Rubbish remotes poll

This is kind of why I suggested rounded corners. I’d like to see a device with screen but also firm navigation and volume buttons below the screen.

My Luxman remote is heavy machined aluminium but it is rounded and luxurious to hold and use. That sort of build with a screen would be ace.

Yes, the R-Com is IR.

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I only have experience with the remote that comes with the Uniti Star (also Atom & Nova?), and it’s horrible. It feels cheap, not befitting a 4k+ product, and is not very ergonomic and enormous to boot.

Then again, I in principle wouldn’t really care too much. I’m happy to store them away as I’d rather not have a pile of remotes, but for some reason not all functionality is present in the app, and vice-versa. So for full functionality you need both! Quite bizarre if you ask me.

BTW, this problem is not unique to Naim. For example the Android TV app doesn’t have a way to turn the TV off.

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Slightly off topic but I cannot help feeling that Naim missed a trick by not offering even a basic IR remote (such as that provided with the legacy streamers) as an option to use with the ND5SX2. For me this is a major barrier to adopting the new platform as system automation on the old ND5SX works well and I can control everything I need day to day using a 5 device ‘One for All’

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As I posted on another thread I had been using a ND555 for a couple of years and my dealer lent me a NDX2 when my ND555 broke I thought the remote supplied with the NDX2 was bloody awful, cheap feeling a 5k device should have something better.

I have two Samsung QLED TVs both with the small stainless steel type remotes they are superb far better than ny Naim remote I have ever used.

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Blimey! Any chance you could invite me round to your Easter egg hunt next year?

I have just had a quick look round the house and spotted more than a dozen remotes and think the new remote for my Atom looks classier than any of them. Functionally it does everything I want, althought to be fair I rarely use it as my Atom sits next to me on my desk. However, I guess this thread is about aesthetics and although it’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet, I really like it.

FWIW Auralic have an interesting take on the remote issue: they don’t supply one. Instead, my Vega can be controlled by any IR remote, but you need to programme the machine to respond to key presses on the remote to make this work. So the Narcom 4 I use with my CD5XS can also control the Vega.

Roger

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I am not entirely sure about this. I have a USB rechargeable magic mouse with my iMac and it has a habit of running out of charge just as I’m in the middle of long session at the computer. This can be annoying, but fortunately I also have a battery operated mouse which gets pressed into use whilst the other one is charging. So I like the idea but only if the remote had some way of signalling that it needed recharging, before giving up the ghost.

Roger

Ah, good point. I’d forgot about the Flash remote. I had one but without the PIC chip but changed it for an R-Com years ago. I’ll try and hunt down a PIC chipped Flash remote.

Cheers, Rack.

:+1:t5:

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Yes, the Auralic solution seems similar to the Bluesound option, which I liked. I programmed the Node to recognise inputs from my Norma remote. I don’t think this would be an option via a firmware update as the Naim streamers use Zigbee though, would need to be a hardware change to IR.

They all use a PIC chip, the trick is to find a Flash that has the later one. This adds AV functionality for control of AV2, DVD5 and n-Sub.

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Thanks for the extra information Richard.

Cheers, Rack.

:+1:t5:

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Hi Roger, well clearly going flat without warning is far from ideal, but my AppleTV rechargeable usb remote gives a warning when getting low, so does my Apple mouse and keyboard…
I am sure the streamer could indicate on its screen if the remote needed to be recharged before it went flat.

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Perfectly happy with the NDX2 remote; although my theoretically identical Nova remote has slightly better “feel”. The SN3 remote is put away which was rather old fashioned with some redundant keys (now that does really bug me!) and is not necesary due to system automation.

I feel like trying to book a demo for one :wink:

I think that’s a really good idea.

I’ve always found Naim remotes to be rather nice, as opposed to my Chord remotes that are a masterpiece of cheap after thought design

Is it just me or is that poll in the OP screwed up. It just shows results as “NaN” for each option.

The trouble with the ND555 remote (and I assume the same is so with the NDX2 remote) is that there’s so little that you can do with it. I use it to pause play and to mute the amplifier at the end of a listening session. Occasionally I might use it to restart play, adjust the volume and check the now playing screen (to see if it’s frozen). Apart from the very last function, everything else can be done from an iPad or iPhone. Volume adjustment and mute selection can also be performed from any of the other (IR) remotes that I have.

When I had an NDS the remote was useful as it was possible to search the server and select an album or track to play. Now we have a fancy colour display and a fancy remote, which together do very little.

Got a narcom 4 and 5 and the ndx2 one.
The narcom 4 is my favourite to use. Good weight, clear and not intended to be a piece of jewellery.
Whereas the ndx2 remote wants to be a piece of jewellery, but is made of plastic. And due to the sharp edges is prone to getting dinged. The buttons are a nightmare, especially the ones in the middle. Have I pressed it or not?

I have to agree with the thread owner. The remote of the new Uniti series is quite horrible and was one of the reasons that added up to make me decide selling the Uniti Star. The plastic is very scratch sensitive and if you don’t clean your remote every second day (assuming you are using it) it really does not live up to the Star or Nova.

I wanted to upgrade to the metal remote used in the upper range of Naim products and i think it costs as much as 700€. I thought this is a joke.

I feel that an upgrade for about 200€ would be justified, as it really uplifts the user experience quite a lot.

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