Mu-So 2 Sound Quality

Hi. I’m new here so forgive me if this has already been covered. I have only had my unit for around 4 months but I am not enjoying the musical experience here. The sound is quite shallow, rubbish bass, limited middle and no soundstage at all. Am I missing something and can I do something to improve the sound? I can only really listen at low volume for any length of time. Any suggestions??

Sorry to read this. I have moved mine around the apartment to explore where it sounds the best. Discovered that if it is on a very solid window sill, it sounds much better generakky and the bass is excellent, compared to a small table for example. I turn off all the sounds adjustments re closeness to a wall or corner and also switch off the loudness. I have wired it up to the ethernet via tplinks and am very pleased with it.

go get a uniti atom with some speakers instead.

with the muso 2, you shouldn’t really think too much, it’s more lifestyle than hifi.

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Well every time my friend turns it on I am surprised by what comes out of it. Maybe lifestyle, but lifestyle is better with good sound. And the Mu-So can sound fabulous for what it is, but this requires either luck in placement or some thoughts. A sturdy support, ideally not hollow, and the right distance from a solid wall can do wonders.

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Be sure to get the Muso off its base with some sort of isolators (doesn’t have to be expensive). But yeah, imo the muso is meant for background listening or as a slightly awkward TV soundbar. IMO for what they are they sound great (much better than a Sonos) but don’t hold a candle to the separates or integrated.

I don’t have the 2. I have the original. I agree that this is sort of a lifestyle system. Looks good. Takes up small space. Nice for accessory room, by patio or whatever. But it’s not going tom replace a genuine hi-fi system.

On a note I recently had to move temp. to new house for a year without access to my stuff. I could not live with just the Sonos I had. I bought a second hand Creek integrated. $500. Demo KEF LS 50. $950. Maci mini $150. Project DAC. $350. So that’s 2K and it’s a pretty decent hifi system. Much better than the muso 1 I have packed away

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I have a mk i sat on a strong but hollow unit, for TV duties and low level listening, though my daughter finds it her source of choice for streaming Spotify. I found it greatly improved when sat on some of these:

image

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Appreciate all the comments thanks. Yes, it is a lifestyle unit but even so its still a disappointment. I had a Zeppelin before this and that was a fraction of the price of Muso and was way more engaging. Even cheaper Bose units are better, even with the unrealistic bass. I have also tried isolators but can’t really say the sound has improved. All that is left is to try moving it around.

It’s a speaker so positioning can make for break the sound, and every room will be different, with different challenges and opportunities. Also experiment with the positioning EQ in the setup as well as whether got have the loudness on or off. It really does pay off to spend some time experimenting here.

FWIW, when I’ve been trying to find the best position for best sound in various rooms, I have found that it it’s on a table or countertop, try not to have too much flat area in front. I also found that when adjusting distance from the wall, even changes of a cm or two could make a big difference to sound overall.

How can you even expect soundstage from a mono speaker?? Sometimes I just enjoy the music on my kitchen qb other times I run into the real hifi setup in the lounge. Much depends on the mixing of the music and my mood.

Interestingly, thats like where mine is, solid window ledge. Its in a relatively large lounge in an apartment. OK some might say lifestyle but it sounds bloody amazing and not just my experience all who hear it say the same.

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It’s not a mono speaker and there is some digital sound processing going on. Certainly one can’t expect a soundstage like from external speakers that are placed well

Hi, sorry to hear you’re not enjoying your Muso. I absolutely love mine (Muso 1SE, got a QB 1 too). I did take mine to my daughters for her to hear. It was on the kitchen counter; it sounded awful! It was fed from her android phone, via Bluetooth & spotify, tried it via my iphone, still not great, yet when she tried it with a samsung music feed (can’t remember exact name; part of he Samsung phone) it sounded much better.
I have mine on a small two tier, open unit, on the kitchen counter, fed via wifi from my NDX, or from synology nas/minimserver, & it sounds wonderful, I mean really wonderful - so it depends on the ‘feed’ & what it’s on/positioning .

The muso may be different from the qb but the qb is one speaker of course with more than one driver in the one speaker, but I still would not expect sound stage from such a system.

On my Muso2, under audio settings turn loudness off and room compensation set to near wall, this trims the bass and then play with position, I have found that having as close to ear height as possible and sitting on a firm support works best. The soundstage is not very wide but is there.
At the moment I am using a temporary support whilst waiting for a unit to be delivered and the sound is OK.

The Mu-so either 1 0r 2 a far better when feed from a very good source, ie Qobuz 24/96 and no way mp3’s or phones. I have my Muso 2 on a thick glass TV cabinet. The Mu-so needs to be well away from the back wall etc. The use of mountings like Vibrapods or, as I use Oehlbach Shock absorbers (They don’t spoil the looks of the Mu-so). I also use an AudioQuest mains cable (NRG Z2)

Regards,
Simon

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The Mu-so is stereo. And certainly, like I said, it would be foolish to expect from it something similar to a real Naim system or even a Uniti with external speakers, but it can sound fab for what it is, and there is a stereo image in principle. The small speaker distance is probably alleviated in part by the DSP

I use my Mu-so in my Dining Area/Living room and Kitchen, so as such I am very rarely in a position to take advantage of the stereo effect etc. I use my Mu-so about 15 hours a day and I never get tired of the sound. I sold my Nova and Harbrath speakers as they cluttered up the room and only sounded better in terms of separation.

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I wonder if expectations are different. I have a couple Qbs and think they make brilliant background music and radio. But serious music listening? The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I wanted a one box simple solution that gave a convincingly rounded sound and it delivers this brilliantly. If my budget was closer to the full width Muso and my goal was for serious music listening, I’d be getting an amp and two dedicated speakers. If I was told by a significant other that a single box soundbarish thing was all I could have, then I’d probably have to decide whether to ignore them (likely) or just give up on music. The in between compromise would be too unsatisfying. It wouldn’t occur to me to compare a muso to seperates at the same price. You buy them for different reasons in my opinion.

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I have not heard a Zeppelin or even the Muso 2 series but I have heard both the original muso & muso QB at dealers, as well as numerous Bose products & both muso products where vastly superior to anything I’ve heard Bose. While both in different sized rooms I was actually very surprised with bottom end capabilities with both these products (& the Muso was in a rather large space for the size of the speaker). Like other have said placement, what you put it on (something that’s cheap/lightwieght/hollow etc is never going to be an ideal sound for any audio product) & settings can have a large impact. Also have you verified your unit is functioning correctly?

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