Bluesound Node 2i or Marantz NA6006?

[gellie]

Looking to replace my Squeezebox touch(Too many problems with LMS since upgrading to Catalina). Which one offer the best sound quality? Is one inherently easier to use or more future proof? FWIW I'm running my touch into my Marantz SR7005, Streaming into second zone via Adcom GFA 555ms. 

[jcbenten]

I would guess, but do not know, the Bluesound will be easier to use.  The Marantz has been around for awhile and should also be straight forward and most likely offer more options.  You do not list your network/system but I you will need a server...I assume loaded on your mac device.  Then you will need the control point.  This is all the same as LMS.

 

Note that if you have an NAS, LMS is way more stable on that device...at least it has been on my QNAP running QLMS (https://www.qnapclub.eu/en/qpkg/545).  This has been brilliant as compared to running LMS on my Windows machines.

[gellie]

Thanks. I actually have all my music on a separate HD attached to my Mac. LMS has been a nightmare on the new Mac OS Catalina. 
I have a feeling that the Bluesound server might be more user friendly. 

[Cebolla]

  

On 1/13/2020 at 10:23 PM, gellie said:

Looking to replace my Squeezebox touch(Too many problems with LMS since upgrading to Catalina).

 

LMS runs very well on a Raspberry Pi:

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?109848-Raspberry-PI-for-LMS-with-network-storage-for-PC-and-Mac

 

  

On 1/13/2020 at 10:23 PM, gellie said:

FWIW I'm running my touch into my Marantz SR7005, Streaming into second zone via Adcom GFA 555ms. 

 

BTW, the Marantz SR7005 AVR is a network audio file player in its own right, so you shouldn't need to attach an external streamer to it, such as the Maranrz NA6005 & the Bluesound (never mind the Squeezebox Touch), in the first place.

 

The SR7005 even can be used to stream audio files directly from LMS as if it were a Squeezebox type device. You would need to install either the AirPlay Bridge 3rd party LMS plugin or the UPnP/DLNA Bridge 3rd party LMS plugin - the SR7005 supports both AirPlay and UPnP/DLNA streaming.

[gellie]

9 hours ago, Cebolla said:

  

 

LMS runs very well on a Raspberry Pi:

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?109848-Raspberry-PI-for-LMS-with-network-storage-for-PC-and-Mac

 

  

 

BTW, the Marantz SR7005 AVR is a network audio file player in its own right, so you shouldn't need to attach an external streamer to it, such as the Maranrz NA6005 & the Bluesound (never mind the Squeezebox Touch), in the first place.

 

The SR7005 even can be used to stream audio files directly from LMS as if it were a Squeezebox type device. You would need to install either the AirPlay Bridge 3rd party LMS plugin or the UPnP/DLNA Bridge 3rd party LMS plugin - the SR7005 supports both AirPlay and UPnP/DLNA streaming.

 

[gellie]

Thanks. Tried using the Marantz as a streamer early on. When I A/B tested to SQ vs the Touch, the touch sounded better. even better when I ran the touch through my Oppo 105. As I said in my earlier post, I believe the problem is running LMS with Catalina 10.15.2.  

[gellie]

Not sure if the DAC is better on the Touch than the 7005. Tried both using RCA cables. Oppo running CoAx sounds great. But their software is clunky(and old) at best. 

[Cebolla]

3 hours ago, gellie said:

Thanks. Tried using the Marantz as a streamer early on. When I A/B tested to SQ vs the Touch, the touch sounded better. even better when I ran the touch through my Oppo 105.

 

3 hours ago, gellie said:

Not sure if the DAC is better on the Touch than the 7005. Tried both using RCA cables. Oppo running CoAx sounds great. But their software is clunky(and old) at best. 

 

Ok - you appear to be saying that you found the digital audio signal generated internally within the 7005, ie, when the 7005 itself is the network audio file player/streamer, sounds worse than when using an external streamer to input the digital audio signal to the 7005, with the OPPO as the external streamer sounding "great" (presumably the best) compared to the Touch as the external streamer. Plus if you use the Touch's DAC (so its analogue audio output instead of its digital audio output) to the 7005, then you can't tell if the 7005 (presumably including when used on its own, ie, as the streamer) sounds better or the Touch does.

 

 

When you originally tested the 7005 as a streamer, was that also using UPnP/DLNA or did you just test using AirPlay?

 

Using AirPlay would have been the easiest audio network streaming method to use if the audio files were being sourced from your Mac, given OS X's built-in support of AirPlay. To use UPnP/DLNA streaming you would have had to have installed UPnP/DLNA media server software on the Mac. It's not unknown for the audio to sound worse when using Airplay compared to using UPnP/DLNA for streaming.

 

Incidentally, you'd have the 7005's same streaming options if you use the Marantz NA6006 as the streamer - unlike the BlueSound Node 2i (or the OPPO 105 using its "clunky" software), Marantz devices can't access audio files directly from networked shared drives and require a UPnP/DLNA media server to provide the audio files over the network instead, in much the same way as the Squeezebox Touch requires LMS.

 

For completeness, I should also mention that the OPPO 105 also supports UPnP/DLNA streaming and Bluesound devices don't, but the Node 2i does support AirPlay 2. The OPPO 105 supporting UPnP/DLNA streaming gives you an alternative to using its "clunky" software - you should even be able to use LMS with it (requires you install the UPnP/DLNA Bridge 3rd party LMS plugin, I mentioned in my last post).

 

 

 

3 hours ago, gellie said:

As I said in my earlier post, I believe the problem is running LMS with Catalina 10.15.2.  

 

Yes, I did note that. I only mentioned getting the tiny efficient low cost Raspberry Pi to use to run LMS as a known working alternative device to the Mac, given you were having issues running LMS under Catalina - would certainly be worth trying if it saves you purchasing another streamer!

[gellie]

Yes I believe when I streamed from the 7005, it was via Airplay. To be honest, at this point im just looking for the easiest solution to stream my HiRez downloads and maybe Tidal or Qobuz. Thanks for all you help. BTW my music is all on a separate drive attached to my Mac.

[Cebolla]

  

2 hours ago, gellie said:

Yes I believe when I streamed from the 7005, it was via Airplay. To be honest, at this point im just looking for the easiest solution to stream my HiRez downloads and maybe Tidal or Qobuz.

 

Well if your intention is to still use the Mac with the music files on the attached separate drive, then you may as well install a decent music file dedicated UPnP/DLNA media server, such as the excellent free (donations welcome) MinimServer, to use with the 7005 to get a feel for how it works if nothing else - you'd need to do the same if you did get the Marantz NA6006.

 

The Marantz SR7005 is DLNA certified as a Digital Media Renderer (DMR), so you should be able to use it with an up to date app capable of controlling UPnP/DLNA streamers, such as the mconnect Player app (iOS & Android, free Lite version available for testing). The mconnect Player app also gives the controlled streamer access to Qobuz and TIDAL online streaming services.

 

The NA6006 being one of the latest Marantz HEOS supporting streamers can be controlled with its own Marantz HEOS controller app. However all HEOS streamers can also be used as standard UPnP/DLNA streamers, so the NA6006 can be used for network streaming with third party (ie, UPnP/DLNA) controller apps, such as mconnect Player, as an alternative.

 

 

  

2 hours ago, gellie said:

BTW my music is all on a separate drive attached to my Mac.

 

As with all operating systems, OS X normally isolates the fact that the files are being accessed from an external drive or an internal drive. So as far as any audio file accessing software on the Mac is concerned or indeed a networked device accessing the files via a networked shared folder, the files are available from the Mac itself and them being stored on an separate drive attached to the Mac would be irrelevant.

 

Is your intention to stop using the Mac with the separate drive attached for accessing the audio files over the network, so attach the drive instead to the proposed new streamer for direct/non-networked access?

 

[gellie]

Thanks again. As a thought, Is it possible to use my Oppo 105 to stream my music from my Mac? I was thinking/hoping that I can use something like  Audirvana and utilize the DAC on my Oppp stream? Or Do I need to connect my HD to the Oppo first?

[Cebolla]

Yes, I did mention the OPPO 105 supports UPnP/DLNA streaming, so you are not restricted to just using its clunky software. Audirvana has a built-in UPnP/DLNA controller and media server, so should work with the 105.

 

The main issue with using the OPPO 105 (or I should say any OPPO) as a UPnP/DLNA streamer is that it doesn't support gapless playback.

[gellie]

I thought there was some software update several years ago that supported gapless?

[Cebolla]

No, unfortunately the firmware update providing gapless playback support for the BDP-105 only worked when using their clunky controller software. Full support for gapless playback, so when using a UPnP/DLNA controller, was promised, but never came.

 

OPPO never added gapless playback support under UPnP/DLNA streaming, despite the promises, for any of their models, even those that came after the BDP-105, including the last one, the UDP-205.

 

 

Ironically, if you can get LMS working again, setting the Flow configuration option on that UPnP/DLNA Bridge LMS plugin I mentioned earlier, can get UPnP/DLNA streamers that don't support gapless playback to play gaplessly under LMS control!

[gellie]

Thanks again. You have been very helpful. Unfortunately some of the suggestions you mentioned are way above my pay scale. On a positive note, I found the original WiFi dongle for my Oppo and got it on my network. Downloaded the Audirvna software. I tried the first couple of songs on my library and it worked very well. I noticed there were some songs missing so I rescanned my library and now I can’t play anything. I’m certain I have it directed to the correct place(my external drive). I guess I need to play around with it a bit. I’m on the free trial and support seems nonexistent. 

[Cebolla]

22 hours ago, gellie said:

Downloaded the Audirvna software. I tried the first couple of songs on my library and it worked very well. I noticed there were some songs missing so I rescanned my library and now I can’t play anything. I’m certain I have it directed to the correct place(my external drive). I guess I need to play around with it a bit. I’m on the free trial and support seems nonexistent. 

 

May be worth posting your problem in the Audirvana thread, if you haven't resolved it yet:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55844-audirvana-plus-35/

[gellie]

15 hours ago, Cebolla said:

 

May be worth posting your problem in the Audirvana thread, if you haven't resolved it yet:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55844-audirvana-plus-35/

 

Thanks. already did. There support forums seem to be little followed. I can get it working sometimes and other times it looks like the software freezes. Might have something to do with the Oppo. when I reset it(unplugging and replugging) It will work for a while. 

[gellie]

Actually, I though you were referring to the Audirvana support  forums. Thanks for the link.

[Gendo]

Hi cebolla , i sent you an internal message

[Steve42307]

I've had both.  I liked the Marantz better because it has both fixed and variable outputs whereas the Bluesound only has one set of analog outputs which can be changed via the BluOS app.  When you do change it to variable, it changes both the digital and analog outputs to variable.  This was a pain in the ass for me since I like to use variable analog outputs to my outdoor speaker amp and use fixed to my pre-amp.  Besides that, the Marantz sounds better