(How come we are discussing protocols when everybody else is drinking beer
I get your point, but to me it is the responsibility of Naim to choose the way the protocols/communication between the app/remote to the Atom that make the units works - and it does not - but the Bluesound and Sonos does.
It is to me quite unusual to have an Access Point filter anything as long as they are in the same network/ip-range and the speed of the system today are so fast that they are close to gigabit performance so I cannot see that wifi correctly setup today should be a problem.
I would agree that “wifi correctly setup” shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, many of the cheap ISP supplied “routers” do have settings to filter the network traffic to and from their inbuilt WAP (e.g. IGMP, DLNA filtering & UPnP packet controls are quite common and variable in the quality of optimisation).
Naim use industry standard protocols. Should it not be for the manufacturers of the routers to ensure that they function properly with the standard protocols?
Yes I just worked out this hack. Somehow it doesn’t seem like something you should have to do on a £2000 system though… I know it’s not an issue with vTuner as my old Onkyo streaming mini system could use the front panel or remote play/stop buttons to control playing a radio stream. Not sure why Naim can’t implement this 7 years later on a system six times the price.
I don’t want to seem like I’m bashing on Naim - I can appreciate it’s challenging to make a device function with so many variables. But since you’ve already in this thread nailed down some common network problems with cheap routers and your fixes, why don’t Naim just include some detailed idiot-proof steps to get the best settings for it to work (more) reliably? After all, they’re a company with a hell of a reputation to uphold and releasing themselves into the “lifestyle” market with its increased customer base is risky unless your device is sorted. The screen freeze issue is similar. It is pretty embarrassing when you tell friends over at your house it’s a £2000 hifi and then you can’t even get the buggering thing to turn on properly.
Because that would get them involved in providing network equipment and they are a HiFi company not a computer networks company!
Unfortunately given the wide variety of network hardware, the large number of ISPs providing ‘routers’ with customised firmware, and the rate of change of products in this area, it’s not possible to just give “some detailed idiot-proof steps to get the best settings for it to work (more) reliably”. The steps needed vary from one router firmware to the next, and some routers just simply can’t be configured to achieve a DLNA connection that is sufficiently responsive and reliable.
I believe that Naim have acknowledged that the screen freezes happening on a significant number of Uniti Atoms is a real problem and they are trying to solve it. This seems to be quite a different problem as (unlike customers’ networks and routers) this would appear to be completely in Naim’s control.
Trouble free Atom. Owned for 18 months. Never frozen. The only problem experienced was with last update but one, when it was unable to display any screen art from my UnitiServe. This was fixed within a month or so via software update.
Serial No. 425670
Version 2.6.1.9794
I have deliberately refrained from updating to the latest software version as it offers nothing I need and I am perfectly content with the fantastic sound. I had too much experience, when a Windows user, (Mac owner now, for years) of automatically upgrading to next version only to have all sorts of problems!
I do agree that dealers (and Naim) should not be supplying, from new, Atoms with the latest software installed if it contains known, demonstrable problems.
I don’t expect them to start selling routers! I didn’t say that. I totally agree that there is an almost impossible number of different crappy network hardware out there. But, since it’s Naim’s product’s functionality at risk, why don’t they a) get dealers to recommend hardware brands and models that give good results and b) say the same in online and printed documentation. THAT’S what I meant by “steps to give good results”. I for one would be perfectly willing to drop £50-100 on a router that I knew could guarantee compatibility, and I imagine most anyone else who’s dropped £2k or more for a Uniti device would be too - it’s basically like budgeting for speaker cable and interconnects in other systems: it’s an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY to make this box of electronics perform as designed. But there’s just no information out there - the end user, who is likely to be even less technically able than me (which is saying something) takes as read their ISP supplied router is fit for purpose as they can stream YouTube and browse the web no problem; the hifi shop you bought it from is not able to give advice on networked systems, and Naim understandably for a small business can’t offer individual support.
It’s not a Brave New World making this stuff work, the services and standards (DLNA/UPnP) have been around for donkeys’ years but it still seems that you need to be a network engineer to troubleshoot problems.
First is that domestic grade Routers WAPs and their firmware change so often (the typical product life is 18 months to 2 years).
The second is that if they were to recommended a specific ‘compatible’ ADSL router, then Naim would have to tell people how to configure tat router to talk to each specific ISP!
Then what about cable services… FTTC… FTTP?
Naim’s position is that it’s the dealer who should set the system up for the customer, but this doesn’t always happen as well as it should - and that’s a problem with the dealers, not with Naim themselves.
Indeed, it’s about time that the ISPs started providing routers that are tested with more than e-mail, browsing, downloads (HTTP & FTP) and internet streaming services. I also know people who find that their wireless router is unreliable for connecting network printers.
Customer goes into a dealership and buys a new car with a petrol engine.
A week later the customer collects the car, 100m down the road the car stops because the dealer filled it with diesel instead of petrol. Is that the fault of the car manufacturer or the dealer?
Yes it’s a good analogy in principle but falls down in this way as I see it - IC engine tech is mature and even the most inept of spotty work-experience kid at a dealer would be unlikely to do that (unless you’ve had experience of this…?) Network tech is similarly mature for the average user but Hi-Fi shops are poorly equipped to deal with even the simplest of network-related issues and home networks are (as I’m finding out) not equipped to deal with devices like Uniti. It’s more akin to the same car dealer not having a clue about electric vehicles, except that those vehicles are made by vast companies who can throw money at support, warranty and customer appeasement policies. I have a friend who works at a UK Tesla dealer and he said Tesla UK had until recently a policy of “sweeteners” or free stuff for customers with egregious issues and that it had run to cost £4,000,000 before someone had thought that maybe they should rein it in.
The Unitis have been on the market for much longer than the NDX2, and they are much cheaper, so there are bound to be more of them around. They run essentially the same streaming board and firmware, so many of the issues that affect one will affect all models.
I might do the same. I’m on the same version (serial 427856) and is not great. Another thing I’ve just noticed that annoys me is that files from a USB stick are organised alphabetically regardless of what you do to them when you put them on the drive. I meticulously set each folder attribute as “music” in Windows and made sure they played correctly there, but as soon as I plug into the Atom I get rubbish, with movements of symphonies and Pink Floyd rendered comedically out of order. There’s probably a simple fix for this, and if so I would be so grateful to know. At the moment my CD collection fits on a 64GB stick but I have to play it via MinimServer on my PC.
If you set the Atom to server Mode on, then the files on the USB stick will be presented via the UPNP interface. If the metadata on each file (artist, album, track-name…) are set correctly then the music will be displayed well.
My theory is that the better screen layout basically rendered the usefulness of the proximity sensor null and void (or they couldn’t think of a better way to implement useful functionality for it) so to make it seem like it does something useful they changed it to the current dodgy setup late in the day.
As Eoink says, server mode is what you want. The streamer has its own UPnP server built in, and while it doesn’t have as many options as Minimserver, it’s certainly a better way to browse your music that via the USB input.
Another thing I never understood is why the screen automatically goes back to full screen artwork. Why I cannot leave it on the phase where it displays song and artist info. Generally the screen needs lots of improvements in functionality.
