BlueSound Stinks(!), anyone?

This is my Bluesound story.  I have owned one Bluesound Node 2 for about five years and it has always been hardwired for use in my primary hi fi system.  It has always worked flawlessly.  When we moved downsized to an old (130 year old) townhome with plaster walls about three years ago, I purchased another Node 2 and two of the Bluesound speakers to set up a system downstairs.  Bluesound wirelessly drove me nuts.  I finally got rid of the downstairs equipment about one year ago and went to Sonos.  I must confess that even the Sonos had flaws until I finally did two things.  First, I set my Linksys Velop Nodes to bridge mode.  That seemed to do the trick (and may well have done with my Bluesound stuff).  I also got 1Gb internet and a faster modem.  That definitely solved the problem.  My only conclusion is streaming wirelessly is always problematic and dependent on internet signal strength -- there are just too many gateways to a stable signal.  I am happy with Bluesound when hardwired and frankly believe that it's interface is now less cumbersome than even Roon (which I tried and gave up because it was buggy).  As for sound quality, I A/B'd it with an Aurender, which I very much wanted to like, in an apples to apples comparison using the DAC in my Hegel integrated amp.  After hours of listening determined that they sound no different, so consequently saved over $2000.  I now run my Bluesound Node 2 through a Chord Qutest DAC -- that does sound better than the DAC in the Bluesound.  Good luck. 

Sorry to hear about your issues, frustrating I’m sure. Now we have had a Bluesound Node 2i just on WiFi, plugged into a Luxman receiver in our great room for about a year now. Everyone in our home shares it, except the cat, and it works just fine. Our first experience with streaming and we love it. Still have a higher end listening room in the house with analogue that’s not going anywhere. But this is great for casual listening and just can’t beat the convenience of a phone app. No problemo 

 No problem with any of my node 2i’s (5 in total).  I switched from Sonos several months ago. I did have a problem getting the original node 2 to connect to my Internet. The 2i’s have been wonderful. I use my iPhone 8+ to control the app.

Bluesound is an entry level piece. If you don’t want to use Roon, and you want to spend little money, then get an Auralic mini with the DS lightning software. Outside of Roon, the DS lightning software is the best. The Auralic mini for $500 new sounded very good, I had that and it’s bigger brother the Auralic Aries which I liked better than Aurender  or Lumin units.
For streaming there are many options. I use Roon and audirvana on a dedicated headless Mac mini running in a different room outside my audio room and use a network attached dac. For all my other rooms in the house, 6 in total, I use apple 4K tv’s, Apple TV 3rd generation, and homepods. All of these rooms with Apple TV’s are good for background/non-critical listening. Anything above background music I’ll use a networked Roon ready dac.

I was a newbie to streaming and got a Node2i about 3 months ago.  I'd love to complain about their poor documentation, but there simply isn't any.  It's VERY frustrating to try to figure out the BluOS app, and the interface is convoluted..... BUT.... aside from that, it all works fine!
We are enjoying the 2i very much running optical into my Anthem D2V pre/pro.  What I like about this is that it's our morning alarm clock.  The brilliant Anthem has a Timer feature, so I have it turn on every weekday morning at 5:55am.  The Node2i has an Alarm feature that I have set to play an internet radio station at 6:00am.  So my wife and I can enjoy a German 80s NewWave station every morning while we get ready for work.  I think EVERY AV-Receiver should have timer functionality on it, but I only know that the older Anthem's do.  The analog performance is stellar too, if you just want to use an old Anthem AVM-20 as a general purpose stereo preamp. That's what I'm using in my other room.