I see that Bluesound is moving their old stock of Vault 2s at 50% off. I’ve been looking for something to replace our Cambridge 851N, especially something that runs Amazon HD and can store our CDs. I’d love a Innuos mini, but not without Amazon connectivity …Will I regret this sort of purchase and since we are an Apple home, will the 2i upgrades be missed?
The biggest thing you’ll miss is that it doesn’t do AirPlay 2. And by not having that, you’ll be losing easy access to streaming Apple Music because, unlike Sonos, Bluesound hasn’t integrated it into their App and per what I’ve read on their support pages, have no intention of doing so. (Run-on sentence much, Mike?). So if you stream via Tidal or other setups, you’re fine.
Mike
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Thanks Mike
Will be able to load a Bluesound App onto our iPhones or my wife’s iPad? We’ve just been streaming Amazon from those devices via wifi to the Cambridge. The quality is limited on Airplay to CD level. That’s still fine, but I yearn to hear the higher resolution.
John
Yeah, you can put the Bluesound app on your phone and iPad. It’s REALLY a good app. As to whether it will stream the Amazon Music stuff in HD, I can’t say since it’s not a service I use. It does let you use Amazon Music in the app so you can stream it direct and not through a device (which is what’s required for Apple Music-a brain-dead solution IMHO which is what happens on the 2i via AirPlay 2, and why I still have Sonos too). I’d check the Bluesound forums for advice on Amazon HD.
Good luck. I’ve been happy with my 2i.
Mike
PS. I don’t have the Vault, just the node 2i since I keep my music on a NAS in the basement. So, YMMV. Sorry I didn’t catch this on the initial post.
John,
And let me say again. It’s an excellent app. I was a huge fan of the Sonos app until I used the Bluesound one. It’s well thought out, attractive, and responsive. I find I default to the Bluesound app over Roon even. I still can’t fathom why Roon doesn’t let you get to an ABC-shortcut list while scrolling through long lists on iPhone. It’s maddening. I don’t think you can go wrong with Bluesound.
Mike
Thanks Mike,
Hearing that you would consider Bluesound over Roon is intriguing. Going the Roon route with their hard drive version of equipment has been on the list (Again, it would require that we move away from Amazon).
Appreciate you taking the time to respond.
John
John,
Know that I’m in the gross minority on preferring the Bluesound app over Roon. I have Roon, running on a NUC computer. I just find it’s overkill for most of my listening. I also don’t subscribe to Tidal or Qobuz and depend almost exclusively on my home library of music which makes me an outlier. The only streaming service I have is Apple Music because it’s what my kids like.
You can do Roon hardware a lot cheaper than Nucleus. And since Roon lifetime costs more than the Vault, it ends up being an investment.
Were I recommending? I’d say get the Vault. It works with Roon should you want to add it later and it makes ripping CDs easy and gives you local storage for your stuff. Plus it works with Amazon; even if it’s not HD now, I can’t imagine it won’t be down the road. No guarantees because I don’t know anything.
If you’re curious about Roon, get the free trial of the software or subscribe for a year and see what you use most. Run the core on whatever computer you have already. And see what you think.
Best of luck.
Mike
Mike,
I just wanted to thank you for the very thoughtful response. It’s like you read my mind (and you didn’t go down any esoteric rabbit holes about spdif, matrix, special cables and linear or non-linear power supplies.
I’ve, hopefully, one last question: Given all the conversations about protecting your ripped cds, does the Vault have a convenient way to back-up it’s hard drive?
As an aside, Amazon is now streaming a great deal of its content in HD and what they call Ultra HD (Whatever that is).
Thanks again
John
John,
So, yes. Lol. You’re encouraging me now to add a vault. Lol.
Good luck and Merry Christmas.
Mike
For what it’s worth, I’ve been using the BluOS app on my iPhone and iPad for a little over a year now (through a Node 2i), and I just signed up for Roon during their “90-days-for-a-dollar” promo, and so far I have to agree with Mike that the Bluesound app is better, at least for my purposes. Granted I’m still a complete noob with Roon, but I’ve been playing around with it quite a bit, and while it seems plenty powerful, with a number of interesting features, it makes it harder to do some things I’d come to take for granted with BluOS. In fact, my only complaint about the way the BluOS app works is it’s awkward to shuffle the content of a Qobuz playlist. You have to go through some gyrations that include emptying the play queue first, or else it’ll play one selection from the list and then go on to other things outside of it.
I will admit I’m having some connectivity issues with it, but I suspect that’s more of a network thing than an app thing. Sometimes my phone can’t find the streamer, even though it shows they’re connected in the Bluetooth settings, and recently neither phone nor ipad is showing my file library at all. That started about the time I installed Roon on my iMac, so maybe there’s an issue there, or maybe it’s the network thing. I suspect the network because my Linksys app shows my phone as not being connected to my Velop network, even though the phone itself displays the wifi signal icon on it. Not sure what that’s all about, but I know it’s causing problems with communicating with my thermostat, which only responds to the phone’s commands if I disconnect the phone from wifi and go via cell data.
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I love the Bluesound iPhone app for the “next playing” display and the ability to scroll long lists fast. Roon is amazing. It’s really a best-in-class solution, but I PREFER Bluesound for day-to-day use. It’s fast, small, and user-centric. Roon is something else with lots of analysis, reviews, lyrics, and linking. I’m glad I have it. But sometimes I just want to listen to music, and Bluesound is “enough”.
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