I love my Node I also have to say something about the internal DAC.
Answered
I have my Node N130 connected to a pair of Elac Debut Connex active speakers and yesterday I bought an optical cable to do a comparison of the Node's internal DAC (connected over analogue out) and the Elacs internal DAC (optical out on the Node). Using the remote of the Elacs I can switch between inputs while the Node keeps playing which makes a direct comparison very easy. Mind you, the Elacs are a reasonably priced pair of active speakers (€529) but its internal DAC is better than the Node's. It sounds more open, slightly more forward and has better clarity, especially in the midrange which makes vocals sound more natural. The Node's soundstage on the other hand is pushed back and the lack of clarity compared to the DAC in the Elacs makes it sound like it's a bit veiled. All in all not what I expected and not up to par for a €500 streamer.
Conclusion, it's a great streamer with great software and I love that I can use any old remote to control it but the DAC holds it back.
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The Node's soundstage on the other hand is pushed back and the lack of clarity compared to the DAC in the Elacs makes it sound like it's a bit veiled. All in all not what I expected and not up to par for a €500 streamer.
This is the correct description of (the rather "shitty") analog input of your speakers, Not the analog output of the Node.
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You say it's the analogue input on the Elacs but I disagree. I also did a comparison of the Eversolo DMP-A6's optical and analogue output and while there is a slight loss in clarity with the Eversolo connected to the analogue input on the Elacs, the difference isn't as big as with the Node. That tells me the Node's DAC (and analogue output) just isn't as good.
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The Node's DAC is fairly average, most people I know use external DACs. Quite a few use external PSUs as well. In a streamer of this price I would not expect anything special. EverSolo are getting some good reports. The Bluesound Node was good but feel it has been overtaken recently.
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I bought my Node secondhand on a Dutch online marketplace and the previous owner installed a PD Creative interface board which allowed him to use it with an SBooster PSU. It was the only Node on there at that time and he didn't want to sell the PSU separately, which I can understand, so it was a package deal. I haven't bothered to put the original SMPS back in the Node to do a comparison so I don't know if it actually makes a difference. Online reviews say it makes a significant difference though on the analogue output but still, I found the Eversolo's DAC has better transparency and resolution.
Having said all this, I no longer care about the Node's internal DAC because I'm using it over optical with the Elacs. I do think a Node without a DAC would be nice for those who want to use it purely as a streamer with an external DAC.
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The PSU, I found makes a difference. Having a Node without a DAC, won't much difference, cost will be about the same, as DAC is cheap and making two models will increase costs. You can just ignore the internal DAC. There are a few streamers that don't have DACs. I maybe trying out a few next year. EverSolo and Innuos.
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