Rega have made it clear they are not willing to design their own streaming platform due to the costs and have ruled out buying in a third party streaming platform. Perhaps it will change?
I want them to succeed economically.
And to make a modern Nait with a good mc riaa in a CB case.
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I wouldn’t mind if they actually delivered on some of the promise of the Uniti Core. In almost every respect apart from sonics and aesthetics, it’s been a disappointing step backwards from the Unitiserve.
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“Apart from sonics and aesthetics”? Here?
Isn’t that like asking: “Apart from that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?”?
Well, it looks nice, and sounds nice, but apart from that the functionality is a big step backwards from what we both expect and were promised.
When the core was released, there was a message from Naim saying that the additional functionality would be added to make it better than the Unitiserve
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It’s like they have just dropped any desire to improve the functionality of the Core. A few years ago, there was talk of some major firmware update, but nothing ever arrived. Being able to import digital files directly from a store to the Core through the app would be great, along with being able to edit Metadata of imported files. Basic stuff at this level of product really. Sounds great though and looks nice.
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It’s the Core’s Metadata handling that’s the massive thing that could be improved, and presumably relatively easily with some software work….Anything else, imo, is just some nice icing on the cake……But metadata, it’s just so woeful – has been from the start, improved a fraction (couldn’t not from its starting point – couldn’t even read its predecessor’s files…!) and now has just stalled for years….
As a ripping station and a UPnP server (in terms of SQ), I really like it….but it is so frustrating that it feels handicapped, just for a lack of a little TLC….I don’t believe it would cost Naim huge resources or R&D costs to push things forwards and meet a lot of the modern day expectations that people have of a music server these days….So is it stubbornness or has it truly just been abandoned for the future product roadmap…? If the latter, will be interesting to see what Naim use for demos come such time……
It just seems stuck in no man’s land and some of the metadata functionality is paradoxical at times……
— Occasionally it will suck in metadata for composers (even for pop/rock), but there is no way to manually edit or add such tags yourself, much like Conductors for Classical….
— No way to have a multi-disc album grouped as a single album
— No Dates applied to albums
— No support for track (featured) Artists or in the case of a varied featured artist album no support for the popular tag Album Artist
These are just some of the basic and main metadata shortcomings that bother me personally, but there’s many more……When you consider the customisation on offer with Minimserver or Asset, the mind boggles……
Yes, I could use either software package on one of my NAS’s or get a Melco, but I want a Naim…and I know the Core has a sound signature (so do Naim, as I know the last stage of any firmware update is the audio/listening sign off and where they potentially quote Adjust the numbers Unquote…)
It’s just a shame that it’s become, or perhaps rather, remained suboptimal……Couple of software guys/girls and a couple of weeks, focussed on the UI and Metadata handling, I’m convinced would do the Core wonders….
As stated in another thread, there’s no real need for a Core 2 – the hardware and form factor as is is fine, it’s the Software……
So that’s my wish for ‘24 – give the Core some love and properly maximise its function and potential.
In the meantime through this year, think I’ll be moving all my Rips from the MQ to Downloads so that I can editing and prepping the files for a potential alternative – although, there’s another Core issue: No way to easily delete multiple albums…it’s a one at a time job I believe…! 
SC
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Having dealt with files not reading on my store, it’s a pretty easy job to do in bulk - shift all of your files across, maybe grouping alphabetically, delete them from the store, and then rebuild the database.
Admittedly, when I’ve done that my configuration has both store and shares on my NAS
Yeah, I appreciate that…and know how best to go about it probably….I was just referring to the fact that to delete albums from the Core’s internal MQ folder, you have to do them one at a time….! Or, of course, wipe your internal music store, which seems a bit of a unnecessary clug approach……
SC
Didn’t need to in the end Mike. It wasn’t the Core hardware at fault – it was the firmware!
I had the very first unit initially replaced (due to a cosmetic defect), then I noticed the 2nd unit started playing up with ‘waking’ from standby and often interrupting the music playback….Tried a few things to resolve, but decided it must be hardware issue and thus I wanted another replacement, which A2A granted….Had the 3rd unit, and after couple of days, seemed to be exhibiting the very same issue….Serial no.s were best part of 1000 apart, so my gut was it just couldn’t be a similar hardware fault or ‘bad batch’ ……
So I went into full detective mode…! A2A weren’t going to be much help as by then they were no longer Naim dealers…they would have just pushed me to Westan, which at that stage, weren’t really an entity (they still aren’t, arguably!)….
I work in network install, so I knew my home network was unlikely to be the cause, but for the sake of completeness, I did check and try everything I could think of, even to the point of conducting Wireshark packet tracing and proving certain things were all good or not an issue….
After weeks of tearing my hair out, I had by this stage made contact with Naim Support…Initially their ‘answer’ was that it must be mains related (ie IEC on the Core) and to get in touch with Westan in Australia…!!! At which point, I hit the roof. Anyway, after pushing back and going to lengths of video recording the issue happening on the Core, plus pulling off log files from the Core when the events happened, it was then passed on to the Software Dept…and a few days later, I was told v 2.5.6 was in development and they ‘had an idea’ what the issue was….Naim remote contacted my Core, installed the early RC version, and lo and behold, problem fixed – hasn’t put a foot wrong since.
Basically, the API changes that Rovi made some months back were causing issues on my Core, the purchase of which just so coincided with when those Rovi changes happened….so I never knew any different or had a properly working Core from the start. Basically, it was trying to contact Rovi for scheduled lookups etc, getting unexpected answers and causing ‘crashes’ to the Core’s OS, prompting the Core to wake from Standby and disrupt playback etc……
I was told I was the only one to have reported the issue, which I just find simply hard to believe. And I suspect they knew the issue well before I started jumping up and down….
Anyway, all good now and I’m pleased with the assistance I ultimately got from Duncan at Naim.
But it was a scare (and something of a wary tale for current potential purchases here), as I was facing the hole of holding a defective unit, no further opportunity of another replacement (due to A2A situation), no effective local Distributor/Service and being 9000+miles away from the UK…out of pocket and frustrated to hell, especially with a brand new purchase…!
As we’ve been saying in the other threads re AU/NZ, that’s the bleedin problem at the moment……
SC
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Gosh, most of that’s above my pay grade, but I’m glad it’s sorted out for you.
How to put 10 likes?
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What i really want?
A future roadpath by naim (ao no speculation and rumours anymore) with naim goals and release dates.
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Just like Apple do? Or Ubiquiti? Or….
Never going to happen. Not sure many brands do these days…perhaps a few software companies or service based platforms may map out their goals for upcoming versions, but when it comes to hardware, things are mostly kept under wraps these days….too much is variable and can change.
And besides, there is competition from competitor brands to consider….would be commercial and intellectual suicide to make public all your future product plans….
Unfortunately, a sad reality of todays world…
SC
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Amongst all the chat about wanting a CD transport and saying Naim don’t have a drive, I’ve just realised that of course they do. It’s in the Nova and Core.
Yes please Naim… shoe box size as per the Core… Digital out to the streamers… Cd people are happy! Well, I am, despite having bought my Audiolab only recently. In fact, I’d probably be slightly seething! 
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I guess you meant to say Star & Core.
But yes, if they have Uniti Star in their product line, I’m sure Naim will be able to make some arrangement to produce a CD Transport if they want. I guess the market potential is still not big enough to convince them, despite all the noises about “CD Revival”
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it is an archetype, the monolith. It brings to mind S. Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odysse
A streamer/pre-amp with just digital inputs. I’ll never have need for anologue inputs again and so do not want to be paying for something I won’t use. Perhaps something like the NSC 222 with the analogue inputs removed and the cost and space save used instead to improve digital performance.
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Nobody, or very few did foresee the vinyl revival 3 decades ago.
I believe CD revival will hit big time in say 7-12 years ahead.
Many of the potential customers by then, would know little how good the original Naim CD players were.
My favorites were Cdi and CDS - my first foray into Naim CD players, just after release.
Iconic players.
The original CDX could rip wallpaper.
I did like the later CDX2, CD5XS/FC and also CDS2 & 3.
Holy cow they were nice players.
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