Bluesound surround sound

[dorohe l]

Hey everyone,

I have the bluesound powenode edge with focal chora 806 (great combo by the way),
I'm thinking of expanding my system with rear speakers and a sub but at first I thought I would have to replace my amplifier to an AV receiver but then I read that bluesound offers an option of wireless surround (supports Dolby digital) if you buy another powenode.

Anyone have experience with this option?
Would it sound good?
I like the idea of having the amplifiers communicate wirelessly that way I won't have to run cables through my living room, but I'm not sure if it would sound good
I don't know how is would sound

And if we are on that topic
Any suggestions on some rear "on wall" speakers that would match my focals (having some wife restrictions on bookshelf or "in wall" speakers for rear speakers)?

Thank you

 

[ban25]

I think at best you can do a 4.1 setup this way, and BluOS will add 50ms of unavoidable latency to your audio output, resulting in serious lip sync issues. Furthermore, in my experience, Bluesound's wireless syncing tends to suffer from frequent dropouts, and their own documentation prefers wired connections wherever possible.

I'm not hating on Bluesound gear, I own two gen 3 POWERNODEs, a Node, a pair of Flex 2is, and probably other gear that I've forgotten about. But a POWERNODE is not appropriate for more than a 2.1 system (with Dolby Digital only, no DTS decoding).

The best advice for you is to buy a real AV Receiver.

 

[diwit]

Hey everyone,

I have the bluesound powenode edge with focal chora 806 (great combo by the way),
I'm thinking of expanding my system with rear speakers and a sub but at first I thought I would have to replace my amplifier to an AV receiver but then I read that bluesound offers an option of wireless surround (supports Dolby digital) if you buy another powenode.

Anyone have experience with this option?
Would it sound good?
I like the idea of having the amplifiers communicate wirelessly that way I won't have to run cables through my living room, but I'm not sure if it would sound good
I don't know how is would sound

And if we are on that topic
Any suggestions on some rear "on wall" speakers that would match my focals epoxy flooring toronto (having some wife restrictions on bookshelf or "in wall" speakers for rear speakers)?

Thank you

I have an extensive legacy quad collection of Q8's Q'4s, Cd-4's, SQ's, and QS's all analog. I am just now considering moving into the Digital Space Age and purchasing an AVR, like one of the Denon capable of Atmos and Heos equipped.

But, I see a lot of advantages to Bluesound for their streaming software. Here are my questions for the experts.

1) I believe the Bluesound Node has inputs for analog for 2 channels. Can one set up two separate Blue sound nodes on the same wifi system
and if so plug two analog RCA plugs into each of the nodes, and have analog quad available to stream to another room via wifi and wireless speakers?

2) Am I better off just using the AVR with HEOS to do this?

The potential advantage I see with Bluesound is mostly the software and ease of streaming from many many streaming services, as opposed to HEOS which seems both services limited and ease of use limited.

A big disadvantage I see with either system is that with HEOS, I'm limited to HEOS speakers for the wireless speakers in the other room, and
for Bluesound, the same thing, limited to Bluesound or a related sister company set of speakers that will work on BluOS. Can't for example use ELAC or KEF or other speakers I might consider better.

The advantage of having the AVR will be more for streaming or playing Atmos in the main room with hardwired speakers. But, I might play
something digital that I want to cast in quad or 5.1 to the other room too.

Is there an AVR capable of Atmos, in the class of the X4700 H or the X3800 H which will cast the music to another room and allow any speaker to be set up? Maybe I should be considering something else?

I could still do Bluesound on my QRX 8001 or the two Sony Receivers I use? But again, speaker compatibility is an issue if I want to both stream music and cast it, and play analog sourced music and cast it to another room. I sure don't want multiple sets of speakers.

Anyone ever cross these bridges before and have good suggestions before I cross the Rubicon?

HEOS vs. Bluesound,
Speaker compatitibilty all around
Can two powernodes work together to cast in 4 channels using analog inputs?
Can Bluesound stream atmos if I plut it into the AVR? Would only one powernode be required for that using HDMI?

Thank you in advance for your help on this.

 

[ban25]

I would take BluOS (Bluesound) over HEOS any day of the week due to it's best-in-class app design and feature set. If there's anything better, it's Roon, and Bluesound devices are Roon Ready out of the box. HEOS really has the feel of some early 2000's hardware company design that's been on life support for a decade plus.

That said, you need to be realistic about the practical limitations of wireless streaming. Can you tie together two POWERNODEs to cast 4 channels somehow? No. Will you have occasional audio drop-outs streaming content, particularly higher bitrate lossless (i.e. 96 KHz / 24-bit)? Yes. There's a reason Sonos is limited to 48 KHz / 24-bit (and AirPlay 48 KHz / 16-bit), and those systems still drop-out occasionally too. Also note that the POWERNODE cannot decode Atmos, DTS X, or DTS, only DD+. It will play FLAC and MQA up to 192 KHz / 24-bit.

Best solution here is to forget about wireless and run speaker cables in-wall. Then you can use a modern AVR, or a BluOS enabled device like a POWERNODE if you have a 2-channel zone you need to support.