I see the poll is up to 10% now but if 24% are not finding any difference then the true percentage of people finding it worse is more like 15% (10/66). I’ve not played my ND for over 10 days and have been listening via my Node as it sounds plainly better!
Vlc player lets me switch between chromecast and airplay honestly before this update I couldn’t tell the difference between airplay and other options. I can now! Chromecast is the same as my server. I’ll admit I slightly miss the greater bass but not everything else so it must be something to do with how the streamer is processing or decoding higher quality music?
Hi anyone not happy with the upgrade can you tell me what your using between router and server? And what Ethernet cables also. Thanks
I use normal Ethernet cables from a DIY store from my virgin hub 3- one to my pc that has asset on it and another to my nd5xs2 which is connected to an ndac via naim dc1 cable.
Why should it be dependant on The Ethernet cable?
Shunyata Sigma here. I use the same Setup as before The Update.
And before it sounded wonderful - now it is far from that.
I have taken a while to consider any contribution here. Very much on balance I think the sound has regressed. I also have a quirky issue after using multi room that I will mention later.
I run two. ND5XS2, one direct into Nait50 and another into a NDAC and my active setup.
Many aspects of the sound are more open and airy with a tendency to impress and shine lights on aspects of a performance you have not noticed before. I tend to agree with some that a long term listen for hours on end I am finding I am cutting things short and returning to vinyl more than I did. Sometimes things seem to get too lively, weird sounding piano on occasion tending slightly to honky tonk… hard to explain.
When running into multi room there is a noticeable drop in sound quality probably down to the increased load sending signals around the wired ethernet etc. I can understand that, but when I come out of multi-room, sometimes I have had a sound that is almost distorted for a while. Unplugging the streamer and restarting seems to get me back to a much better sound. Maybe this has always been a thing I don’t know but it’s in the mix for me.
I would love to try the old firmware again put it that way!
Gaz
I am finding there are day-to-day changes and a ‘run-in’ effect going on tha reminds me of when I first purchased my Super Lumina (SL) cables; with those they were awful for a couple of weeks and then broke-in and improved over many months.
Why there should be this effect so pronounced here and if it will finally ‘clear’ to better than previous version I can’t say right now - but things are slowly improving with previously some very rough days when certain music with strings and female vocals spat and seared my brain and the bass went ‘wooden’ with plummy colorarion… but that is all changing every day and slightly for the better.
If it is run-in then perhaps it is worse for people with very revealing systems having to just put-up with it to finally get the better result; this is what I had found before with SL cables.
For those that do not experience this effect then the whole thing is absurd for them I can see, but it is obvious that something is happening for many.
I find the input settings is what I now test each day to find what works best for that point of run-in and presently it is what I posted before but with Dig 1 and 2 on and 3 and 4 off.
I’m sharing this for my experience and perspective so far.
When things are done better it is revealing more in all the right places - vocal phrasing intent I’d not heard before and in general timing things are better. When you get multiple singers in chorus or even the traditional cloned added versions on the singer it is presented now in a quite awsome way with each clearly seperated but part of the whole and is very emotionally powerful at times where previously it was just anice background sound effect.
When things are worse the bass notes spread-out and become ploddy - and then for whatever reason to fix it I’m finding the input setting permutation that cleans that up - and if I find I’m then just listening to the music and have forgotten I was tweaking then I accept the success for a few hours and explore some more music.
This is my own experince with ND555, Active S1-500 system into S800 - all naim components and cables, so Naim will have little reason complain on the combo as I see it.
As for the way-ahead - if the problems for many (but not most) do not resolve themselves then as I see it Naim should introduce ahead a ‘roll-back’ to previous know firmware version, starting with the last one and just cover themselves for support to say that version is not supported ahead and owners use it ‘as it is’ and if they want new features and bug-fixes then that support is only offered for the latest Release version whatever that presently is.
That could be done - it may cause some effort by Naim to host the other version on a Server and provide a menue-option on the App to select this - I don’t want to minimise the efforst entailed but I used to design this sort of stuff and it can be done if there is a will to do it.
Probably if I were Naim I’d wait on that until the Release version has been out for 3 or 4 weeks and there are still significant complaints to verify that run-in has not cleared this before creating more work for myself.
…for me - I continue to see where this all ends-up and if I think it is ‘fully there’ I will post - it is still ‘getting there’ IMO.
DB.
Ok well I think I have cured the problems in my system that your hearing too. I had to remove the Adot system completely and replace the expensive Ethernet cables with a basic melco one and guess what? The system is balanced again. I can now turn it up loud as before but with the extra resolution with the fw upgrade I don’t seem to need them. My system is now back to what it was before. Warmer yes possibly less revealing but now the volume can go up again. All I can say is try it. I may of wasted money on the upgrades but at least it works for my ears, TODAY! I loved what the fw did but in my over revealing system and room it was too much. I am sure for a lot of people with the opposite problems it was a real game changer. Basically I downgraded to get back to where I was with extra resolution. Try it? If not no harm done x
Exactly. I meant it sounds “better” on QB2, maybe because it is a different model (than those who does not notice improvement) but maybe also because these lossy formats increase noice. Or the lack of sound quality, makes the noise more clear. It might also, be not such explaination - then it might be just a placebo effect because I think like this or think too much about it… I have my router in the same room (Asus RT-AX88U Pro - a fairly strong consumer router) but there should not be any interference, because they opererate at different channels.
Curiously, I was about to mention the same. There are times when everything comes together and times where bloated bass and/or strident treble become more prominent, very much like a run in period. In the end, I questioned my own sanity and didn’t mention it…!
I asked naim with these exact words weeks ago. I do not want any further support or features- I want my streamer back as he was. Currently there is a 40k streamer, which I am not able to enjoy anymore. Sorry - I am really disappointed!
I can bite my … for doing the update… with my oled tv is still run an old fw for years. Works good!
Did you say you done use fancy Ethernet cables and also do you use a network switch? Thanks
Standard Ethernet cables, and Cisco and Ubiquiti switches
I did contact them, but as I mentioned I did not feel that it meant anything and that they concretely are trying to do something about it. The response mentions that Naim tested it and considers it far superior to before. And that I should do a factory reset.
I am upset with the response…
Yes, I had read your post - my suggestion was for all others adversely affected to contact Naim, and draw attention to this thread. What you could do is contact them again andsay you are very disappointed and upset by their response that didn’t seem to take you seriously.
I had similar email so the standard response. I just want a good sounding system, and I don’t have the skills to see if with tuning things I can improve things. And I even don’t belief that it brings something. If you have a revealing system…, you could downgrade again to become less revealing…., but that’s weird and counterintuitive.
I would expect that Naim also reads this forum and that finally somebody in Naim responds with a more understanding attitude and starts looking into what causes the issues.
I will of course react again to the email and then hope to find a more responsive support. I can understand that they might not be able to cover all aspects in their testing. But I do expect on this incredible pricelevel that they are looking into it and try to resolve it even if it would take a bit.
But would also request all others to also keep on reacting to the support team, so we get heard.
If Naim would think this is a problem they would not reply like that. They would ask questions to get more information in order to zoom in on the potential problem. In my book this sounds like a loooong run if one is hoping for a quick fix.
If this is the case, they will loose approx 10% of valued customers …
I bet they are looking into it. Maybe they already found something and do not need any more information from the customers?
Speculations, speculations, speculations…
When they are not doing (what I really do not think!) and ignore both the complaints and also the wish to rollback fw, there is no other way as looking elsewhere
They might calculate with it if the total upside is much much bigger for the major market. I don’t see anything pointing at that Naim has a concern about it. They seem fine and on target. If not they have the worst communication strategy plan. I remember when releasing OC and people had problems related to software and they were super fast communicating in the forums helping people out and saying new software was in the works. Here it is…silence.