From the sweet spot on the two-seat sofa against the wall opposite the entertainment center, the Chineke! Step up to the Bluesound Node, made by NAD's partner company, for additional features and access to the full BluOS app.

Paul also plays music from his iPhone through an AudioQuest DragonFly Red micro-DAC that’s connected to the 3. the new NAD CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer may be your dream come true with connectivity options including Apple AirPlay 2, GoogleCast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Bluetooth and more. The CS1’s network streaming support is entirely driven by third-party streaming solutions: Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Roon and GoogleCast (which will likely handle the CS1’s network onboarding and configuration). For instance: There’s no way to tell the CS1 that you want to listen to your personal library of rare jazz recordings, so you’ll have to download an app that can do it. And guess what: neither Paul nor I could hear a meaningful difference between the CS1’s AirPlay stream and the hardwired connection to the Kin Play system through the DragonFly Red.For audiophiles who use Roon to stream music to a Roon Ready component in their primary systems, the CS1 is an easy way to add Roon capability to a secondary system in another room. If the Home app is controlling the volume, it must be doing some signal processing, which is not ideal! In my review on Simplifi, I described the Node as “an affordable, painless way to add streaming and other 21st-century capabilities to a legacy audio system. Under this Agreement NAD grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicenseable, royalty-free limited license to use the program or online documentation for use solely for the purpose of upgrading NAD Products.

Roon subscribers can play music from their digital libraries and from streaming services with resolutions up to 24-bit/192kHz.No app means no messing around with settings or complicated menus, and no real data-logging concerns. Based on my experiences with NAD products, I would expect the user experience to be well thought out. MConnect iOS App - The now-fully-paid-for version is used to stream music on the Uniti Core to the NAD CS1 and only works inconsistently, operating as expected sometimes and, sadly, often not. Each enclosure contains a 5″ natural-fiber hybrid woofer and a 1″ metal-alloy dome tweeter, powered by a 120Wpc class-D amplifier in the primary speaker.

This is a fabulous product that works faultlessly and consistently and it performs best, in my view, as a digital transport but also offers a solid analogue output. Alternatively, you can use the CS1’s optical or coaxial output to send digital audio to an AV receiver, external DAC, or a pair of powered speakers with digital input, at up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution.When streaming hi-rez to the CS1 via Chromecast, there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality. The 96kHz limit is displayed on the DAC but with the same track on Bluetooth from the same Qobuz App, the sample rate falls. The downside to this arrangement, as I alluded to above, is that without any app of its own you’ll need to use a dedicated app for each and every music source you want to play. A compact, minimalist design, the NAD CS1 has a pair of line-level analogue RCA outputs for connection to a stereo receiver, integrated amp, preamplifier, or a pair of powered speakers.