I ‘found’ a spare Chromecast audio in the house the other day, new and sealed, I thought I’d got shot of all of them.
You have got me curious, I’m tempted to give the BBC Sounds app a try and compare to Roon sending to my NDS.
I would be very interested in what you find. The cable included in the box isn’t fibre optic of course, but they don’t cost much to buy.
Best
David
I already have a fibre optic cable to use
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There is a similar kind of issue with another manufacturer who is currently experiencing a blowback from software updates rendering their speakers useless (well, that’s my understanding, based on a report on The World At One on R4). We cannot simply accept built in obsolescence, especially on premium products and I feel very strongly about this. Naim, like other manufacturers, has a responsibility to its customers and it is very unfortunate that we are being encouraged to replace perfectly good products at the emergence of a climate crisis where consumption is responsible for making things worse.
That’s simply not true. It does what it originally did when you bought it and therefore is not obsolete. I’d suggest you expect too much. If you have a nas you can install bubble for free.
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Hi All,
Regarding Naim’s product upgrade policy. We are one of the few manufacturers who support their high tech products well outside of the mandatory warrant period. We don’t have a forced obsolescence policy, but rather the natural decline of what can be done on a give technology platform more dictates where we implement new functionality to ensure our products are competitive.
Naim develop product platforms which means when we update 1 product, we inherently update all the others in the range from it being common. It makes it cost effective to keep the software platform maintained, as development costs can be spread across all products. Big software updates cost £100000’s to do, so we need to be very pragmatic as a business on what we do and when.
So far we have had two major platforms:
2008 - today - Bridgeco. Used in all ‘green screen’ classic series products, then Muso and Qb MK1. In 2012 we tweaked the hardware to give it 192kHz support, plus a bit more processing power so it can handle the newer wave of streaming trends. There was a hw upgrade program so old units could be updated for a very sensible price.
2017-today - NP800. A custom streaming module which has replaced the Bridgeco solution and used in Atom, Nova NDX2, ND555 etc. Has 5x the processing power, 16x more RAM than Bridgeco, 802.11ac wifi, high performance networking stack and generally everything is better. For high def streaming services, anything needing secure processing or very accurate latency for streaming then this platform is far more suitable than the Bridgeco.
When we designed NP800, we also ensured that when old and new platform products were used in the same system, they all work together. So multiroom network discovery, airplay2 support, iOS and Android App etc. As a piece of engineering it’s a lot of effort and work to factor in design decisions made 13yrs ago.
So in practice, on the Bridgeco platform products you will more see bug fixes or existing services library updates rather than new streaming features. We still have all the necessary people in-house and with third parties to support the Bridgeco based products though.
Our last big engineering project on Bridgeco was Airplay2, which ensured the Muso/Qb MK1 had the latest streaming features from Apple. Most other manufacturers just changed their hardware/products to make it easier to support Airplay2.
Hope that clarifies the situation
Best regards
Steve Harris
Software Director
PS. Same is true on servers. Last year we did version 1.7C for Unitiserve/HDX to resolve an issue where Rovi had switched off their CD lookup servers + we swept up various small bugs. Those products are over 10 years old, on a platform that is 14 years old from a third party tech company that is no longer in business.
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My old ZX spectrum won’t load windows 10 but I don’t blame Clive Sinclair.
The old streaming platforms still work as they were intended and originally sold.
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I am convinced Naim do not build in obsolesence, but I wouldn’t put it past some of the big tech giants. Not obselecence as such, just the eventual inability to have the latest new gadget or feature that no one really needs but many convince themselves they want.
Got to sell more of the same (with the odd bell and whistle added) somehow.
Rant over.
Couldn’t we have offered the retrofitting of the previous generation of streamers and replace their Bridegeco platform by the new NP800? Highly complex and resources consuming, not to mention costly, I presume. 
Chag -
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If you want to complain about forced obsolescence talk to Apple. I have two Airport devices that can no longer be configured to work, even though the hardware works just fine. Apple are also good at abandonware. Naim has a much better record.
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Indeed. I have lost count of the times my Son just had to upgrade to the latest iPhone because……because……he needed to….OK. He has just proudly announced he has just taken possession of the latest incarnation, but at least he now earns his own money and can spend it how he wishes.
Apologies for the thread drift, OP.
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I think Apple and many of the phone and mobile service retailers would prefer it if there were more like your son, it appears many consumers are increasingly switching off from doing this and it’s really affecting and hurting certain business models and impacts on profits… from Apple through to the humble Carphone Warehouse…
Quite a lot of narrative on this in the relevant business press, it looks like consumerism is evolving with respect to electronics and gadgets…
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I am sure you are right Simon, but I find it hard to feel sorry for Apple because folk are finally waking up to this ‘market-creation’ game they play.
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My wife gets my daughters cast off phones that are so called outdated, i then get her old one…looking forward to my next upgrade…could be on the iphone 6 soon😁
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I think part of the problem is that for most people, most of the time, an iPhone 6 is easily capable of doing everything they need. Now that the going rate for the latest model is around £1000, it’s hard to justify shelling out that sort of cash every year or so, for little or no actual benefit.
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And who is paying 
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Why anyone would pay a £1000 for a phone is beyond me. Most users don’t even use the features they add on or the extra processor. Facebook, Twitter, etc and maybe Spotify or Apple music hardly needing that much of a cost. I got out of the Apple walled garden many years ago and not looked back. My current phones 3 years old and running perfectly fine and still lasts a whole day on one charge.
It’s all about the cameras on the latest phones Chris, especially if you have young children around. For example the “portrait” mode on the iPhone XS and later allows you to take a photo and then retrospectively adjust the depth of field. “Live Photo” in an iPhone records a second or two before and after you take the photo, so you can select a different moment later if you want to. No more photos of people at the moment they blinked! And the performance of the camera in poor light is astonishing, along with good in-phone post-processing. I have an expensive Nikon camera and a bag full of Nikon FX lenses but mostly these days I just use my phone. Makes it easier to send the photos of the grandkids to the rest of the family - take the photo, tweak if necessary, and pop it into WhatsApp
Best
David
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Is the Naim Qobuz update still scheduled to be released this week, as stated in Naim Connection and Richard’s posting ?
It’s not about scheduling, but when it’s ready.
Best
David
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