It’ not easy at all, there are all the combinations of the legacy streamers, Unitiqute, Unitilite, Uniti, Superuniti, ND5XS, NDX, NDS including the Bluetooth and non Bluetooth versions and FM/DAB variants.
It’s simply not viable for a range that has been discontinued. It’s a considerable drain on development and testing resource.
You can argue till the cows come home but it won’t happen.
What? They want me to pay them to bug my house so they can sell information about everything my family says forever more to whichever corporation or government wants to monetize me or brainwash me!
No thanks.
So? People who want to use Tidal still can use the firmware with Tidal. Easy solution.
I’m a senior software engineer for more than twenty years with a lot of experience on all systems you can think of. It’s easy. They just don’t want to do it and that’s where my problem lies. And yes I know my whining here will not change their policy but they lost a customer because of this same stupid policy.
If it’s that easy for you, perhaps you should offer your services to Naim, because they certainly didn’t find it easy, and it took them a lot of time and resources to implement Tidal integration in a way that they were happy with, and a fair amount more to keep it functioning over time.
If it was that easy for Naim to roll-out support for Qobuz, Amazon etc they would have done. I use Qobuz on a legacy ND5XS 
PDP-11? 
So you are suggesting that if available hardware memory is limited to just two streaming platforms, Naim should offer a variety of choices of firmware, with all permutations of Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz, HighResAudio, and now Amazon? That’s 10 different versions. To write and maintain, including when the streaming suppliers change something. Then another streaming service comes along, and another 5 versions needed… possible, I imagine yes, but is that realistic? And then, of course, people will complain “why do I have to change my Firmware every day, just because I want to play Spotify, Tidal AND Amazon, etc
You missed out Google Play, Deezer and Primephonic. I missed out the 172 and 272 in my post, apologies 172 and 272 owners, and also the Muso owners.
Then there are all the combinations that need to be tested, different players on the same network with different firmware versions, apps on 2 different platforms. They also need to operate alongside the new generation streamers as well which have to pass certifications.
Once all the functional testing is done Naim then have to do listening tests on each firmware version for each model and every combination. If it fails listening then it’s back to the drawing board to change the code to cause less interference to the streamer and so the whole cycle starts again.
This is why the last firmware upgrade on the legacy streamers took so long.
I was talking about the ‘hifi’ streaming services.
It is obvious Naim is a audio company. They should hire a firm to do the software/firmware for them.
Unbelievable people here are defending Naim. This should not be a customers problem. This is their problem and they should deal with it. Not complain to all of us that it is all so difficult…
YES! If not they should not offer ‘streaming’ devices when they are obviously not.
Sorry but I don’t think they can afford me. Because that’s how they play this card so it seems.
And yes, I could easily move on to other audio hardware (which I will do eventually) but that is not the point here.
I suppose it comes down to what you expect. When I bought my NDX and my Nova, they stated they supported Tidal and Spotify, they didn’t commit to add all new hifi streaming services, so I don’t expect them to. Indeed I ordered a new generation streamer to replace the NDX today, and I have no reason to expect them to add a new service they ave never committed to.
The level of support I do expect is similar to my amps, my Naim power amps were built in 1984, they were serviced 2 years ago and brought to the final spec.
I think we have done pretty well during the lifetime of the legacy streamers.
My 2011 NDX which has since been replaced started as a 24/96 version. When purchased it only did UPNP streaming and internet radio, nothing else.
Naim introduced an upgrade to 24/192 which also increased the available memory on the board allowing it to accommodate Spotify Connect and later Tidal. Multi-room was also introduced I was able to purchase an upgrade board for the fraction for the cost of a new model and my firmware was duly upgraded.
So my NDX’s functionality improved significantly during it’s product life. I now have an NDS which has similar capability.
Now these models have been discontinued I don’t expect further improvements, but they would be most welcome! We saw that recently when the stability of Tidal was addressed following a change at Tidal’s end. I’d say that this is good support from Naim.
The application is also seeing incremental improvements which benefit the legacy players. It would have been much easier for Naim to develop a new app for the next generation of streamers and freeze the old one but they have chosen to keep one for the best experience. A move that I know hasn’t been easy.
It’s easy for arm chair experts to talk about how easy something is without any direct experience of the platform and the challenges involved. I too could have come to that conclusion, coming from a software background as well but attending presentations at Naim and speaking to the designer of these products has convinced me otherwise.
Chromecast works for all streams that are thrown at it, with the exception of Tidal because of the MQA data compression.
UPnP or Ruin, sorry Roon them all (services) problem solved.
Some of Naim’s competitors seem to deal with these streaming/software challenges far more easily and provide access to hi res streaming. I think Naim does the music part well but perhaps should consider contracting out their software development, I have a Unitiserve which software/interface wise is a dogs breakfast, the introduction of the Uniticore is in my mind an opportunity missed, it should have had the capacity to act as a Roon core. Naim produces some fine streamers but unfortunately is badly let down by access to hi res streaming sources and no I don’t want to use chrome cast for non gapless Qobuz.
Maybe next week we’ll see a new Naim “switch” that will enable streaming of any provider, with online updates and full integration with their app and streamers.
Of course which is why Naim support just about anything they have made in their company history assuming the components still exist or can be sourced from their extensive legacy replacement component stocks. I really don’t think we can be talking about the same company. Perhaps take a visit to their operations and you can understood how customer support is central to their ethos and the extensive resources they put in to legacy and discontinued product support.
I am sure if you have a specific personal query they would be interested to hear from you to hopefully advise a resolution.
But do remember a product designed to go 50mph is Unlikely to be able to achieve 100mph.
I can’t buy a 202 preamp, and expect Naim to provide a support upgrade to turn it into a 552
That would be good Mike, I would settle for native Qobuz, a new Muso isn’t all that exciting, hopefully something else included.