With digital becoming such an important part of Naim. Wouldn’t it be time to move sourcing and rely on 3rd part partnerships and take more control? I assume this will continue to be an issue if nothing is changed. Obviously others do it “better”. Outsourcing is often a fast short term solution IMO and the more you get in-house the more control of it all.
Looks like they already have some degree of control, based on the number of Naim-specific “patches” in the software. Outsourcing is often times a balance, between what you get (more control, etc) and what you lose (additional investment, more people, management time and attention, need to attract talent, etc).
If control is critical to the health of the Naim platform, they should evaluate whether they have the talent to (transition/acquire/build from grounds up) and run all the bits in-house. Doing this will take effort and investment, will likely take a year or more, during which other development, features, etc will be affected.
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Hi @Blackbird
In an ideal world it would be nice. But in practice often you end up reinventing the wheel + the large tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Spotify etc. don’t want to be supporting and certifying lots of different platforms nowadays. They’re all focusing of that a few system integrator (SI’s) do the work and then lots of big manufacturers all benefit from a known code base. The art is to work with that SI and create something special and bring something to the relationship. In Naim’s case we’re a pretty strong software house and a lot of key features run on the Naim platform before others get it as we have the skill to debug things when the going gets tough. Many others are driven by project managers who tick a box of a wanted feature and expect it delivered, with no idea on how it works.
Best wishes
Steve
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Thanks Steve - makes all sense and is the absolute right long-term strategy imho (coming from SW industry myself). But also please do not forget and put last your customers’ requirements and desires for state-of-the-art and leading UX, useability, ‘se.y’ F&Fs, plugnplay and compatibility! Naim still lacks respective quality in their SW - and in HW more and more as well, unfortunately. Compete with the best in these fields (such as apple) but not with 3rd party suppliers constraints! Naim customers are willing to pay premium prices for best in class performance - but not for regular crashes and bugs of their 555….
Hey Clare - did you get an ETA wrt this?
App updates are with Apple/Google for review; TIDAL Connect firmware update is in listening phase - that’s final phase before release…
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If it pass that phase yes 
It stays in the listening phase until it’s ready for release. Only when sound quality is signed off does it leave the building…
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App update is available in NL… Hope the sound quality is signed off soon!
Yes, more on App update here:
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Cheeky monday morning bump - are we looking for a release this week potentially? I’ve no clue how long it stays with Mr Listener… Got my fingers crossed though - a week of WFH!
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I’ve got a meeting with the software team later this morning - will report back!
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Still some more listening to do; if that goes well, we’re looking at launch by the weekend…
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OK, so the golden ears at Naim are not 100% happy with the firmware update yet, so some tweaks to do before we release.
Incredibly frustrating, I appreciate, but i’m sure we’d all prefer a firmware that has the optimum performance, not just functionality.
I’ll continue to keep you all updated.
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Thanks Clare, appreciate the update. I am naive as to what is involved with implementing this sort of update but am intrigued nonetheless. I would have thought it involved software changes so that Tidal Connect ‘works’, ie, more an operational update so that the unit can receive the file from Tidal, rather than anything that influences sound quality as such. Are you saying that Naim can tweak the update in certain ways so as to bring a certain SQ with it? I may be misunderstanding what you are saying so am curious to clarify.
Software code is a complex series of interactions; you don’t just ‘plug in’ the TIDAL Connect bit (wish it was that simple). Any changes can affect the whole, including sound quality. Therefore the final stage of every software release is ensuring everything sounds as it should, and making adjustments if it doesn’t.
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It would be fascinating to get a “peek” into this listening part of the process. Essentially, a bunch of experts are “auditioning” the new release - we may be able to get some good tips for when we replace/upgrade gear.
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Ability to nail SQ to firmware coding is very impressive.
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Hey Clare, thanks for providing these updates last week - are we hoping for a release this week now? My toes are crossed this time as well 
Whisper it quietly, but we look good for first TIDAL Connect update (current Uniti and streamers) this week: Mu-so 2nd Gen family to follow.
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