Bluesound Node Nano

Bluesound targets the entry- level music streamer market

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The late great musical icon Prince was, when not enhancing his stature using fancy footwear, just 5 feet 2 inches tall. Angus Young of AC/DC currently clocks in at the same height, whereas pop sensation du jour Sabrina Carpenter barely scrapes into the five-foot club at all. That restricted size, however, didn't prevent Carpenter from giving the world the 2024 mega-hit Espresso and jamming it into the brains of some What Hi-Fi? writers from now until the end of time.

To employ that awful cliché, it turns out that good things can indeed come in small packages, words that Canadian audio brand Bluesound aims to prove aren't just an empty platitude. Bluesound unveiled its three new-generation music streamers in 2024 - the premium Node Icon, the affordable Node (2024) and the entry-level Node Nano - and while all three models are compact by design, the Nano is by far the titchiest, and cheapest, of the trio. A small price and stature plus big performance could equal a seriously attractive entry-level proposition.

TECH SPECS

• Sources AirPlay 2, Bluetooth 5.2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Deezer, Roon Ready

• Inputs USB-A

• Outputs RCA, coaxial, optical Max file resolution 24-bit/192kHz PCM, DSD256

• Dimensions (hwd) 3.6cm x 14.3 x 14.3cm

Naturally, the name 'Nano' will have given you a clue that Bluesound's smallest member of the Node family is hardly a behemoth, but it still came as something of a surprise to our reviewers to take it out of its box and realise just how titchy this entry-level unit actually is. We're not quite in the deck of cards or bar of soap territory, but the Nano is so dinky that you can place it in one hand with ease - think of a squarer paperback book and you'll be in the right sort of ballpark.