100% @w33logic …. utterly tiresome.
I totally understand @Jarooo ’s frustration, but as other have said it’s not (at least not entirely) Naim’s fault. The same thing happened with my Marantz a few years back there is no no way to access internet radio direct on the unit. Similarly Tidal pulled support from Plex recently leaving anyone who purchased Plex because of streaming integration up a creek!
I don’t think it’s fair to suggest there is any kind of “planned obsolescence” on Naim’s part however. We’re moving (in both HiFi and motoring arenas) to much more reliance on third party software which unfortunately the manufactuer has little control over.
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If it is planned obsolescence they seem to have failed in their planning as the intended date for the replacement service to be available for devices they no longer make is 10 days from now.
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The car analogy would be equivalent - if you use an interruption to fuel supply. Not sure how many people would try to blame VW or Honda if they temporarily couldn’t source petrol…
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Confused if that was a reply to me. My two second gen devices are working fine and my gen 1 QB works via multiroom.
What I find really frustrating is my Auralic Streamer as BBC Radio 3 is now effectively unavailable, seemingly permanently. Naim is a knight in shining white armour by comparison.
Roger
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The entire car industry went into free fall due to a well documented shortage of computer chips after Covid. No one picketed the gates at Dagenham when their Corsa order was delayed. Or maybe they did. I’d need to check the Vauxhall forum…
Streaming from one’s own store of music, whether ripped from CD or downloaded does not need the device to be updated, so is not subject to the same obsolescense risk.
“Dear Managing Director, Pye,
In September 1988 I purchased one of your portable televisions. It was a black and white model, with a 14 inch screen, and it was bought from Stepek, one of your dealers in Glasgow. I have it on a small table next to my bed.
I was horrified to find out that this model is not equipped with any HDMI ports. Nor even an optical output. How could you be so short sighted? And don’t think that the fact you went out of business is an acceptable excuse. Or that Stepek shut. It’s a disgrace. And it’s your fault.
When replying, please ask your friends at Philips why I can’t purchase blank tapes for my Video 2000 machine any more.
Furious of Glasgow”
Now, where did I leave my medication?
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Sorry, but some threads are more whiny than others and the comparison with a pair of speakers is downright stupid.
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I’m not sure if the original Uniti green screen, which I have, can be updated via the app. The last time I updated the firmware, it was via a cable linking a windows PC with the unit itself.
Honestly, it was such a faff!
Sadly the section I quoted above was specifically for the MuSos. It’s a cable for other devices. (Richard linked to the Naim announcement above.)
Legacy Uniti and Streamers
NDX, NDS, ND5 XS, NaimUniti, NaimUniti 2, SuperUniti, UnitiQute, UnitiQute 2, NAC-172, NAC-272
New firmware is in the final stages of testing and approval.
It is currently planned for launch on February 14th 2025 . This update will require connection to a computer and some products will need an RS232 to USB cable. Any presets will need to be resaved.
We will inform you when the firmware for the legacy products has been approved and is ready for launch.
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Best laugh for ages, big many thanks w33logic
And huge thanks to Richard, together with a sympathetic commiseration to handle all this sh**, so glad not to be in your shoes, … been there an’ dun all that.
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I think this is a very significant point. When the Gen 1 streamers were produced, and Muso 1 as a tail ender of that generation, I think Internet Radio was seen as a throwaway extra, a bonus better than no radio at all, and of low fi quality with its lossy compression and many stations having low bitrate. In the intervening decade+, IR quality from at least some quarters improved markedly, and perhaps people moved to serious listening to it, with as much importance as other media, maybe without Naim quite catching on to the significance of IR for some people so not giving a high priority to resilience in case the third party went down.
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Not quite, equally with hardware too, such as CDMs that are no longer manufactured and will eventually wear out.
However in this case with Naim web radio used a third party URL database / lookup service provider (vTuner) who modified their service and Naim were required to develop an alternative, in this case they, Naim, have now developed in house using modern cloud software techniques that were not as available when the Naim first gen products appeared… so in this case Naim have developed planned continuity not obsolescence now by reducing dependencies on third parties and their SLRs and using modern development techniques.
To the OP the thread title is catchy click-bait… just pretty inaccurate and incorrect in this case.
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The only winers that should have been on this threads are the users of the old servers. Here radio is dead. I am not sure when the userve was discontinued but I think back in 2017 or 2018, so 7 years and it could have gone on for longer if vtuner has not done whatever it is they have done to all there business customers.
Nope, you’ll be needing the ol’ serial cable, which really dates the uniti well. Make sure to pick the right port on the computer, and pray it works I think the software was for windows 7.
I don’t think that a serious company operating on the technology market can rely on free software available to everyone.
You either absorb such a company - supplier, or you bind it with a commercial agreement over which you have influence. The contract includes notice periods and contractual penalties. Leaving some “old” customers (even only temporarily) without support IS NAIM’s DECISION, or a manifestation of the weakness of its resources (financial, intellectual, human, etc.).
I really appreciate that NAIM hasn’t abandoned us permanently.
I think this lesson will have a big impact on the company’s policy in the future.
Car analogies with hifi kit is it seems, dubious when it’s a different producer, factory, indeed country!
This courtesy of auto car -
….the Vauxhall Corsa is made in a factory that’s been building Corsas since 1982: at Zaragoza, Spain.
Dagenham was Ford.
Somewhat defeats your argument.
DG…
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101% agreed. Network streamer as a transport separate and then the sticky parts 
I love my MuSo2, but the risk is there that in the future may need a WiiM Nano (just to name one) to feed the input ports. I take the risk.
On living room, my 30 years old setup has RCA input from a Cambridge Audio MXN10.