with the widespread availabilty of power supply upgrades for the nodes i have set up several friends’ systems using them (as well as my own second system), as the sonic performance is greatly raised by getting the internal smps out and affording a clean lps 5v dc feed
a few important things to note about the various b-s nodes given the above
- the node icon still uses a factory internal smps although they say there is more internal power filtering now... the unit is new enough that the usual suspects in china eastern europe israel for aftermarket kits have not yet come out with the lps retrofit/upgrades but they are likely on their way ... am sure an even higher sonic level can be achieved with the icon if/once these arrive
- the new node nano is of interest as there is no screen like on the icon to add noise and complexity... AND b-s smartly removed the internal smps opting for an outboard wart... and so a smart user can immediately use an lps to cleanly power the unit for best sound without an internal retrofit! well done blue sound! -- so if you can live with the nano’s basic connectivity it is just a terrific, focused unit to make great stereo music or feed your dac
- the node n130 n132 (and current node) all need the fairly simple retrofit to defeat the smps and plug in an extra lps... and once this is done, the sonic benefit is quite substantial, and without exaggeration, the sound closely approaches that of much much more expensive dacs and streamer/dacs.... this from fairly extensive personal listening comparisons -- i see these modded lps-ed nodes as real steals as they are excellent all-arounders with a wealth of connectivity options (streamer, streamer/dac, hdmi, subwoofer etc etc)