That comparison has nothing to with what I said. I commented on @james_n mentioning that “Sonos and the like just work”. And whereas I agree with his sentiment completely, my experience with Sonos has been that is DOESN’T just work.
What does that have to do with price tags of things?
On the whole the “old” Green-screen streamer platform seems very solid and stable, for what it does. I have a UQ2 and SU and neither have given me any hassle.
The app on the other hand is getting progressively worse, albeit in very small increments. Volume bar doesn’t always appear. When the UQ2 was plugged out for a couple of months leaving only the SU, the room selection screen would still show. However it’s no way as infuriating at other apps; one nice thing is the lack of intrusive UI “tips” that other apps seem addicted to! Make it fast again and not glitchy and it’d give it 10/10 easily.
One thing I would love is to make ALL settings accessible from the app, like AV bypass, Digital out mode and Internal/External speaker selection. Given that some settings like max volume are adjustable in the app I can’t see why the others couldn’t be.
I find the Naim App is excelllent, but I’ve always been good with computers, software, and the like.
It’s very intuitive.
There can be hardware reasons why some things can’t be now controlled from the app. They probably all could have been at the design stage, but if the relevant control interface isn’t addressable from the app because it wasn’t designed that way, then no amount of changes to the app will fix that now.
Best
David
I wish I have a choice there. Been getting speaker pop which sounded a lot like phantom power and fear it would damage speakers, esp the tweeter so I had to update at the earliest opportunity.
The basic ‘DSP‘ reconstruction filter has not changed since the Naim DAC days.
The tweaking is the code execution and memory reading/writing timing and the noise that put on the ground plane and powerlines.
This noise, despite being infinitesimally small can modulate clocks ana analogue electronic ground planes and powerlines and this changes the FR minutely.
Naim had started to manage this to the point they could almost control it like an eq through noise shaping as a consequence of carefully changing the timing of the code execution operands.
This was a few years ago not long after the current streamers were launched, and I have no reason to assume it is hugely different now.
This is a consequence/side effect of having a digital processing platform coupled to varying degrees to sensitive clocks and analogue ground and voltage planes on sensitive audio systems.
The new platforms use LVDS no help minimise electromagnetic noise from some digital processing and internal transmission…
I predict if we ever see a ‘Statement’ streamer it will have physically decoupled digital and analogue stages… a bit like pre and power amps.
If that is really all, then this is more then tweaking. It translates into sound change in a significant way.
The step between 3.3 —> 3.5 firmware is unexpectedly big/good!
Sure the changes can be positive, as well as negative… but it is subjective ultimately. What Naim might prefer might not suit a customer if they have grown used to a previous signature.
My personal view is that although ingenious, I can’t help feeling this approach won’t always be deterministic or reliable and there may be disappointed customers. As such I think it should be important to have access to earlier firmware if wanted.
If my naim streamer software works flawlessly but someone else’s doesn’t on the same product, does that mean they are having difficulty with a different variable?
Not sure it is only subjective.
Being able to extract more details, providing a better stereo image, etc. is something every music amateur seeks (and pays for) and I believe these qualities to be quite objective.
Of course, the way those audiophile qualities are blended together is a matter of taste and therefore subjective.
That would make sense in the context of a stand alone DAC.
Not sure that would be commercially wise in the context of streamers accessing to services such as Qobuz, Tidal, etc.
I think you find that part is more subjective… you will find almost certainly there isn’t actually any more detail really, but the FR has changed slightly so you hear things differently and pick out on details that you might have previously missed. The FR between 2K and 6K is very sensitive to human hearing… To some extent this masking effect can vary from person to person which is why a lot of this can be subjective.
Well you would put it to customer choice and risk with known issues or limitations stated with a given firmware. This how firmware is managed can be many commercial setups.
If a given sound performance is more important than functionality that indeed could be a customer choice.
Exactly. How it is achieved doesn’t really matter. Being able to make a symphony more “readable” is what, I suppose, we expect.
This is exactly what I perceived. Especially from 3.3 --> 3.4, and now 3.5.
And the change is not marginal.
In theory this is all good. But I suspect you forgot one little detail : people don’t read manuals nor “read me first” instructions 
Imagine the number of phone calls to support of people complaining about Qobuz not working after Firmware swaps…
This is most likely to be men. Cos real men don’t need instructions 
Naim is about SQ, I like to think it is above user stupidity.
Yeah - only quiche-eaters read the manual.
Never underestimate the power of stupidity… this could sound funny but it’s not.
I witnessed accidents (many) resulting in serious injuries simply because people believe they are smart enough to avoid reading user instruction, or listening to others advices (when wrongly using belay devices in climbing context).
They admit being stupid… only when lying in an ambulance.
Natural Selection.
That’s exactly what I end up thinking, and try look somewhere else.
I only allow myself the hold the rope and take control of things when the climbers are kids.