There have been numerous changes to sound quality/presentation over several years with the new platform streamers.
I had one of the early Novas, and was more than happy with the first couple of firmware updates sonically, but disappointed with several later ones which seemed very harsh and fatiguing despite fixing certain bugs or adding features. There are numerous old threads.
I have not yet updated the Nova as I’ve been away, but the last couple of updates while different in character to a favourite old firmware (2.3.8574) have certainly been sonically more pleasing than ones in the middle.
The issues are:
a) any firmware changes can potentially affect sound presentation
b) the sound it seems can also be tweaked/improved in compiling new firmware which is good
c) improvements in one person’s system however may be detrimental in another and there is no real way to predict
d) we all know that many of our components can take time to come ‘on song’ after power cycling/restarting etc and sometimes sonic changes simply improve after a period of time for some reason - equally restarting/factory reset can cure some issues sound quality wise or otherwise
e) if in an individual system a user finds new firmware detrimental they cannot officially revert to something which gave more enjoyment and the owner will be left frustrated hoping for improvement in the next firmware release
f) It is certainly possible to revert to older firmware builds, but this is not supported and the average user will have no access to older downloadable firmware builds on the new platform unlike the older one
I have come to accept a) as my understanding is that the design of the hardware somehow leads to this. Presumably once core changes to control software/new features are added and bugs fixed, there will likely be a new sonic character to a greater or lesser extent. I then assume Naim internally try to tweak the ‘DSP’ for want of a better term (in the App settings you can find not only the firmware version but the ‘DSP’ version) to maintain sonic consistency or in good faith tweak performance for the better in their testing. If there are specific evolutions of the ‘DSP’ I have always wondered if these could be a library of user selectable versions for installation if there are commercial/licence issues for the main firmware for things like Chromecast, Airplay and streaming service support.
Being unable to officially revert to older firmware is far from uncommon, Apple’s iOS being a prime example unless you jump hoops in a narrow time window to reinstall an older signed firmware which usually is only accessible for a few days.
Having to do a factory restore to make things work again is not always needed, but other manufacturers often advise this is essential for proper functioning - my Oppos are sitting on older firmware versions as I’m currently happy with what they do without updating. Playstation 3 firmware was always a nuisance too as newer versions prevented functionality you may not have known existed prior to updating.
We know that it is possible currently to revert to older firmware on the new platform provided one has a copy of the firmware file. A future firmware update could however make reverting extremely difficult or virtually impossible for the average user.
If however the files are available for download for the older platform, it would be helpful and welcomed by many to be able to do so on the new platform - Naim must have good reasons for not officially allowing this even with disclaimers relating to them being unsupported and provided ‘as is’.
One item we also forget is that the Naim app is often tailored to work with a specific subset of firmware, so for example some features (max volume setting for example) may not work with current Naim app trying to control older firmware.
I am not hopeful that Naim will allow new platform users to access older firmware versions if they worked better in the context of individual systems, but not insignificant changes in sound character many have noticed may make users reluctant to update with no benefit or to upgrade/choose new products as and when they arrive if they have been affected.
I hope these comments will be seen as constructive rather than critical, but I think many points are valid.