It’s not clear for me if Tidal Connect works with the NAC-N272.
Also, is there a release date for the support of Amazon Music HD? Currently, the NAC can only access to Spotify (mp3) and Tidal cd quality. I would like to listen to hi-res music, but it’s seams to be impossible with Naim products (unlike the Moon 390 that supports MQA).
In the short term, if I want to listen to hi-res music, I will have to continue using my Node 2i and connect it (coax) to the NAC and get a subscription to Amazon Music.
No connect on 272 so Yes, but save your money 272 at CD quality is better than Node 2i MQA into 272, best you can do is use the Node 2i as a streamer and let the 272 DAC do the work, which is better than the MQA option, but still not as good as the 272 at CD quality. However i use the Node 2i as I like the features, particularly when I am working on PC etc and the music is background.
That said when I want to really listen I use LP12 with 272 and relax. When I am exploring new music I use the 272 streamer and DAC it’s hard to beat for the money, but the technology is at the limit, it is great that Naim have updated the software to work with the new Tidal requirements.
Tidal offers CD quality (16 bit/44 kHz) and their version of hi-res with MQA for a higher fee. He’s saying that the 272 using Tidal CD quality is better than the Node 2i using MQA
I have a NAC-N272 and listen to Qubuz (hi-res). You just need an Android phone and BubbleUPnP app (it’s free but I’ve paid for the tiny little license fee that they ask for). You just need to supply the BubbleUPnP app with your Qubuz login details and it sends the hi-res audio to the N272 over UPnP. I’ve had zero issues, even with 24bit 192khz audio.
I still listen to standard 16bit audio using my Tidal subscription and Naim app (to my ears it sounds better than 16bit audio over UPnP), but for any hires stuff, I just use Bubble and Qubuz.
You can sign up for a trial for Qubuz. I had it up and running using Bubble in a minute or so.
Thank you. Very clear and useful. I am looking for a 3rd party streamer upgrade, to access native qobuz, Tidal Connect etc while still making use of the 272 DAC. Your observations are v helpful
I do have the bubble/qobuz solution working but wanted something with less parts to manage without any impact on the sound of the 272 which I love.
It’s a good solution. That’s what I’ve got/use but was looking for an add-on streamer with more features and no loss in sound quality.
Less fiddling and more future proofed without a negative impact on sound. With bubble I can’t upgrade my NAS OS without needing to replace the hardware and put bubble in a container.
Hence my curiosity about a reasonably priced do-it-all streamer. E.g. native roon, tidal connect, Apple Music, qobuz, Amazon…all the places my music lives
FWIW, recent discussions/investigations on the Roon forum seem to support the suspicion that many Tidal tracks that are purportedly CD-quality (in their Hifi plan without MQA) are actually not that, but are instead the degraded MQA versions.
If your region has Qobuz, I would recommend that instead, and sidestep the whole MQA mess. The catalogues are very similar for many genres. (Although for some genres, Tidal probably has more content, and for others Qobuz has the edge. You’d have to check for the specific music you are looking for)
Unfortunately, Qobuz is not available in Canada. We have to rely on Tidal or Amazon HD for hi-res audio.
What is disapointing is that Naim, a hifi company, doesn’t support in native mode any hi-res audio streaming service.
I also found the Naim app slow and not showing all the features of Tidal. For instance, in Tidal when you are listening to a song, there’s an option to select : radio based on this song, which is not available in the Naim app.
That’s not unusual for many HIFI companies; they are excellent with audio components, but have few expertise on application design.
For now, I use a bluesound node 2 to stream Amazon hd and connect the digital output of the node 2 to the NAC-N272. I’m not using the streaming feature of the NAC.
Initially, I was using the Node-2 with an external dac connected to a pre amps (Bryston). I wanted to simplify my connections by buying and integrated Streamer-DAC-Pre amp like the NAC-N272.
There are other companies that support Tidal hd, Tidal connect and Qobuz like the Moon 390. Lets hope that a future release of the software will allow us to do the same.
For using all the Tidal app features, there is Tidal Connect (on current streamers). They do support a hires streaming service - Qobuz (on current streamers).
Support for Amazon is not just Naim’s decision, the service has to play ball.
As for Tidal MQA, the demand does not seem to exist.
I got fed up with waiting for Naim to get their streaming act together and went for a used Primare NP5 - using a digital connection in to the 272. At the moment it can only stream hi-res Qobuz using Roon but apparently there is an update imminent which means that Roon won’t be required (I decided to try Roon at the same time and I liked it - I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it though).
I got my Primare second hand for about 5% of the cost of an NDX 2. I got got it mainly for the up to date functionality but I was very surprised and pleased with the uplift in sound too.
I’m doing something similar with my Bluesound Node 2.
I agree with you, why paying $$$ for a Naim streamer (my NAC-N272), that has a poor streamer and not using this feature. Naim is better to arrive soon in the 21st century or they will lose clients
Naim arrived in the 21st century when they replaced the very old streaming board that the 1st gen models run with an updated range designed from the ground up to support web streaming services, which was not the case with the old models.