Next generation of Tidal support on 1st Gen platform

Streaming Audio
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Continuing the discussion from Survival without Tidal:

Hi Steve,
Is there going to be another firmware release for the NDS & other 1st Gen streamers, supporting HiRes Tidal, with their change in direction?

Based on the effort listed here in 2021 to get to the 4.8 release, I would doubt it is technically feasible.

I suspect for those who want HiRes Tidal have already upgraded to NDX2, ND5X2 and ND555 or implemented alternative solutions with off-board support for internet based services.

Alternatively, for those of us using other solutions for Tidal, Qobuz and other format support could there be a cut-down firmware that does less?
i.e. strip out Spotify & Tidal support and potential vTuner also, and just leave UPnP.

I have all the Tidal, Qobuz and Internet Radio support via Roon presenting the NDS with a UPnP stream.

Could less give more, in terms of processing workload and therefore less noise drawn from the PSU?

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@Stevesky Not sure I addressed this posting correctly to you.

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It’s easy Simon. Open the Nds, unscrew the old streaming platform, then plug the new stream unlimited one. 5 minutes swap.

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Lindemann Bridge II use Streaming unlimited 810 board. Latest gen Naim SU 800 board. The Bridge II performs magic with my NDS. A tiny box that is not super expensive that works and sounds great.

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Maybe you can tell if the buffering to stream hires Tidal has to be bigger than streaming 16/44 ?
Then if the response is yes, I don’t see how Naim would be able to update the old platform.

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I can stream 24/192 Tidal perfectly using mconnect to my first-gen Mu-so qb over WiFi.

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Right, I not actually looking for Tidal HiRes support on Naim 1st gen streamers, nor Qobuz, or Spotify, or Apple music, or YouTube music, or Deezer, or any service that comes off the internet, even internet Radio.
My suggestion is to for an NDS Firmware stripped of all internet service provision, just local UPnP streaming, on the assumption that some other piece of hardware is going to be providing the internet service brokerage and just providing a UPnP feed to the NDS of 16/44.1 or better.

We know that the NDS can do this and very well. It has limitations towards internet services which are best solved with additional hardware configurations. So let’s see if the NDS can be optimized further as UPnP streamer without any other overheads. The ‘less is more’ approach, less processing in the firmware, less current drawn, less noise etc.

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I think it’s unlikely that simply having internet streaming support puts any load on the streamer or the psu while not actively in use.

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I really doubt that Naim has unused developer effort available to make a de-featured niche software version for an obsolete streamer.

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I’ve got a load of old 1st gen streamer updates still on my computer - these could be loaded onto a streamer in order to remove Tidal, Spotify, multiroom, etc. but don’t expect them to sound any better.

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Yes, I really want the SQ improvements that came with the 4.4.x releases, along with the detailed tuning in some of the past releases, but with all the Tidal, Spotify, iRadio elements stripped out.
I don’t recall which series but there were different versions made available and we all listened and gave feedback on the differences. I was using a ND5XS/NP5XS back then. This doesn’t seem to happen anymore, even for the ND555

I have all the unused elements disabled, so no Tidal, no Spotify, no USB input, only one Digital input for a rarely used CD transport.