Owner of NDX1 will very sad, if it was cannot get officially support

Streaming Audio
1

Naim claims its streamer will have native Qobuz support.

2

Not gonna happen. Naim no longer develop for the old streaming platform. Although the hardware is supported for the long term foreseeable future, software functionality will remain unchanged.

3

Naim have many fine traits. Being prescient isn’t one of them.

1 Like
4

A good way to access services like Qobuz if you have an old streamer is to buy a Chromecast Audio module, discontinued by Google but still supported by them and widely available. You can connect it to a digital input on your NDX or whatever and use the Qobuz app to deliver music direct to the Chromecast module. It is good for 24 bit 96 kHz. I use this approach with the BBC Sounds app with excellent results and a friend does likewise with the Primephonic app.

Best

David

5

Which generation of Chromecast do you use?

6

Naim should keep on supporting the old ndx on software.there are a lot of old ndx ‘owners.

7

The last version before they discontinued it. Not sure what that is. Google still supports them. I have three here and each of them was new still in a sealed box and downloaded new firmware when I set them up.
Best

David

8

I am sure they will support the software as they need to do as to maintain the same functionality if possible, but there are all sorts of hardware limitations that prevent them from adding new functionality.

It’s not just NDX of course. It’s also NDS, ND5 XS, NAC N-272, NAC N-172, SuperUniti, Uniti, UnitiLite and UnitiQute.

Best

David

9

But it’s a Chromecast Audio unit rather than the regular Chromecast?
Cheers
Mark

10

Yes it has to be Chromecast Audio. The regular Chromecast doesn’t handle high definition music as well.

Best

David

11

Do you understand what ‘support’ means ?, it just means Naim are doing no longer developing firmware & software for the older products, its reached its limits, it cannot do anymore.
I have no doubt that if something went wrong that needed a firmware or software change, that it will be done.

12

Many thanks. Off to ebay

13

I bought mine via eBay and paid about £30 each. I notice that that seller doesn’t have any left now.

Best

David

14

They are a bit pricier now! C’est la vie.

15

Yes someone else mentioned that to me. I bought my first about nine months ago and the other two just before Christmas, all at £30 inc p&p. So the price rise reflects the fact that the supply is tightening as stocks are used up.

Anyway it’s magic so worth buying.

Best

David

16

…until Google stop supporting them. That might be a bit sooner than the 10 year lifespan of the 1st gen. Naim streamers.

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17

(Free) BubbleServer on a NAS or PC/NUC provides Qobuz sublime hi-res to Mk1 NDX and related products. It can also be set up to ‘see’ the NDX as an OpenHome renderer allowing the use of Lumin app (others are available).

18

Again, there is no guarantee that this, being an unsupported workaround, will continue to work in future, but for the time being, it’s a good solution for many, and it’s free.

19

I’m not sure that Google need to support them. Anyway they are cheap, although I gather getting more pricy as they get rarer, so a good way to get access to new streaming services now.

Best

David

20

absolutely - i ran Qobuz and Tidal (sounding a lot better than running natively) on my NDX using this method