Under the Naim app gears, section ‘volume mode’, but be careful - this will raise the streamer volume output to its max. You have to set the proper level in your preamp.
Well wonders never cease! If I connect from iPad to NDX2 via AirPlay/Bluetooth then open Tidal connect the slider bar and buttons on the iPad do indeed control the playback volume on my Naim preamp! Go figure
With this update should the Tidal icon appear on the Atom screen? or only Spotify has that privilege?
Only Spotify: it’s part of Spotify Connect certification conditions
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Hi Clare
I bought my HiFi set up in January with the idea that I could stream my tidal master music through my Uniti Atom. After research I found out that the Naim app doesn’t decode MQA for some reason, although the Atom is quite capable of streaming MQA. At this point I was very disappointed as I pay a premium for the best quality music which I therefore would love to stream through your uniti range. Then I found out that tidal connect was coming through a firmware update this year and was led to believe through pr that tidal connect could allow you to stream master quality music straight to your streamer. At this point I was very excited as my set up sounds good already and could sound even better listening to my music at its best quality. Unfortunately when the update finally arrived i was frustrated as for a reason I would love to know why, could not stream MQA. So all this hype over this tidal connect is just another way of streaming cd quality music through a different app.
In conclusion I bought Naim equipment through your reputation as being one of the best HiFi companies. If you could tell me why Naim haven’t decided to add MQA decoding through this update, because I find it hard to believe you could spend £13500 on a Naim ND555 and not be able to stream the best quality music through your tidal tier.
How people haven’t asked this is unbelievable as I’m surely not the only person who has a tidal master subscription and is frustrated as to why we can’t stream it through our systems.
Thanks Connor
…it has been know for quite some time that Naim does not support MQA and that CD quality is what is played using Naim streamers. Whoever told you differently certainly mislead you.
I believe if you go to the MQA webpages they have a listing of manufacures who have contracted with them and have developed products to work with their software.
I find that Qobuz with Hi-Res files works fantastic with Naim and when I switched from TIDAL to Qobuz it was also less expensive. If you use the search function you can find the subject has been discussed quite a bit on the forum.
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Hi Connor
Sorry that you feel you’ve been misled, but certainly not by Naim: we have never claimed to support MQA.
And TIDAL Connect is a separate concept; TIDAL clearly separates MQA from TIDAL Connect support on its own website.
I would sincerely suggest you forget labels and just listen. There are many products that on paper tick all the boxes that sound inferior to Naim products playing ‘standard’ streams.
And remember, we also offer other streaming options, including true high-resolution alternatives.
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I never said Naim claimed to support MQA I said pr like What HiFi article of tidal connect which they said Naim along with Bluesound, Dali, Cambridge audio, Kef, Nad and Monitor audio were all going to support Tidal Connect. In the article they told you Tidal Connect is unique in its ability to cast MQA tracks. So again my question is why all these other HiFi manufacturers have Tidal Connect which supports MQA and Naim haven’t?
What have Naim got against MQA, I’d like to know!?
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And how do we think this conversation will end?
“Oh alright then.”
Naim does not have anything against MQA - our current streaming products are capable of supporting it, but we have not yet had the global demand to warrant the licensing costs and development time required to implement it.
We support a range of other streaming services - including the highest-rate 24/192 streams.
Again, I would urge listening above assumption. Your Naim Atom streaming ‘Hi-Fi’ will outperform others streaming ‘Masters’
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…and their are NAIM customers who are not interested in MQA and are happy that Naim does not put the time and investment in supporting MQA since it would add to the product cost and other areas of development would be impacted.
If MQA is important to you why not go to the MQA website and explore vendors that have contracted with them for their software to implement in their products.
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The same was with the CD555 cd player. It costed more than 20 k and it couldn’t play SACD.
But it was and still is one of the best CD player available.
Other brands did the same choice, like Audio Note. Their top CD player doesn’t play SACD and costs more than 100 k.
If you want to stream true hires with the best online sound quality, why not subscribe to QOBUZ?
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Thanks Clare for your answer, it’s what I was looking for. I understand if Naim have to buy the rights for MQA decoding through the Naim app but if Tidal connect works through the Tidal app how comes all the other competitors have tidal connect MQA and Naim doesn’t, considering Naim have more resources than the likes of Cambridge audio and bluesound etc.
Its not that my system doesn’t sound great but you can get where I’m coming from when you have a streamer that has the ability to sound better.
I’ve just read the What Hifi announcement from last year’s October and it’s indeed misleading or at least unclear. That’s unfortunate but only them to blame. On the upside, MQA has many flaws and if you search the forum for “MQA”, your desire might get tamed 
If your country has Qobuz, this is what you probably should do if you want the highest-quality music streaming, like others have said.
‘The ability to sound better’ is nothing to do with MQA or indeed any other notional quality metric: it is to do with the audio fundamentals.
To use an audio industry parallel: you could have a £99 sound bar that supports a format something a £10,000 home cinema does not: what sounds better?
That being said the source is just as fundamental, if I had an ND555 and played cd quality then played MQA on the same ND555 what would sound better?
Has anyone got roon and played Tidal MQA compared to CD quality?
Well if you go back to your What Hi-Fi reference, they just awarded Uniti Atom the 2021 Award in its category - above other MQA sources at same price point - because it delivered better sound quality, regardless of whether ‘Master’ or ‘Hi-Fi’ was being delivered.
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Yes. I use Qobuz and Tidal to fill in the gaps in content. MQA is almost always worse IME.
Occasionally with some some heavily compressed albums I’ve found MQA OK.
Tidal MQA through Roon sounded no better than regular 16.44.1 to me. There was something slightly unnatural about it, hard to describe but certainly not something I would pay extra for.
Regarding Naim implementing MQA, having listened to a couple of non-Naim DACs with full MQA support they didn’t sound any better to me when streaming Tidal MQA so I’m really not interested. Then there’s the issue of optimising a DAC to play MQA. There’s every possibility that a DAC implemented to sound good with MQA would have its ability to play regular lossless files compromised, and vice versa. So what’s the point?
I’m just glad to be able to escape the entire issue by using Qobuz to access lossless 24 bit material, and at a lower price than Tidal.
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Possibly because Qobuz doesn’t have adequate coverage of his specific music tastes. That is certainly true in my case, in which a substantial percentage of my Roon music library is not available from Qobuz.
I don’t use Naim amplification and I am perfectly happy with Tidal and MQA using Roon for the first unfold on my main system and an MQA enabled DAC in my second system.
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