Bluesound Powernode Wireless Multi-Room High Resolution Music Streaming Amplifier - Black

I had the HK Citation streaming amp and was impressed with the sound quality. It packed up however after a couple of days with a fault that I later found out was very common with the HK unit. I didn’t want to chance the HK again and after getting a refund and checking reviews I went for the Bluesound as a replacement. Initially a little disappointed but after swopping out my Tannoy speakers for Monitor Audio floor standers I’m now very happy with the sound. Very detailed and goes way louder than comfortable listening levels despite relatively modest 80w per channel. Works beautifully, with great connection options and very solid wi-fi. I also bought the dedicated remote. Bit of a rip off by Bluesound not supplying this with the unit but the remote works great and is much better than using your phone to control the amp.

Sehr gute verstärker tolle Sound, gut verarbeitet der einzige Nachteil er wird sehr heiß deswegen ging er leider zurück.

UPDATE 9/2024. After 2 years, the unit completely died. I opted to have it serviced out of warranty at my local electronics shop, turns out a new power supply was required. The cost for repair was around about 300 USD. I have noticed the unit tends to stay warm. It was housed within a small bookshelf, not completely sealed, but without much ventilation. I have since moved it to the top shelf for maximum ventilation. I don’t know what caused the power supply to fail, but the unit should not have failed this quickly. Although I am disappointed, I still think this unit is very good for what it is. Now my original review: Not a whole lot I can add to the positive reviews. This is paired with my B&W bookshelf speakers for a rich and detailed sound. There is almost no setup time right out of the box. Although the amp is class D, there is no harshness or leanness with B&W speakers. This system just delivers sound in a pleasing way. Lots to be said for technology, class D is very efficient and runs cooler in a small form factor. The only downside, it may not drive low impedance speakers to high volume levels due to insufficient current. I like the support for Apple Airplay, a Wi-Fi connection is used to transmit sound from your iPad and is technically a higher bandwidth than the lofi Bluetooth protocols supported by IOS devices. A nice bonus you can use any remote, it will learn the codes from you favorite remote. The built in MQA hardware support requires an upgraded Tidal account. While the politics of MQA are interesting, what matters to the end consumer is how it sounds. After listening for a week, my take on MQA it’s sort of like a sophisticated tone control. It can make a track sound more spacious and airy with more clarity and definition of instruments. While some tracks sound better with MQA, can’t tell with other tracks. CD quality tracks that sound “flat“ stand to benefit the most from MQA. You will be able to do some AB comparisons in Tidal, judge for yourself. I personally like MQA as an option.

Fácil de configurar, fácil de usar, cómodo y suena bien por el precio. Tras 3 semanas de uso muy contento

Bought this as a One Box solution to play high quality streaming music. Pros: sound quality, power, ease of use and set up, great size (discrete), connectivity with phone Cons: have not been able to connect it to Alexa yet, needs your phone for volume etc,