New Firmware update v. 3.6.0

The guy has had a reboot. Doesnt matter how many causes of the reboots there are if he has had one then its not fixed.

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I just wanted to point out that there was always more than one, so even if one remaining is one too many, I felt that “It seems 3.6 hasn’t fixed the issue.” was too broad a brush. (If the mark when we call it “fixed” means that there never must be any crash at all, then this might never become true, and it is not true for nearly all computer-based systems in the world)

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Trust you have contact NAIM support so that the boffins can try to replicate your issue and solve it…

Good luck, Paul

Everything went smoothly. It’s a pretty straightforward procedure.
Not sure it’ll solve my “edginess” problem…

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I’m sorry, but that could be nuanced :wink:

I’ve been working in environments with “up-times” of nearly half a decade, that were stopped only for replacement. And this is rather common. Embedded systems, one task systems, regulation systems, etc. Most “real time” systems in critical environments simply don’t “crash”.

Even general purpose operating systems can be extremely stable (like some BSD based OSs).

I am well aware of that. But here we are not talking about one system, but essentially all the Naim systems out there. And even with 99,99999% uptime it is not 100%.

My only point was that it paints an incorrect picture to say “it hasn’t been fixed”, because the assumption is incorrect that there was only one cause, that’s all.
(Neither would it be correct to say “all has been fixed”).

I have contacted Naim support.

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@Darkebear

It’s been a week or two now, how do you feel about the v. 3.6 ?

I like it - it is different and had IMO a run-in effect in my system, but has now really settled-in well.
I had some up-and-down small misgivings about sonic aspects for a while, but they seemed every day to gradually clear from being a problem for me in my system.

I hear that the deep bass-end is far clearer and missing all previous distortion harmonics is also now ‘louder’ in the fundamental notes - the same energy input now does not get spread into distortion side-bands so the bass is less ‘full’ but far more accurate and articulate.

Also since there is less distortion generated the midband has less distortion noise-mush in it and is more open and revealing.

The ‘level’ of changes in recording as perceived in shifts of dynamics and loudness really rides atop the increased deep-bass energy and definition.
I have large speakers with Active Bass and it is very obviously better!

Top-end took some time to get stable in that it could be tad too ‘refined’ for me than I was used to hearing, but on high-registers of female vocals it is more detailed and I’m definitely hearing articulation and emphasis I had not before - it is better!

For whatever reason - perhaps because it can be more revealing now - it took longer to warm-up and be clear of me hearing run-in on my system, which lets you hear when things are not ‘there’ yet - it took more than a week.

I also twiddled with the settings as I said before and definitely on all music types prefer some unused inputs on and some off - all on or off sounds wrong and does not grab my attention and interest here with my system - I just try stuff and know what I like - I have no dogmatic view on what ‘should’ be better - as ‘should’ always leads to poor results with HiFi I found. :bear:

DB.

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Agree. The screen functionality is a real let down. I have posted in the feature request threat my proposals.

A short while into the update and I haven’t had a screen freeze since updating. That is the only difference I have noticed. The sound has remained the same.

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Hi DB,
Have you tried Server-Mode off?
It sounds better to me that way…

What do you think?

E

I will try it again ahead - I’ve not tried it off with this version yet, but on a previous version I did try and found that on was better then. These buttons on/off produce small effects that manifest, to me, as forms of subtle coloration and transient timing effects in general. Sometimes ‘off’ can sound cleaner, but then you realise the performance has lost visceral impact and is ‘wishy-washy’ as I’ll describe it - more HiFi clean and less insightful.

I find that careful listening is required to get to an overall result that works right for me.
In context - these are small effects overall that may not be even audible in a lot of systems but on the Active system I have they are clear albeit still small effects.

If you adjust it all and think it better - but find you don’t want to play much music anymore then you have gone for the over-clean but actually temporal-micro-smear options. I find it is the timing that gets me to the right end-result.

Percussion - such as bass drum hits setting a timing thread in the music work well to optimize.
Also big drums should sound loud when hit - real drums are ‘bang jump out of seat’ loud and not ‘HiFi-tamed loud’.
When I have it about right I get a big deep image and all artists are stable and clear and it is a ‘big’ sound - good macro and micro-dynamics.

Presently I have Server-mode on, Digital 1, 3 and 4 on, Digital 2 off, Air Play off, Bluetooth off, Favorites off. Display on too!

Obviously if you need one of these on - on it goes! :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m not suggesting this is right for all tastes in all systems and my be just what grabs me here with my system.

The main thing - if inclined - is to try for yourself and then you know.
The aim is to share information here - I’m not any authority and don’t want to be, but do like people to experiment - it is how I learn stuff!

I find having too many set ‘wrong’ can take away a lot of what this source can do - I miss it when what was there is not present as good - a bit like cleaning a dirty stylus - you know when it needs to be done. :bear:

DB.

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For me the most noticeable impact on sound is not the inputs on or off, or display, but setting standby to ‘never’.

G

I have that default to ‘never’ as well - I’ve never tried it enabled as I don’t want standby to happen! :bear:

DB.

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I had some odd bursts of white noise playing from Roon to Nova yesterday - stream I think from Qobuz though might have been Tidal.

I just tried it - and my reaction was initially ‘better’ more open - but then further playing shows it also ‘missing something’ - in my system.

‘Off’ was a bit cleaner but also dynamics of big drum-hits lost power and spread a bit - back to ‘on’ and that returned. It can be toggled on/off real-time while playing and so easy to determine which I prefer.
‘Off’ was cleaner - but now I’m not drawn listen - ‘On’ is more up-front and the timing on bass and drums is more powerful and obvious what it is meant to be doing.

With active system it tends to pick-out things that influence timing more - I may prefer it the other setting in a good Passive system, so I’m not saying any more than how it is here.

DB.

My understanding is that enabling server mode keeps the PSU powered up when the streamer is in standby. It’s the equivalent of the old fashioned ‘never turn off your kit’ advice and a sneaky way to bypass the standby power consumption regs.
So when the streamer is in use I think you could turn it off again, as most will not be using it.

It’s true that it keeps the PSU powered up for server use, but you don’t need a sneaky way if ýou want to bypass standby as you can simply set it to standby “never” :slight_smile:

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