Poll - New firmware: sound upgrade or downgrade?

You might be thinking of the wrong sort of ‘code’ … this is, so I have understood previously from Naim, specific machine code operands in specific modules which controls the timing of loading and writing data onto the I/O and memory bus, with respect to other low level machine controller operations. This will be likely associated with the SHARC. Machine code, which is hardware dependent, is vastly different to high level programming languages such as C++, C, Python where such considerations are abstracted away through many layers and hidden from you and are typically hardware independent. These days the word ‘code’ is used as a short hand to refer to high level programming languages and scripting, not hardware specific machine code.

If you have ever engineered machine code… you will know down at this level it’s all about controlling and timing of low level hardware associated with the sub systems… ie the functions that directly create a hardware digital interactions which in themselves cause a specific environmental reactions such as EM, in the ground plane or power lines.

A great illustration of this was the powering up of the Apollo 13 flight computer in such a way that did not exceed the very limited power budget available on the stricken space craft as it hurtled back to Earth … seems a long way from hifi, but at this level some similar principles apply.

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hi dan
would be interested to know if you get a ticket number - i didn’t and am worried they have stopped counting - have raised with richard dane on the other thread

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Yes, I got a ticket number. This is on the automated email as opposed to an answer from Naim. Did you get an automated emaill to start with?

It’s getting confusing as you appear to be posting the same thing across two threads.

AFAIK the support email system works on a numbered ticketing system, so all correspondence from the support email will have an associated ticket number.

sorry richard
i am also getting confused - i will now wait for a response to my email to support - and will keep quite till then

I got a ticket number a few weeks back, with a bit of chat back and forth, including:

“The issue has now been reported and logged with our software team, who are working to resolve it.”

I’ve largely ameliorated the changes I was hearing by adjusting toe-in (toe-out) and distance from the back wall. I reported this back to support. Still a touch ‘toppy’ on some recordings but, given my experience of firmware changes over the years, I’m sure it will be sorted.

G

What is the placebo effect? The placebo effect is when a person’s physical or mental health appears to improve after taking a placebo or ‘dummy’ treatment . Placebo is Latin for ‘I will please’ and refers to a treatment that appears real, but is designed to have no therapeutic benefit.

More fully, the placebo effect is a psychological effect where a person is given a substance having no therapeutic effect (e.g. an injection of saline solution, or a tablet containing only plain food material), and told it is a medicine, and their condition then improves. And such an improvement in the person’s health can be very real, even though actually brought on only by the person’s mind. It is not imagination.

The same can happen with hifi with hifi where a person can truly ‘hear’ an improvement as a result of belief where they have added or changed a component, even if there is no actual change to the sound.

The same can happen in reverse, where someone is told/believes that the effect will be negative.

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How do you then explain when simply switching to another source provides a consistent and musically engaging performance?

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Not sure what you’re asking? This is getting very removed from the thread subject so would be better elsewhere else.

37 have voted dissatisfied with the firmware. I have asked @Richard.Dane for how many have written to Naim with complaints about sound quality. Remember Naim won’t take the votes on this forum as evidence. So write in with your findings to:

Support@naimaudio.com

If you haven’t done so already.

Dan, as posted on the other thread, I would advise not to take the poll numbers as absolutely correct as it’s fairly easy to skew the results one way or another, if you really wish to do so, which may explain why, after a month since the poll first appeared, it appears so many more have voted here than have contacted Naim support.

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I totally understand your frustration (I would if I were in your boat), but again, you cannot take at face value how people respond after they have read about others’ complaints. People are influenced by other people’s judgements they hear. This is well know and why no pollster, survey administrator, experimenter that knows what she is doing would take seriously the quantitative results of a poll conducted the way this one was conducted. This does not mean people’s judgements would not have been the same had they not known of others’ judgements, it means you cannot know. This is why when I do A/B testing with my wife, I don’t tell her anything or what I change. I just say, close your eyes, listen, and tell me what you experience.

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I have to ask how accurate the quoted number of individuals contacting Naim are? I know of at least three other people not including myself that have written to the tech department. All are reasonably local to me. I just find it a little hard to believe that I know 40% of the individuals who have contacted Naim so far!

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I am not frustrated. I have asked for the numbers. Simple as that. Hopefully @Richard.Dane can provide the number of customers who have contacted naim support and how many are satisfied and how many dissatisfied.

It’s about being transparent.

System is sounding great now since advice given on here. It’s probably minor changes that are needed. I an now quite happy with things. Don’t feel need to change my system any longer! I was having a bit of a downturn when it sounded so shrill!

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Equally applicable to how people respond after others praise. By that logic, the unhappy camp might actually be the majority.

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I should be be able to find out early next week when Flynn is back in the office.

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Great news. I think this will help see what is going on. Thanks Richard.

Naim are a small company in the grand scheme of things. They produce amazing products. That’s why we are here.

Do they always get it right? Of course not. They will sort this out in the end :grin:

Yes, I have been very wound up at times. But I have confidence that new firmware version will iron everything out. And there will surely be a patch repair beforehand. Keep the faith everyone !

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So glad it works for you now. I am actually very grateful to people who were dissatisfied. I have applied the simple changes in input and the like people have suggested and the system sounds better. I was one of the very satisfied customers with the FW update, but I am even happier now. So, continue complaining, maybe my NDX2 will be at the 500 level :).

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Don’t forget people are in general lazy. Clicking on a vote button is far more easy than initiate an email, write it and press send. Don’t underestimate the force in lowering the threshold in getting feedback. Some companies by purpose make it tough to connect to get rid of “those annoying ones that just whine”. Sometimes the reality can be tough to manage and accept.

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