Basic streaming help

Hi i’m new to Naim having given up on my Sonos set up.

I’ve got some basic questions (emailed Naim 6 days ago and still no repsonse)

  • does it need to be on Wi-Fi/cabled if i am just using Tidal or Spotify on my iphone ? Or is this option for streaming locally stored music only (and software updates)
  • If i do need WIFI, the extender is only 10ft away and i can get around 25Mbit/sec.
  • I have subscribed to tidal masters but playback is glitchy, my phone will play it fine initially but as soon as i try and select another song manually it loses connection to the QB and plays it through my phone. Also, is there any point in in Tidal Master/HIFI over Airplay ?
    *would connecting my phone directly to QB solve this or is it still reliant on the speed of my WIFI/4G on my phone
  • The WIFI extender i have has the option of a hardwired cable so i could connect this to the QB

Hope someone out there can help, i think it sounds better than the sonos but the playback issues also remind me on my sonos experience.

MIke

To me since you mention playback issues on Sonos as well that this is likely a network issue with your wireless side. The QB has inbuilt Tidal which you control from the Naim app it sounds like your airplaying to it. If QB is wired then use Naims intrgration as it will use your wired network for playback. There is no need to airplay Tidal. I would avoid any extenders and look to get a decent WiFi setup such as the newer mesh systems. Extenders cause all sorts of issues with playback and device discovery.

2 Likes

Your Qb needs to be connected to Wi-Fi/Ethernet to stream to it from your iPhone using AirPlay.
The best quality playback is to add your tidal account via the Naim App so it will stream directly to the Qb rather than to your phone and then out to the Qb.
Wi-Fi extenders are not always great. A MESH Wi-Fi system is a much better route to increasing Wi-Fi coverage. Ideally, select one that is tri-band, so the backhaul has its own channel.

1 Like

thanks, i have got Naim set up but it’s just not as intuative as Tidal so not really used it. Does the Naim app tell you what the quality of the song eg HIFI/Masters ? I’ll check out the MESH system. thanks again

thanks for your comments. I innitally connected via WIFI but later plugged in an ethernet cable, how do i know what the QB is using or it best to do a reset and and just connect via cable ?

Yes it does. It will show the stream format (mp3, flac etc) along with the bit rate and sample rate

1 Like

I can only second this. Extenders are horrible things. They also eat up part of your WiFi bandwidth to do their work so will drag the performance of the entire thing down.

Personally I have a Netgear Orbi RBK50 system (believe there has been some updates since) and it has given me trouble free streaming with my Star.

2 Likes

the extenders i use are Devolo and they use the homes mains electricty circuit and then you get a choice of WIFI or cable at the other end. I’ve found them pretty reliable and use them around the house

But not Masters as this is Tidal’s MQA which is not supported by Naim.

1 Like

Well yes it isn’t going to show information for stuff it can’t play :slight_smile:

Just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings for the OP, as part of the question was “will it show Hifi/Master”

1 Like

If you have streaming issues the these Devolo devices are likely to be the problem.

1 Like

Consensus on the forum is that Ethernet over mains is the work of the devil and should be avoided if you want trouble-free operation and the best sound from your system.

You don’t say whether your QB is first or second generation (QB2). I ask because the WiFi on the QB2 is much improved over the QB1. Although I find my QB1 works fine on WiFi — no extenders involved.

Roger

Roger

1 Like

It’s a QB2

Yes thanks to all that posted
Yes Naim app no glitches :+1:t2:
Cheers
Mike

Yes, that screwed me up for a while when I first started using the Naim App. I had Tidal and Naim both set to HiFi, but all it would play was Normal. Took a little while on here before someone (maybe you) set me straight. Thanks for the detail.

Dave

Once again to be extra clear :slight_smile: in Tidal’s nomenclature:

“Standard” subscription shows “Normal” in the Tidal app itself and is AAC 320 Kbps (lossy but good)

“Hifi” subscription includes two quality levels

  • “Hifi” in the Tidal app is lossless CD quality 16 bit 44.1 kHz, is available for all tracks, and works with Naim app and units.
  • “Master” in the Tidal app is MQA-based hi-res with > 16 bit and/or > 44.1 kHz, is available for selected tracks, and is not supported by Naim. Such tracks will still play but only in CD quality
  • (and if you choose so you have still access to “Normal” e.g. when mobile streaming over phone data plan)
3 Likes

One more observation on the Ethernet over mains issue. I believe that it will only work if the two (or more) sockets have to be on the same ring. If you have more than one ring, it will not work across them.

1 Like

Very clear, thanks. In my Tidal it says HiFi, and the Naim App just gives the numbers. Most classical plays Flac at 44.1 and around 546 b/s.
Sounds very good, but I’ll be buying some Hi-res files just to hear the diference. My NDS won’t connect to Qobuz for Hi-res streaming, but Qobuz isn’t available in Canada anyway. But the ripped CDs sound great on the NAS.

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.