Mu-so tone control

Been using a Mu-so 2nd gen for a decent while now, one thing apart from Spotify volume normalization (Spotify Connect: volume normalization ) I am missing greatly is user adjustable tone control. Yes there is this setting for distance to a wall, but that is no real tone control. Please do include this in a firmware/app update.

Also the ability to increase or decrease the impact of the loudness setting would be expected to be possible.

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If you want tone controls, you are probably better off with something other than Naim.

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I think it is important to realise that Naim have always avoided tone controls, as have most serious hifi manufacturers, in order to preserve signal integrity and sound quality. Whilst the Muso is an entry level product for Naim, the same principles have been applied in the design for the same reasons. It would probably be a compromised product if those principles weren’t applied and sound quality would no doubt be diminished. The Muso wouldn’t be the great product it is if the design brief included tone controls.

That is really not what this request is about, but for the sake of argument; I really hope that there aren’t any people around that think to know or have been let to believe that tone controls are a bad thing.

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Disagree. Tone control could be on or off. This would be best of both worlds. Available for those who want it, off for the purists :grin: who don’t.

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I recall a woman who worked for Naim in a senior capacity and posted in the forum quite a lot a few years ago. She professed to understanding hifi in a professional capacity, but actually argued that the absence of tone controls in Naim equipment was a matter of being true to the decisions and preferences of the artists and engineers in the recording and mixing studio where the album was made. No concessions could be contemplated at all.

She apparently didn’t think that different loudspeakers, different playback rooms, different hearing abilities of the listeners or even the circumstances under which the album would be heard had any relevance at all.

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And that mind-set continues today. Ridiculous stance to take.

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What’s ridiculous is buying something without researching its features, or having carried out research buying it anyway and then moaning about features it doesn’t have…

Ridiculous is to provide a primitive form of tone control & call it room correction.

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To be honest. Naim, like quite a large number of high end manufacturers do not, and have never, provided any tone controls. Arguments about signal integrity and short signal paths notwithstanding, I do think that while the rationale against is valid, it is also dogmatic and blind to some of the realities of music replay.

I have a small handful of albums on vinyl that I can only play back on my Luxman system because they require a fairly hefty re-adjustment to correct what must be mastering or manufacturing defects. I’m happy to have tone bypass on for 99% of my listening, yet the fact these controls exist is very useful. Not everyone has absolutely pristine only the best audiophile issues of music. In the real world we build collections from various sources at varying degrees of quality.

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The signal integrity stance is something which comes from the gone by analog period, today all tone control is done in the digital domain which if done right does not affect the signal quality a bit.

This whole stance among some upper markt hifi brands about not including tone controls has become a thing of its own. Some people even won’t consider equipment which does feature tone controls, talk about effective marketing. Sure, in bygone days the implementation probably wasn’t the best. But hey, 2024 calling. Hearing impaired people everywhere. And please do realize everyone needs some form of EQ. But like I said, this topic was about it being requested as a feature on Naim’s arguably lower end Mu-So.

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This is not correct. All Naim integrated and preamps are analogue devices. Even their streaming preamps implement analogue volume control. In some cases they implement a digitally controlled analogue volume control using an encoder rather than a potentiometer but the circuit is full analogue nonetheless. In addition, altering even just the volume in the digital domain has trade offs and different manufacturers who do make digital volume controls claim to have found ways to alter the amplitude of samples in a less harmful way. They cannot even get a perfect digital volume control so tone control is an order of magnitude more complex.

So what? What’s important is how everything ‘sounds’ to the end-user.

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Sure, I don’t disagree with that. I’m just pointing out it is not accurate to say that these days everything is done in the digital domain. Probably most high stuff still deals in the analogue domain.

When it comes to soundbars and music stations like the Muso, there are not many that do tone controls. I think it really pays to do some product research here. I’ve got some other non Naim bits and they have no tone control either. Even my Bose soundbar doesn’t have them. The only thing I have with tone controls is my Luxman amp, but of course that is not a one box solution. Given how rare it is becoming,

This is one of those unfortunate cases where having a look at the manual ahead of time can help or, in the case of things with no useful manual like Muso, quizzing the dealer ahead of purchase. I spend a lot of time looking through the manuals of things before I buy them trying to anticipate these moments.

You can always make your case to Naim Support. They will look at that for sure. I’d suggest making a case for the Muso as a product that is not expected to have the room arranged and adjusted for it and may have a wider listening audience with a wider range of needs. But ultimately, the implementation isn’t a trivial change so appealing to their sense of increased appeal is probably a better path to success.

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That the muso has primitive tone control via room correction implies that Naim are aware of the issue, but orthodoxy dictates that they can’t add a proper EQ solution. ‘Naim doesn’t need EQ’ :blush: is the party line.

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Gentle reminder this topic is primarily a feature request towards Naim.

Like castalla states above, since the Mu-so already has some preset tone control, I presume it would be possible to further expand this into user adjustable tone control. Does not have to be a full blown parametric equalizer.

I am only talking Mu-so here since it is in fact a (rather high quality) soundbar. Therefore also the case for adjustable loudness. This and tone control are features that already are present in the device, just some extra functionality is what would be really beneficial.

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I’m with HH on this. I have bought Naim over the years knowing Tone control wasn’t possible. If I had really wanted it I would have looked at alternative providers.

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