Best Connection to McIntosh for Amazon Music

I use your Bluesound NODE 2 and want to find the best way to listen to the higher bitrate.

Amazon Music HD affords two types of streaming: high definition (HD) and Ultra HD, both of which are encoded by the lossless FLAC codec. HD audio streams up to 850kbps, which is more than double the bitrate of lossy streaming services that cap at 320kbps.

If I Bluetooth to connect to your device I see a message of Qualcom aptX. When I use the BluOS app I do not see this feature. The Bluetooth Qualcom had significantly better sound.

I am wondering if your BluOS app offers the same rich sound.

First question:

Does your product allow for this level of bitrate? If not, do you have a product that is like Node 2 that allows this kind of fidelity.

Second Question:

I also have a McIntosh MX 121 which has 192 kHz/24 bit DACs. What is the best way to connect your product to the McIntosh? Shall I use RCA Jacks or Optical Out which would use the McIntosh DAC?

Thanks in advance.

Official comment

Mark T.

Sr. Support Crew Member

May 25, 2022 13:21

Hi,

First question: YES, 2nd question, Yes.

If Amazon Music and no MQA are needed then you can use the DAC of your Macintosh, it all just depends on your sound preference. If you want to use the DAC of the Node or your Macintosh - both supports 24/192.

Thanks for #LivingHiFi

datasort

May 29, 2022 15:39

Thanks for the reply. I am still searching for the best connection.

Does the Node DAC and then RCA provide better sound or

Does the DAC from the McIntosh sound better due to the lack of loss from RCA connection.

Traditionally Bluetooth connections are not as rich as DAC converters.

How come the Bluetooth connection from the Qualcom aptX from my Amazon phone app sound much better than the Node DAC. Is the node DAC not able to receive the HD audio streams of 850kbps?

Best Connection to McIntosh for Amazon Music

Comments

Didn't find what you were looking for?