Every time Radio3 starts playing an advert, I switch off my radio (NAT05).
I do not want someone telling me what to listen to.
I abhor the cluttered, in my face, “suggestions” of Qobuz. I don’t do playlists. I have just about stopped using my streamer (ND5 XS2), and have migrated back to listening through Presto on my computer. The music quality is not as good, but the experience is not soured by the app.
Presto provides answers to my questions. It provides a good selection of classic (and other) music, well curated, and easy to navigate. With Qobuz, I need to wade through a flood of sewage spewed by an AI bot that does not understand music, only tracks.
Is there any way that Qobuz in the Naim app can be replaced by Presto?
The streamer and its app are proving to be a waste of money.
That’s a bit OTT, you shouldn’t have to wade through stuff bar search results or are you using Connect? Just save the albums/artists/tracks you want to listen to as favourites. If you want to see what clutter looks like try Spotify!
Radio 3 ads I can empathise with, especially the number of times they repaet them, although I don’t go as far as switching it off. But Qobuz has never bothered me (either through the Naim app or Qobuz Connect). I may occasionally browse the listings which I have set up with only selected genres but I normally just use the search bar without any consideration of the rest - I don’t even notice it.
There are no commercial advertisements on BBC, so I assume you are referring to announcements of future programming. I listen for some time most days to Radio 3 and don’t find occasional future programme announcements to be intrusive. I wonder which programmes or broadcasters you are referring to?
Regarding Qobuz, I’m confused by what you say. If you use Qobuz through the Naim app there are no ‘suggestions’. The latest releases do appear in a list at the top, followed by Qobuz playlists, but that’s it. After that it’s your own saved favourites. What’s the issue with that? It’s easy to search in the search bar too.
What’s wrong with that? It’s quite an overreaction to say that the streamer and its app are a waste of money.
Seems a bit melodramatic. Plenty of people don’t use Qobuz and get plenty of value from their streamer. You still have the following options:
Stream Radio3 via the BBC radio app direct to your ND5XS2 as Chromecast or Airplay.
Steam other content that is curated for you from the many web radio stations. Many have no adverts.
Use something else other than Qobuz. Tidal for example.
Connect a digital out on your computer to the ND5XS2 and stream Presto from there with the Naim’s DAC.
I mean, the number of ways you can use a streamer is utterly vast. Ditching a streamer because you don’t like Qobuz is a bit like ditching a turntable because your didn’t like the first 3 albums you bought.
Re BBC R3: Not commercial ads of course. But very repetitive promotion of programmes or telling us how to use our smart speaker. It is b.. iritating after a while. The occasional one is fine but by the end of a day on R3 one can get heartilty sick of it. In the afternoon programme, just how many times do they say “These are performance that you can only hear on the BBC thanks to our specialist relationship with other European broadcasters”. The OP has my sympathy on this one (but not the rest).
Like playlists, I don’t do favourites. I use the internet for exploration, not for taking up residence. It would be like camping out in a shopping centre.
In communication with the Qobuz AI help service, it made clear that the playlisting and the pages of suggestions is a feature of Qobuz - lump it. My home is cluttered, but it is carefully curated clutter. I don’t want Qobuz (or Spotify) clutter added.
So back to the question.
On the Naim app, can I replace Qobuz with PrestoMusic, which does very little clutter?
Mate… Relax! Maybe it is better to say goodbye to streaming services. It does n’t seem to agree with you very well. You could use the internet to find the music that you like and than buy and download from Qobuz, store it on a NAS and play it from there.
You could also sell the Naim streamer and replace it with a Bluesound streamer. The BluOS platform does support Presto, for as far as I can tell. I see it in the list of streaming services on my Bluesound Node Icon.
Is it possible you’ve misunderstood the ‘favourites’ function?
You can do it at artist level (+ sign to ‘follow’ artist) and album level (heart to favourite), not just tracks. If you just do it for your most listened to artists / composers then you’ll have a curated list that is very easy to access without having to search, or even wade through AI sewage.
Radio: I have done a comparison between Radio3 on the internet via the streamer (having upgraded the various cables) and that through the NAT05 with a fairly decent aerial. Advice is that the FM signal is marginally better, and I agree. But not as good as music streamed from a higher quality original source.
Streaming: The USB output from either of my 2 computers followed by Qutest is significantly poorer quality than that achieved by the internet fed into ND5 XS2 followed by Qutest, which is significantly better than the same recordings from CDs.
App: I have not investigated the various streaming platforms. I tried Facebook, hated it, got rid of it. That model seems to be what Qobuz follows, distraction and click bait - life is too short. Presto does what a good library does, provide resources then gives the user free rein. I don’t want to ditch the streamer with its improved quality of music delivery, but I do want easy access to a clean (in every sense) online music library, as I have for printed material.
The Naim app is the only way to control the streamer, but seems designed around a very limited choice of music libraries.
How do I re-program the app to make Presto (or something comparable) the default library?
Isn’t radio itself someone else telling you what to listen to, albeit that R3, as a rarity, publishes programming in advance allowing you to choose the time you listen?
It’s not a problem that needs to be fixed. It’s a streaming service that is not supported. You could contact Naim support and ask them if they have any plans to support Presto in the future.
Audirvana also supports Presto. I have no experience with Audirvana playing through the ND5XS2, but maybe that is a feasible route.
That’s an interesting finding, but the exact opposite of what I have found. I use a NAT01 tuner, which preceded the NAT05 by several years. I use it with a G17 aerial. I firmly believe that it is still the best source component Naim Audio has ever made, including the ND555. The only issue is the obvious radio problem, which is that I cannot choose the music.
Rather than having a hissy fit it may be worth making the effort to discover how to use Qobuz to meet your needs. You can search out the albums you like and then save them as favourites. They will then appear under ‘albums’ in the Naim app, thereby becoming like your own album collection.
Alternatively, take the ND5XS2 out into the garden and give it a good battering with a club hammer. Maybe it will make you feel better. Anger and indignation seems to be becoming the default state for many.
