New firmware update

[Mike_S]

Off course, some communication from Naim would have been nice about all of this.

[Kryptos]

@anon4489532

Hi Richard. It’s good to read that you are liaising with Naim on this. It may be worth me pointing out that I’ve owned my 272 for five years. As a member of the beta group I’ve updated it countless times and never once reset it to factory settings, rebooted or anything like that. It just updates quite happily. People shouldn’t need to reboot, reset, give their streamers a hug or whatever; the update should just work. That’s what Naim’s objective should be, not to be issuing instructions on how to reset or how many times to do it. Naim streamers are not delicate flowers that need to misted, fed, protected from draughs etc. They are just electronic boxes. An update really shouldn’t be a faff.

This is so beautifully put! Thank you!

In the last few months alone I have updated the firmware on my phone, my tablet, my television, my computer, my Apple TV, my PlayStation and my router. Not one of these devices had to be plugged out and back in to make it work.

I fully believe the stunning piece of industrial design with the Naim logo sitting close to all these devices is capable of the same.

[Stephen_Tate]

My NDX 2 has been faultless since the new update. I have just updated to the latest iOS app. All fine here.

[Richard.Dane]

Sorry you haven’t had any more communication from Naim Mike, where are you at with your correspondence with support regarding your issues? It may be that they are having to escalate or trying to investigate, but I’ll try to find out for you. I’ll message you so we don’t divert the thread.

[PhilippVH]

Same here - plenty of updates of my Atom during beta testing, never an issue.
(Never reset to factory defaults; very rarely did I cold-boot it (1-2 times? Long ago.). Then again, I often have the unit down in “deep sleep”. Which are effectively switch-off and power-on procedures.)

[Michaelb]

@Kryptos

In the last few months alone I have updated the firmware on my phone, my tablet, my television, my computer, my Apple TV, my PlayStation and my router. Not one of these devices had to be plugged out and back in to make it work.

Sometimes that’s the case and sometimes things go wrong, with so many variables involved - and that has been precisely what we’ve seen here, with some reporting issues and others proclaiming they’ve had none with the exact same streamers in different installations.

But when things do go wrong and the company involved acknowledges the problems and takes prompt, responsible action to resolve them and learn from how things went askew, as Naim has done here, there’s very little to do, it seems to me, other than applaud, however tempting a good lecture may be.

[Mike_S]

Except that the issues aren’t resolved.

[Michaelb]

Nothing in life is instant except bad coffee…

[Richard.Dane]

I’m not an expert on this but the reset/power cycling seems to me to be just belt and braces stuff - i.e. probably a good idea as it seems to fix most issues reported by those who have had the update go awry. I guess something gets its knickers in a twist and the re-boot/reset clears it (that’s my layman’s take on it anyway - told you I’m not an expert on this software stuff).

Just so you know, I went through this thread this morning and collated the reported issues, as well as where an issue was reported, and a solution found (such as a re-boot, or reset, or log out and then log back in of any streaming services) so R&D can review it.

[anon4489532]

Let’s hope that helps and that the people at the factory can sort it out. This level of rancour does nobody any good. I’d suggest ‘a few words’ from Naim would be very helpful at this point. I’m sure @charlie.henderson can coin some suitable phrases to calm the troubled waters.

[Hollow]

Hopefully if a new version is forthcoming Naim will revisit the SQ issue and find some middle ground that has a more universal appeal

[Thomas]

@Hollow

Naim will revisit the SQ issue

This new firmware release has many issues, but sound quality isn’t one of them.

Issue and taste are two different things.

In terms of sound, for me, the 3.5 release improves the ND555 performance.

[n-lot]

@anon4489532

People shouldn’t need to reboot, reset, give their streamers a hug or whatever

1995 called, it wants its solutions back.

But in all seriousness, those all reek of a last resort. I.e. Naim don’t have a clue either so let’s just try that instead taking the effort of figuring it out. It doesn’t come across well.

I’ve rebooted and powercycled my unit, but while ridiculous neither is that invasive. If someone were to suggest a factory reset, it should come with an explanation of why that should help. Especially because if it does, it’s likely erased any evidence of what was wrong.

[GeorgeG]

Still experiencing this issue since the firmware update.

When I switch on my Atom with Digital 1 input I have to switch to another input then back to Digital 1 to get a connection.

Have rebooted many times to no avail.

[Richard.Dane]

George, I recommend then that you contact Naim tech support so they can look into this.

[Kryptos]

@Michaelb

@Kryptos

In the last few months alone I have updated the firmware on my phone, my tablet, my television, my computer, my Apple TV, my PlayStation and my router. Not one of these devices had to be plugged out and back in to make it work.

Sometimes that’s the case and sometimes things go wrong, with so many variables involved - and that has been precisely what we’ve seen here, with some reporting issues and others proclaiming they’ve had none with the exact same streamers in different installations.

But when things do go wrong and the company involved acknowledges the problems and takes prompt, responsible action to resolve them and learn from how things went askew, as Naim has done here, there’s very little to do, it seems to me, other than applaud, however tempting a good lecture may be.

Well, I disagree. It is unfortunate that users voicing concerns are said to be giving lectures.

Let me be clear. I love my Uniti Star, despite its flaws. In the year I have had it there has been hardly a day I have not listened to it. And as an entry level Naim owner of less than a year I may very well be the NFG of the Naim community, but I also have 20 years of software development experience under te belt. So my comment was actually about the advice that it is good practice to power down the units after a firmware update. And I am not targeting Richard here, I got the exact same advice from my dealer when my CD player stopped working after the previous one. We can go into the technical reasons of why this may be required but suffice it to say that the hardware should be more than capable to do a power cycle by itself… in theory anyways.

So once again, the hardware is exquisite and yes, I am very happy that Naim is taking the time to respond. On the other hand, at the price these units are selling for, I expect it as I see it as part of the service. So well done Naim, you are doing what you should which makes you an honest company and one I will keep supporting in future. Applaud? I dunno man. No one applauds me every day when I show up for work and do what people pay me for.

That said if after a year of also having to restart the Star on an almost weekly basis it stops doing that now some hand clapping will certainly be involved.

[Makke67]

It’s not a matter of taste…

After update to v3.5, sound was harsh and out of balance. I contacted Steve, put the Atom back to factory settings, then installed v3.5 back again and now things are up and running better than ever before, soundwise too.
I’m shure Naim is working things out concerning the update process and problems that then occur on a relatively small number of units. Most ‘updaters’ don’t read this forum because they experience no problems whatsoever.

Best, Marc

[Thomas]

@Makke67

After update to v3.5, sound was harsh and out of balance. I contacted Steve, put the Atom back to factory settings, then installed v3.5 back again and now things are up and running better than ever before, soundwise too.

That’s good news!

Spread the word

[conlegno]

As long as the flavour of sound output varies from firmware to firmware i think this is an issue. Fluctuation in SQ (which is not the goal of the firmware update unless stated in the release notes) seems to be a byproduct of other adjustements and getting it right at the end seems to be wrong way to do it, especially since people get really mixed and what seems to be uncontrolable results. If Naim want to improve on sound quality they should also state in the release notes what they were going for when doing these improvements.

Most importantly, starting from a certain threshold, sound quality is very subjective and what is good for one person is not for another. Just my 2 cents on general “updating” of audio equipement.

[Analogmusic]

Blimey what a situation