thanks!
*Source material was a variety of MQA and CD quality tracks from Roon