Advice Needed: Bluesound Node vs Vault

I own both the Vault 2 and the new Node 2i.  I purchased the Vault for my new summer home.  For me, the choice was simplicity.  I don’t own a computer nor have the space or any other need for one.  The Vault offered a compact user friendly solution to play all my CD’s plus the ability to stream Tidal.  That level of space and convenience was worth the money to me.
If you already have the resources to rip your CD’s and are comfortable doing so, then by all means just buy the Node.
 I have not compared the Vault 2 and the Node 2i in the same system so I can’t offer an assessment as to the difference in sound quality.  The Vault is in an approximately 7K system and I have no complaints with sound quality or operation.
The Node 2i is setup in my main winter home system 50K+ and it sounds surprisingly very good.  Compared to my CD playback, Sony Es deck as a transport via Chord Hugo dac, the Node holds it’s own.  The Node is slightly less detailed and energetic but has deeper bass and a more relaxed presentation.  Depth is excellent along with a wall to wall soundstage.  Imaging is also very precise.  I’m a stickler for hearing the precise overtones and decay of piano notes.  I can’t stand the hollowness of decay that some dacs produce such as my Oppo 105D.  The Node 2i is very good in this respect, not quite matching the Hugo but reasonably close.
 I have not experienced any connectivity issues with the Node.  Wireless operation is flawless and I find the BluOS app superb.
 I have the Node plugged in to my Shunyata Hydra with the stock cord and see no reason to try a wall outlet.  So there may be some advantage there in my results.
 I can’t imagine anyone not being pleased with the sound.  I detect no glaring faults.  Some sins of omission as they say.  Can you do better?  Most likely but I’m satisfied for now.
BTW, since I found the Node so good, I also purchased the new Pulse Flex 2i powered speaker so I can listen to my sports radio and have some background music playing without having all my tubed components powered on all the time.  It is a great little component as well.  I’m a happy Bluesound owner.

I can only speak about the Node 2 from my experience. If you have many ITunes rips or files, Bluesound may not like the file folders and you may not have artwork for albums. I had to add many, many jpg files to my files for albums so that Bluesound software would enable me to see album covers. I think with the Vault, the ripping software is probably better and it will include artwork. That and I think the Vault can see an external library (HDD or NAS) of music besides the ones you rip. Perhaps Vault users will chime in.

I think the OP has it right.  The Vault2 charges more for the convenience of adding storage and a ripper.  Whether that premium is worth it is in the eye and wallet of the beholder 

Hello! I have the Bluesound Vault 2 and have been extremely happy...but, more impressed...by it ever since I bought it this past April. The happy part is in that it does everything my dealer and Bluesound said it would do. The impressive part is that it sounds much better than I ever expected.

As others have said, there is really no difference between the Vault or Node performance-wise, BUT, I have to echo what 2psyop has said above: The ease-of-use of the Vault as a ripping and storage solution cannot be overlooked. I, too, had most of my CD’s ripped to my main PC as well as backed up to a NAS. But managing the tagging info, album art, etc. became such a time-suck for me that I ultimately went with the Vault because of the promise for a more convenient solution for keeping all my music properly tagged, with the right album art and managed with a very easy to use app.

Now, while I could have just imported my music files to the Vault, I decided to take the extra time to rip ALL of my CD’s to the Vault natively. Both my dealer and Bluesound recommended this route as a way to insure a perfect, bit-for-bit rip as well as for maximum accuracy for the metadata and album art. While I can’t say that the Vault made a better lossless FLAC file than my PC, I do know that of the 638 CD’s I ripped, I only had to manually adjust/enter tagging info or album art on 31 CD’s...a very, very good "hit" rate by the Vault! Of the other digital-only albums I had to drag over into the Vault, the hit rate was a incredible 89 for 103. The Bluesound app and Vault are the closest thing I’ve found to Roon in terms of keeping a music library managed automatically, as well as integrating Tidal and internet radio.

While there is a big price delta between the Vault and Node, I look at the amount of time that I now don’t waste in keeping an ever-growing music library managed as money well spent. I have a NAS drive hooked up to the Vault that backs-up its library automatically, so there’s that additional peace of mind as well.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, rather than looking at the Vault as an over-priced 2TB hard drive and CD-ROM, look at it as a way to save you effort and time. Only you can say how much that would be worth to you. Either way, Bluesound makes a terrific product!

Enjoy the music...

Arvin

Audio Research D240 MKII s/s amp, LS-7 tube pre & PH-3 tube phono; Denon VL12 turntable w/Ortofon 2M Bronze ; Thiel CS3.5 speakers; Bluesound Vault 2; Audioquest and MIT interconnects and cables