This multi-room Hi-Res music streamer is a true original

Bluesound may not have the brand awareness of the biggest names in audio, but the Hi-Fi and home theatre firm makes extremely good audio hardware. When we reviewed the Bluesound Nano earlier this year, we gave it the full five stars for its "outstanding audio performance from any source".

There's also the not inconsiderable matter of its original NODE being the first wireless multi-room streamer. And now there's an even better model.

The Bluesound NODE ICON is the firm's flagship wireless music streamer, a multi-room device with a very high specification and striking design.

It's a good-looking thing, made from high quality aluminium and controlled via a 5-inch full colour display. You can even have it in any colour you like... as long as it's black.

Bluesound NODE ICON: key features and price

The NODE ICON is built around a dual-DAC design, with twin ESS SABRE ES9039Q2M DACs in a custom configuration. They're teamed with MQA Labs' QRONON d2a processing and a two-channel ES9826 SABRE to take care of analogue to digital conversion. These components promise ultra-low distortion and high resolution audio.

There's good news for headphone fans too. It comes with low noise, distortion-free THX AAA headphone amplification with dual left and right 1/4-inch outputs for extra flexibility.

There's a whole host of digital and analogue connections including HDMI eARC and balanced XLRs, and the NODE ICON will shortly get a software update to make it Dirac Live ready for room analysis and correction.

It also integrates with the BluOS ecosystem for multi-room audio – the standard that's also supported by DALI speakers and brands including Monitor Audio, NAD, PSB and Roksan.

The NODE ICON is available now for £899 (about $1,135 / AU$1,780) on bluesound.com and from authorised Bluesound dealers worldwide.