Bluesound Node ICON Reference Multi-Room High Resolution Wireless Music Streamer
$1,199.00
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Redefining wireless audio. Experience pristine sound quality and uncompromising performance with our cutting-edge products.
Studio-grade audio for true music enthusiasts. Revolutionize your music listening with Bluesound.
Home Theater
Wireless Streamers
The NODE ICON redefines HiFi listening with its expertly crafted Dual-Mono DAC design. Featuring two cutting-edge ESS SABRE ES9039Q2M DACs and transparent circuitry, it delivers sound with unparalleled dynamic range, ultra-low distortion, and exceptional resolution. MQA Labs’ groundbreaking QRONO d2a technology further refines DAC performance by correcting timing errors during digital-to-analogue conversion, ensuring the timing response aligns perfectly with the original recording for an authentic listening experience.
With a bold industrial design for the next generation of HiFi, the NODE ICON features a high-quality aluminum chassis, balanced XLR outputs, and a beautiful 5” full-colour HD display. Its sleek gloss black finish integrates seamlessly into any setup, while audiophile-grade connections ensure superior performance. Supporting DSD playback, it features the latest ES9826 SABRE ADC, delivering true-to-source analog audio with minimal noise or distortion.
Stream all the music ever recorded with the NODE ICON, from popular streaming services to your personal digital libraries, all accessible through the BluOS Controller. With built-in AirPlay 2 and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth. HDMI eARC lets you connect seamlessly to your TV, bringing hi-res audio into your home, all with just a single cable.
The NODE ICON can wirelessly connect to Bluesound speakers and stereo components to create a multi-room music system connected by BluOS throughout your whole home. With dual-band Wi-Fi for dropout free listening, you can play your new favorite track everywhere or listen to different music and genres in different rooms with total control from your phone, tablet, or desktop.
Lifelike headphone listening is made possible by THX AAA technology, the headphone amplifier that boasts the world’s most linear response. Its patented feed-forward error correction results in remarkably low noise and distortion, revealing exceptional soundstage and clarity. Connect your high-performance headphones to the left or right full-sized 1/4″ headphone jacks and enjoy audiophile listening without fuss or compromise.
The NODE ICON comes ready to intelligently fight bad room acoustics with Dirac Live, available as an upgrade directly from Dirac. Use Dirac’s app to measure your room acoustics and eliminate standing waves, reverberations, and other unwanted distortions. The result is clear, balanced, and detailed sound for your music and movie soundtracks. A calibration kit with a high-sensitivity microphone is also required and available from Bluesound with additional purchase.
10 reviews for Bluesound Node ICON Reference Multi-Room High Resolution Wireless Music Streamer
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$1,199.00
FlyingV –
Good sound and connectivity
I’ve been using an OPPO BDP-93 to play audio files since 2011 and finally decided it was time for an upgrade. It’s possible to spend THOUSANDS of dollars on digital players, and while I’m OK with getting spendy with my amps/speakers, I’m not convinced those high end players are really that much better – YMMV. Bluesound has a good rep for making quality digital players at a somewhat reasonable price range so when they launched the ICON I decided it was time to pull the trigger.Starting with the bad…There was A LOT of swearing during the setup process. Good times. The bluOS app was glitchy and I was ready to start the return process – but shutting down my iPhone and restarting fixed some of the issues. Getting the unit to read my WAV files off a thumbdrive took way to much “fiddling” but finally it recognized the drive. One fun feature – every time someone sent me a text the unit would stop playing. This is a deal breaker, but the next day it stopped doing this and has worked fine since. Go figure… The owners manual is a freaking joke. Come on – for this price range you should do better. I’m still struggling with the interface for Amazon music, hard to tell who is at fault here. Could be me!What do I love?I wanted a device that I could plug into my preamp, that would play WAV (CD) and other audio files, handle sound from the TV, and access my Pandora stations – all via a phone or tablet app. The ICON does all of these well. And it sounds really good. Seriously good. Better than my old Oppo which was no slouch in it’s day. I have never been a huge fan of digital sound – the first time I heard a CD player I was not impressed. Digital has come a long way since, and while I still prefer a good clean LP, the ICON darn close and is so much easier to utilize.Couple points. I initially connected my LG TV using the HDMI eARC but the problem with this is I was unable to use ONLY the TV speakers and there are times I don’t want to fire up multiple components to get sound from the TV. Connecting the TV using the optical out fixed this issue.I listened running the ICON into my VTL tube preamp, and then tried running it directly to my VTL power amp using the ICON as a preamp. Yah, it sounds better going into the tube preamp first. Connecting it directly into the power amp resulted in a much “brittle” sound – almost unenjoyable to my ears. YMMV.I have not yet listened to DSD files which should in theory sound better than WAV. I’m not sure why Bluesound opted to limit DSD to 256 instead of 512. At this price point that’s a swing and a miss Bluesound. The HD files I have played from Amazon sound very nice however.I’m connecting the ICON to the preamp using the cheap RCA cables that came with the unit. I plan on trying some higher quality interconnects in the future. I did not test the balanced out connections as my preamp does not have that as an option.All in all I’m very satisfied.System specs: VTL 2.5 preamp. VTL ST-150 power amp. Joseph Audio Pulsar speakers.
Leo The 3rd –
Great streamer that punches above it’s price point.
Fantastic music streamer. Love the look and functionality of the new device (I own a Node 2i which has been great). The 1/4inch jacks on each side of the device is great. The sound generated is blissful. Setup was easy – plugin, configure and it connected to my existing NAS for playback. I even added a few of the new services I hadn’t used in the past. The unit is solidly built and the number of inputs/outputs are sufficient – the inclusion of XLR out is a bonus. Satisfied with my purchase.
Marc M. Mamiye –
One of the best streamers for any price
One of the best streamers out there. Don’t waste your money on expensive brands that makes streamers because the interface usually sucks. The note icon interface is one of the best I’ve used. Very simple and very clean. Never hangs up like other streamers. And the sound is just pristine very resolving. Highly recommend recommended.
B. Koehler –
Killer network player
My review is for the Bluesound Node ICON Reference Multi-Room High Resolution Wireless Music Streamer. I say that because I sometimes see reviews on product pages that aren’t the product I’m looking at. Now that that’s out of the way, this thing is pretty amazing. The two things that sold me on it were, first and most important, it has balanced XLR output. Any serious audio system uses balanced connections instead of unbalanced RCA cables. That’s what got my attention when looking for a network player. The large screen is great and makes the thing look pretty cool sitting on the shelf. I haven’t had this unit very long so I’m still learning the companion app, but it’s not hard. The sound quality is absolutely amazing. I ripped 20 CD’s to FLAC format using my PC to test the sound with using Exact Audio Copy (if you know you know). It’s got a good selection of streaming services too, including one of my favorite free ones, Radio Paradise. It even supports an HDMI ARC connection from a TV. Because Blusound built this thing with two mono, high-quality DACs instead of a single, cheaper stereo one, the output is uncompromised. It’s the reference unit that all network players could only hope to match for the price. Two thumbs way up.
Montanero –
Excellent Streamer/DAC
Nice build quality. Extremely simple setup and configuration. Excellent sound quality and the bass management feature is very useful and adds another dimension to my listening experience. Good value and highly recommended.
François-Régis BONA –
Excellent lecteur réseau. Efficace pour lire de la musique depuis un NAS. Belle interface mais qui nécessiterait une légère refonte visuelle notamment pour accéder aux fonctionnalités de base.L’intégration des services musicaux tel que Tidal pourrait être améliorée. Ceci étant, après investigations, j’ai finalement appris que les problèmes de performances venait de la plate-forme Tidal Connect.Sinon RAS, merci à toute l’équipe Bluesound !
stef –
Great piece of kit. I’ve upgraded from a node2i and it is an upgrade!The sound quality is excellent but there is no need for the display – it doesn’t add any value but adds cost and cannot be read from anywhere over 5/6 yards away…
ivan –
Ich habe viele Schallplatten, 2 Plattenspieler mit MM-Cartridges und höre gerne Musik übers Internet (Spotify, Qobuz, Jazz-Radios, insbesondere “Musiq3 Jazz” aus Belgien!) oder von meiner NAS (mp3 und flac).Nach mehreren Jahren Besitz und Betrieb von unterschiedlichen AB-Vollverstärkern (diverse Cambridge, Yamaha AS, Lavardin und zuletzt Hegel H190 und H390) habe ich mich 2024 für den Wechsel auf eine Class-D Endstufe entschieden. Zuerst war ein Hypex DIY Nilai500 und am Ende wurde ein Boxem A 4216E2 mit Purifi Modulen der letzten Generation (Boxem ist eine kleine Manufaktur aus Luxemburg).Konstanter blieb in den Jahren die Wahl für Lautsprecher: zuerst ATC SCM11 und nun ATC SCM19.Meinen DAC Ares2, meinen Transporter ifi zen stream und meine Phono Vorverstärker Pro-ject tube box ds2 habe ich verkauft und mir als All-in-one-Lösung eine Wiim Ultra als Streamer, Vorverstärker, DAC und Phonopre geholt. Ich fand, dass die Platten an der Wiim “leblos” klangen und entschied mich wieder für einen Phono-Vorverstärker Pro-ject tube box ds2, der an Line-in der Wiim angeschlossen war. Soweit so gut.Dann habe ich einen Bericht über den neuen Bluesound Node Nano angesehen, dass er im Vergleich zu der Wiim Ultra einen neueren DAC-Chip von ESS als der von der Ultra, dadurch würde der Nano u. a. “offener” spielen. Nachdem ich ihm mir angehört habe, habe ich mich entscheiden, meine Wiim Ultra zu verkaufen und habe mir als Vorverstärker/Umschalter eine kleine Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Analogue (3 Eingänge analog). An der Pre Box S2 habe ich dann den Node Nano und den Phonopre tube box ds2 angeschlossen. Soweit so gut.Diese Kombination mit dem Purifi-Endstufe klingt sehr linear, kräftig und ist auf jeden Fall fürs Langzeithören tauglich.Wieder wurde ich neugierig und habe mir den nächsten Move überlegt: Node Nano und Pre Box S2 weg, dafür einen Node Icon holen. Man, das war eine gute Entscheidung!Der Icon hat eine noch klarere, linearer Darstellung als der Node Nano (bei dem Preisunterschied keine Überraschung!) und der Analog-Eingang für den Phonopre ist sehr neutral, die tube box DS2 kommt rüber so wie ich sie kenne.Ich nehme an, in der Icon steckt eine viel stärkeren Prozessor, dadurch läuft die Indexierung viel schneller und die WLAN-Verbindung ist stabiler als mit der Nano.Unterschiede Im Universum Bluesound Node und Wiim:1) Die Bluesounds haben (leider?) keine DLNA-Unterstützung und die NAS (Synology) muss “gemountet” werden. Wenn sich in der NAS an der Musiksammlung was ändert, muss die eine neue Indexierung angestoßen werden (läuft auf jeden Fall viel schneller als die erste Indexierung).2) App-Steuerung: beide sind gut, die Wiim hat mehr technische Einstellungen, die ich nicht wirklich vermisse. Bluesound hat dafür nicht nur App für iOS und Android, sondern auch für Windows und Linux. Ferner kann man die Box über den Browser bedienen. Das war für meine erste Einrichtung wichtig.3) Die Nodes geben Auskunft über ihre Stati (Firmware-Update, Indexierung läuft, Hotspot an etc.) über unterschiedliche Farben an dem Bedienpanel.4) Fernbedienung: meine Ultra kam mit einer Fernbedienung, die hat aber eine komische Latenz und das hat mir nicht wirklich gefallen. Die Nodes kommen ohne FB, man kann sich entweder eine Original-FB holen oder eine Clone-FB. Oder noch besser: eine vorhandene FB ganz einfach über die App für die wesentlichen Funktionen einrichten (Lautstärke, Track vor/zurück, Input). Ich habe an meiner 10 Euro Universal-FB mit der Taste für VR die meisten Funktionen gefunden.5) Einstellung der Lautstärke beachten: zusätzlich zu der Lautstärke-Einstellung Fixed/Variabel soll man die Einstellung für “Lautstärke-Limit” an den Nodes ausprobieren: z. B. linke Seite des Schiebers auf -40 db und rechte Seite auf 0 db.Eine wichtige Motivation für meine Aktivitäten war u. a. den Energiebedarf zu optimieren. Der Node Icon zusammen mit dem Boxem verbrauchen ca. 4,9 Watt im Standby, im Betrieb ca. 28 Watt. Die Werte mit der Wiim Ultra waren vergleichbar.Ich benutze den Icon wie die Wiim Ultra als Vorverstärker, DAC und Streamer. Wer seinen Streamer als Transporter benutz und ihn direkt an einen externen DAC anschließt, dem reicht für die Daten-Weiterleitung an den DAC einen einfachen bit-perfect Streamer, wie die Einstiegs-Wiims.Wer eine bessere “All-in-One-Lösung” für seinen Verstärker/Endstufe sucht, dem kann ich den Icon auf jeden Fall empfehlen!NACHTRAG per 03.03.25 wg. DIRAC: ich habe mir das Original BlueSound Room Correction Kit und die DIRAC-Lizenz “Full” gekauft. Mit der ermittelten Optimierung klingt der Hobel jetzt noch besser in meinem Raum.
namor –
An excellent streamer for the price! Can feel right at home in a very high end system.Lovely sound when used as just a streamer or via it’s internal DAC.Only used balance outputs and dig out…… I would assume the RCAs out will produce equaly great sound.Ease of use excellent. BluOs app very good as well.
michelina –
Fatto upgrade da Bluesound Node 2i del 2001 – La prima impressione su alcuni brani è di una maggiore profondità nei bassi e miglior trasparenza sugli alti. In alcuni brani si nota la maggior separazione dovuta (IMO) al doppio Sabre. Trattasi in ogni caso di miglioramenti percettibili solo con impianto adeguato. L’App BlueOS è molto stabile e user friendly. Pre Tube Technology valvolare 2 telai signature Zia Faruqi, finale Cambridge Audio A100 Dual Mono design Stan Curtis, casse Advent 3002. Cavetteria adeguata. Connesso via Ethernet. Fibra FTTH.