No problem, better to wait now a couple of weeks than to wait again 1 year to fix other known issues. And it is better to be informed about it, thanks for that to Richard (the Germans are not open in the communication … I like 
)
It says that these things are complex and they take as long as they take. It’s unfortunate for the user of course, but it’s better to have an update that works as it should than to rush things and release stuff that is not ready. As a member of the Beta group I can assure you that it’s going as fast as it can.
1 Like
You can always ask Naim to join the beta group, as many members do not always exhibit the problem, so cannot fully contribute.
I’m looking at this point a little bit differently.
Seriously, this whole update thing is getting really embarassing for Naim. While the whole industry is on AirPlay 2 already, Naim does postpone the release week after week and now month after month. Almost for two years now. So much time without speaking to the customers until they call them attention to do so.
I appreciate the change Naim does give us information now, but I have to say I partly lost my belief in any word of Naim related to this case. There are so much questions: what‘s really holding back the update for 2 years now, what‘s really the problem and what’s really going on, is there a release date Naim-internally they do not want to communicate, etc.? Whatever, I think loosing faith in the brand’s words is one of the worst things that could happen to the feelings of a brand‘s customer. And I really do not wanted to be feel like this, trust me.
The update will be released sometime when it’s ready and when Naim is satisfied with its results. I can only hope that it‘s damn good respectively flawless and that Naim will do a lessons learned concerning this drama. Till then I will not ask about detailed information anymore.
2 Likes
Why for 2 years? The last FW-update was 1 year ago.
What is so important on AirPlay 2? For me the new features and useability are much more important. Therefore I can wait for a while.
What do German manufacturers do like T+A? They tell you absolutely nothing. I can see that Naim is doing many improvements and good communication.
Airplay is pants for SQ anyway.
Fancy qualifying that statement?
Airplay takes the source and sends it over wi-fi to the streamer. When I’ve compared it to uPnP, the later has always been much better, to the extent that don’t use Airplay at all. Chromecast is different, as it sends the signal from the modem directly to the streamer over a wired network, whereas Airply will only use the wi-fi.
It’s a lossless 16 bit 44.1KHz stream, so unless you’re listening to stuff higher than that, what’s your point?
1 Like
My point is, that in any side by side comparisons, Airplay is never as good for sound quality. That’s been my experience, yours might be different.
Apart from multi room Airplay 2 offers bugger all else AFAICS unless you own a pair of Homepod speakers to use as a stero pair.
Seriously, how many people really use this multi-room functionality in earnest???
The official Naim press announcement concerning the support resp. the integration of AirPlay 2 into the Uniti Range was in June 2017, so almost 2 years ago now (Link: https://www.naimaudio.com/de/node/23914) - with the hopeful words concerning the release date “…in parallel with Apple’s launch timings…”.
Substantially bigger streaming buffer, tighter sync between devices, reduced audio lag, no interruption by a phone call, game, video, etc., multiroom support brand independent, Siri & HomeKit integration, move audio functionality, playback control (volume, track, playlists , etc.) by yourself or everybody else in your home network without an additional app and without to open an app (e.p. Naim App), etc… Please brief yourself for example with the links below (searched randomly). We’re just at the beginning of AirPlay 2 and it’s functionalities. I’m in this game for a while and AirPlay 2 can resp. will do High Res Streaming one day. Imagine we’re already streaming 4K HDR videos via WiFi. It’s just a question of mind over matter.
- https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/30/how-to-use-airplay-2-on-ios-an-in-depth-analysis
- https://www.pocket-lint.com/speakers/news/apple/141261-apple-airplay-2-what-is-it-how-does-it-work-and-what-devices-are-supported
You did not get the point right. The point is Naim did promise the Update almost 2 years ago. If you promise something or do a press release concerning new functionalities and an update strategy as one of the first on the market with words mentioned above, it’s a shame for a brand like Naim that it takes almost 2 years to fulfill that release announcement while everybody else is releasing their update. In the end Naim now is the last one on the market and the communication to the customers concerning this AirPlay 2 dilemma wasn’t as good as it is now until some months ago.
In my opinion every brand should release improvements or additional functionalities via software/firmware updates and have a good communication to their customers. That’s the way it goes anyway. Look into other domains like photography with Fujifilm, CaNikon, Sony, etc. or TVs with LG, Sony, Pana, Philips, etc. or Dyson blower, home connected stuff, smartphones, tablets, computers etc. or other HiFi brands like Linn, Devialet, Denon, Marantz, etc… In addition to that customer care and a good communication is the mandatory goal to be successfull in long term. Naim absolutely represents a good example therefor.
It is like it is now. I appreciate Naim’s communciation enhancement a lot and I’m very thankful therefor. As I mentioned already, I hope Naim will do a lessoned learend concerning this AirPlay 2 update and do better next time with schedule timing and customer communication from the beginning. Now let’s hope it will be a phenomenal good update in sound quality, so that we all will have a lot of fun and a lot of emotional moments. That’s all about in the end. So good luck further on with the update @NaimAdmin and @Richard.Dane!
3 Likes
I fully understand the desire to release “without (known) faults” - so if beta-testing shows issues, those should be fixed before release. And for a quality brand, this is likey the right approach.
However, if this is the strategy, then don’t promise a release earlier. (I know those “best case promises”: technician says: “if all tests run without issues and SQ is good, we can release on date x.y.z” - project manager understands: “we will release on x.y.z”. 
And I know, that the pressure to promise is building, the more delay you get. But then don’t promise at all in the beginning. (Like the “in parallel with Apple’s launch timings” - and Apple itself took 6 months longer to release than they promised and their HomePod was far from “ready” (SW wise), when they release the HW.)
However, when looking at the “IT parts” of the products: much of modern IT accepts, that waiting for the “perfect release” can take ages until your product is obsolete. (Of course the naim products have (hopefully) longer life-cycles than that…)
Thus, you make sure you can
- Release often (whenever something useful is ready) and
- can release fast (if you must; e.g. for fault corrections).
I.e. you make sure, you deliver new functionality when it’s ready and well tested and are stand-by to release critical fixes within a few days/weeks. (And you might offer to users to skip a .0 release when adding featues and wait for the first fault correction .1 or something. Updating a pure “bug fix release” must be hassle and regression free. But maybe I’m too IT centric here and it does not match the expectation of the user community for these products. Likely, the community is mixed about these topics… e.g. whether they are coming from IT/consumer expectation or from HiFi background.)
I can imagine, naim has a lot on the plate during the “waiting for Airplay 2 feature”:
- Releasing the new streamers.
- Preparing/releasing the MUSO 2.
- Integrating the DAB radio parts for the new Unitis.
- Integrating a new protocol like Airplay 2.
- Plus all the bug fixes old and new.
- Plus adding the “small features (like: lights off) and feature requests” from user feedback.
- Plus whatever they have on their internal roadmap.
Note, that the original MUSO (Qb) got their Airplay 2 half a year (?) ago - likely because it was a single “Airplay 2 and a few library updates/bug fixes (only)” release.
It can be a bit of a burden, when many products share the same platform / code / firmware. It’s a great efficieny boon in total, but creates “release dependencies” and potentially a lot of test effort if any change for 1 product needs to be verified on all sharing the platform.
IMHO, this make it beneficial to check, if you can better de-couple the release of different parts of software. If you have “agile SW development, with continuous delivery”, you should be able to release a feature like “light off” within a month. If you don’t have the “machinery” to do so, or your dependencies on SQ for such a tiny feature change make huge re-testing efforts necessary, then you bundle more and more stuff into the next “golden bullet release”, which gets bigger and bigger, attracts more and more faults found during integration and you a) don’t get out the features already finished and b) make it ever more complicated to release at all.
I admit, that especially the SQ-testing likely cannot be “100% automated testing”, like with other pure SW products being developed in the IT world. But if switching the display off has an (potential) impact on SQ, maybe the design of the product should be looked at? (Again: maybe I’m too “IT” here.)
Just my 2(00) cents, if anybody wants to make a “lessons learned” session, as suggested above.
BTW - does anybody know, how the new MUSO 2 firmware relates to the Uniti/new-NDx products (feature wise)? Does it include already some of those features?
Or was it still realized on “old feature level”?
1 Like
This is a very nice Description of the methods of agile Development 
Airplay 2 firmware update has been downloaded to my Nova and is working. What a great way to start the day.
2 Likes
Great album 
1 Like
Just in case anyone reading this thread missed it, it’s here…
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/airplay-2-and-more-arrive-on-the-uniti-range/2466/3
And what a great track to test it with!
1 Like
Indeed
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.