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Streamer Upgrade

I have a modified Bluesound Node 2i with an upgraded power supply board and Terry Pardo power supply. While I am happy with it, I have the upgrade itch! I'm curious if anyone has upgraded from a modded Bluesound Node and what your thoughts are/were? On the TP website, they claim this upgrade brings "it very close to the level of network streamers costing twice as much" which makes me curious as to how big of a jump others experienced. I'm looking at streamer only as I am not interested in units with onboard DAC's. I currently use Roon with a Mac Mini as my Core. My DAC is the Schiit Gungnir MB. 

Thanks!

-Will

willg1985
juanmanuelfangioii
958 posts
 

Highly recommend the Moon By Simaudio Mind2 Network Player.

Very rare to see these in the previously loved market..

And made in North America. Simaudio even makes their boards in their plant in Canada er Montreal, QC. 

 

m669326's avatar
m669326
334 posts
 

I second the Mind 2 recommendation. I am very happy with mine. If I were you, I would get the used one that’s currently available. I don’t think they show up used very often at all. For that matter, it’s not easy to find a new one here in the states.

jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
1,110 posts
 

+1 on the Mind 2. Never heard one myself but I bet its a an upgrade and you don't see them much.  There are some Bryston BDPs around on USAudio as well.  There is a BDP Pi over there for around $600.  I have the Pi and know for a fact they make a great Roon endpoint.  Negative is they are out of production.  If you are looking to upgrade the entire chain you could consider getting an SGC Sonic Transport to run the Roon Core  and a Ultra Rendu  endpoint for less than $2K.  I bet that combo would be a significant upgrade. 

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,996 posts
 

@willg1985 

I just bought the new Node and was looking at doing the power supply upgrade.  How big of a difference was there when you did yours and do you think it was worth the money?

Thanks.

riccitone
232 posts
 

I’m now on a Mercury streamer by Pi2design. I mean, I’ve already mentioned it way to much here, but it just keeps blowing my mind.

It’s based on a raspberry pi 4, but with some extremely high end clocks, a well built-out/extended board, and some really heavy duty galvanic isolation circuitry. Already leaps and bounds ahead of the Bluesound Node, seeming to perform even better than the new ifi stream (more reviews are about to drop soon I think). It also acts as its own ddc, being able to spit out coax, bnc, aes, I2s and optical simultaneously. Roon is more than compatible, and very flexible in that you can change out the OS with just the switching of an SD card.

Caveats: even though it comes preloaded with Volumio software, can be a bit glitchy during setup. Occasionally on playback as well. So not as plug and play as other more expensive streamers.

But INSANELY great for the $600.

 

 

 

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