Finding Rooms

Just a quick one at the moment, 40 years Naim user, knew JV, not personally, but at the factory etc. Following on from the Muso2 threads on here, bought one last week for my German apartment (have a full on olive system in the UK family home, fully serviced and sounds blistering!) a couple of observations, 1, its F staggering to say the least and well worth the money IMO. However, my wife and I have been fighting the app all weekend, we’ve set the Muso up from scratch more than we can be bothered with today now Sunday. We’ve tried 2 iPads and 2 iPhones.

All do the same thing, seem to work, go for a walk, come back to “finding rooms” then nothing more. We will down the German grid if we switch it on/off anymore times.

So, any tips? Or have Naim a weak spot hear? (intentional typo)

Its bloody brilliant but somewhat frustrating

Zum Wohl (its wine festival here in the Pfalz)

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Is it wired or on WiFi? What router are you using?

WiFi thanks for the reply. Just got home. Will reply in-depth in the morning. A massive and complex topic after doing some homework !

Needs Muso user expert for specific advice, but I used to experience exactly the same thing ‘Finding Rooms’ when I first started using a Naim Streaming product (ND555); I was getting rather exasperated by it all as I just wanted to be able to press a button and play music when I wanted to and not have to go through a lot of pre-stress and spoil the whole thing.

I’ve solved it for me and I use the Naim App.
Two things I did and one is WiFi control relevant - several months ago Naim updated their App which seemed to help a lot and made it mostly work enough to be fine. In parallel with this I set my iPad not to go into sleep mode for more than 10 mins or longer and that meant it stayed connected - which removed a lot of possibility of drop-outs.

The second thing I did was eventually abandon using WiFi and have the App wired to my network (there are adapters that you can get to allow that) and then everything is wired and it remains connected 24x7 so it just immediately works all the time and has now done so all this year so far since I did it.

My second option is too extreme for vast majority of people, but for anyone that just really wants a break from things stopping you playing your music exactly when you want then it works.

But the problems seems in this case to be a WiFi - Naim App Interaction issue and either poor signal strength/contention and the interaction of that with how Naim connect their App to their Room.

DB.

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DB can you advise on the way you successfully wire connected the iPad to the network. I have seen multiple adapters and expensive apple cables but which is the best way to go ??
Mike

I use (hopefully keeping within forum rules):
__RJ45Ad
# RJ45 Ethernet LAN Wired Network Adapter, Phone Ethernet Adapter,USB Camera Reader Adapter,Compatible with Phone/Pad

I’ve tried another but this one also has a charger socket so I can put the pad on charge while keeping it all connected so it can be on 24x7

I turn off WiFi on the iPad so it only has Ethernet as its option - otherwise it will keep wanting to use WiFi - the Ethernet is there and better so that stops it from playing-up.

I also do not let my ipad go into sleep mode while I’m playing music - I turn it to ‘never’ sleep when I’m playing music so it has no excuse to drop the connection.

Essentially I set it up to go for the day - or sometimes the week(s) - and it just stays connected and ready to play. I only use this iPad mini for controlling ND555 so it can be dedicated to that task.
I also use the ND555 Remote to pause-restart tracks as easier than the touch-pad.

DB.

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In my case I solved it while still keeping the convenience of WiFi.

I replace the WiFi Access Point in my ISP supplied ‘router’ and installed a separate WiFi access point connected to the ISP supplied ‘router’ by an Ethernet cable. The problems instantly went away - which shows that, in my case, the problem was with the ISP supplied ‘router’.

(If you do this, don’t forget to turn off the WiFi in the ISP supplied ‘router’.)

The Apple ‘camera’ connection adapter can also be used from a lightning into USB (female), then a standard USB cable (audiophile of course !:blush:) .This is fine for the DAC V1 and other DACs with a USB connection (Chord etc)., otherwise a USB to Spdif converter is needed which adds to cost.

DB, many thanks. I find the WiFi connection is unreliable and I get the irritating ‘Finding Rooms’ message usually at the time I am most keen to listen to some good music !
Mike

Ethernet has the only down-side of the flying lead from the iPad in the mode I use - and the up-side of it just always working, which is for me the essential thing.

WiFi does nice things in terms of flexibility but I lived fine without it for years which is why I already had Ethernet in my house, so for me the reliability factor wins.

DB.

Phew! Sorry for the late response, been travelling so welcome from Mumbai (no Naim dealers I can find though)

Anyway some musings :sunglasses:

I mentioned Naim from an old school perspective because things were simpler then. In hierarchy, upgrade path and of course product environment etc. It was a no brainer really if you were in the Naim world.

42? go 42.5

110? get the 140 upgrade done

Crome bumper go olive

Older olive? PX to Classic, if not after 10-15 years get everything serviced.

Add a PSU of your choice.

But for a longtime Naim user the big change recently, beside the takeover, is the environment, by which i mean internet enabled, room connected, networked and streaming area.

I do not doubt Naims superiority in sound, IMO of course, but this opens up, after some thought and reading, a massive new area for the company and its users. To our UK system LP12 Aro CDX sources I added the ND5 XS2 (even that’s a mouthful TBH) 2k+ CD rips and about the same in vinyl plus Tidal and IR.

Its amazing value for money, easy to use, in-fact the whole family use it all the time, normal Naim burn in, after a few months now sweat, smooth, detailed and powerful.

However, I work in our HQ based in Germany and have a small apartment. Grieving not having the system to hand, bought a Muso2 here.

And here lies my original comments, granted its easy to gripe. At the same time I do expect things to “just work” . But having given some thought to the IT side of things, it’s a million times more complex.

I still think the app needs work, but to be fair i was thinking how many permutations of room, layout, router, wifi coverage, internet provider, property construction, age of property, country, mains supply, cables, protocols, users, control devices, wifi fog from neighbours and location, especially in a town centre apartment block (I’m in the sticks with 3 neighbours, 1875 building made into 4 flats, 4 items show in my network settings) I guess you know what I’m saying, if calculated, every one of the 10,000 or so network products Naim have sold (be interested in the correct figure, I have no idea) every one of those is in a DIFFERENT environment, yep no 2 are the same.

In the meantime i changed my router to a more powerful one (claimed) reset and configured that and the Muso2 from scratch and so far its much better. Occasionally I have to power everything off and reboot for the app to find the Muso and sometimes refresh the app till it find the Muso but all round better.

I think the other issue is how far ahead the product is in sound quality in relation to use of it. Its like having a Lexus LS and every few hundred Km you hear just one squeak! Ive demo’d it to some local colleagues and they are absolutely astonished at the output and sound quality from this thing. Its hearting to experience the type experience when people hear Naim products for the first time.

“no no, play that”

“before we go what was that album from Yellow, Bach, Mahler, Gary Boyle (insert your own music)”

“put that one on again from 2 hours ago”

Naim users know the score!

Anyway, Im back in Germany next week and will follow up on the situation.

BTW should have brought it in a second suitcase for my hotel room. Might have bust my weight allowance though. Ah just checked 11.2kg. So a Muso and a toothbrush next time.

Martin

My solution for my router and network, (not necessarily everyone’s), to this problem is on a related topic/post:

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