Phew! Could have been fun… 
Indeed - when I released through my distributor I had to pay extra for my FLAC files to be converted to MQA ( though it was a tiny amount) - and I declined. Other than that I could provide media in whatever lossless data rate I wanted to from 44.1/16 upwards
it is now March and I wander how much longer it will take for Naim to produce a firmware capable of supporting hires flac and if they are working on this at all.
I asked Lindemann on status which use same supplier of streaming boards but they said “needed software changes are still not ready”.
I also read someone claiming that the reason for some companies not supporting MAX through Connect isn’t tech related and instead about contract/royalties. Naim being totally silent about this makes me think this is not tech related and instead about negotiations…
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So. I am shortly in the market for a new streamer (circa £2k) which might even be second hand but I definitely want to access and play the Flac files from my tidal subscription.
Without sounding like vinyl stuck in a groove am I going to have to buy something other than naim to listen to them?
Who’s got their ears to the ground at naim HQ these days that can answer that question?
There’s a nearly new ND5XS2 on a certain auction site at the moment which would slot into my system quite nicely but not if I can’t play Tidal Flac.
Any news?
StreamUnlimited have just added Tidal Max to SDK.
No excuses naim, get it delivered.
Might be a while, of course Beta testing needed etc. but it no longer looks like there are any technical blockers.
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You’ll get FLAC from Tidal with any Naim streamer. The issue here is the delay getting 24 bit FLAC as opposed to 16 bit.
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Looks like a big update 
Should be updates coming soon then for Naim and Lindemann 
TIDAL Connect
TIDAL Connect now includes Hi-Res for TIDAL Max subscribers, providing audiophiles with an unmatched streaming experience.
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If naim have been proactive and preparing in the background for this by updating custom firmware/app to support Max (like Lindemann did), with just StreamUnlimited SDK for Connect outstanding, then hopefully new firmwares to Beta test could be imminent.
That specifically states Tidal Connect, I wonder if it will also enable the Naim app embedded Tidal.
That naim could already have done if they wanted like Lindemann have done. It’s connect they have been waiting for.
Looking forward to these updates. Hopefully it doesn’t take Naim several months to complete their work. Luckily I already play hires thru roon but Tidal native app looks pretty good, especially their latest beta, so would be nice to get Tidal Connect update as soon as possible.
Thanks, I had it the wrong way round in my head.
The Tidal app is excellent, so most of my listening is now via Tidal Connect.
In the office we’ve got a RPI into SMSL PO100 Pro providing Tidal Max Connect to SuperUniti.
Really want the naim firmware to give us same on main system.
I got an email recently saying this: Starting April 10, 2024, you will now get access to our music library in full lossless, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos sound for the same price you pay today of $12.99/month.
This is because we’re making it easier for everyone to enjoy best-in-class sound quality by combining our HiFi and HiFi Plus tiers into a single subscription tier called TIDAL.
You will see these changes reflected on your Subscription page at account.tidal.com on your first billing date on or after April 10, 2024. Thanks for choosing to be a TIDAL subscriber.
I received the same message and am now ultra confused.
Will I be able to play these HiRes files on my NDX or not - without resorting to an off board box of trickery?
I am guessing there maybe a Tidal Connect/Tidal Native issue?
Apparently my NDX is “Hi-res 24bit/192kHz” capable according to this information in the Naim Connection news feed:-
https://www.naimaudio.com/news/17040/hi-res-24bit192khz-added-naim-audio-streaming-products
I have just sold my NDX because I got the word that the processor board can’t process streamed High Definition Audio on the fly. It can certainly play high def from a server, I’ve been doing that for years.
I think naim really haven’t been moving with the times.
As an example, my smart TV (it’s an LG OLED) which cost me £1300 in a sale last year, regularly informs me on start up that there are software upgrades available and would I like to install them.
If my relatively cheap TV can do this then surely my naim streamer (okay going forward) should be able to do the same?
Both are connected to the internet…it’s not bloody rocket science to a bunch of code writers is it!?
Up-dating the firmware (the last time I did it) was a right old balls ache.
C’mon naim, get your act together.
ALSO, I would be pretty pissed off if I had spent the thick end of six grand on a streamer that can’t stream hi Res files over the internet. I would go as far to say you (we) might be better off with a relatively cheap streamer (that can stream hi-res Flac, etc) outputting into a naim DAC?
There’s my little rant for the day 
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scales of production; LG smart TVs have reason for the ‘support’ they receive.
(My Panasonic TV had a ‘fake update “TV BIOS” snuck in with a Disney TV update’… -Disney bastardised my TV to lose my professional colour recalibration and forced surround only digital audio output (rather than 2channel PCM).
TV updates are just as much about selling new TVs and FORCING new TV sales, and hence the care and attention they get.
In decades as a service tech, I have worked for IT businesses that refused to do firmware updates (risk/‘potential cost’); the fact that modern world corporations constantly break my three year old kit via updates/most non apple phones have a three year security/android update path, and Win10/11 forced updates has broken more than ten of my personal IT purchases including my three month old Lenovo Yoga (battery firmware forced via windows that stopped charging device-tool is now dead…)
Updates once existed for consumers.
Nearly twenty years ago we started the downfall/switch to 'updates allow big business to turn more profit &either by releasing early unfinished and unrefined products, or by deprecating existing parts (force new sale).
I used a camera and wireless printer this morning that wouldn’t talk to each other, even though ‘both the same brand’, and ‘designed to do so’…
Both required firmware updates which actually revealed the first update locked out the other part until it also got the latest… (standard affair used to ‘learn what consumers are doing/spending habits etc’)
having soundbars by LG that update against my will because someone bluetoothed music from their phone (with an internet connection), and said forced firmware breaks soundbar to be useless to the family…
I no longer buy from the bastard companies that use forced updates for anti consumer reasons… (like three samsung phones I bought that CAME WITH APT X HD, vut firmwared and updated to Samsung Scalable Bluetooth codec)…
companies like iFi and Fiio update older products with present firmware capabilities if it is doable.
Good.
then companies like Sony who make cameras, for which some scientists develop a cool trick to use the sensor shift image stabilisation to take multiple photos to stack for high res macro photography…
rather than share that, they bundle it as a new feature on ‘next years product’.
anti consumer companies lose my business and recommendations.
great companies that are ‘pro consumer’ and want to build trust and faith, get my future purchases.
most businesses have done the math and are willing to ‘burn everyone once’ and make their riches whilst ‘losing rapport and goodwill’ with the people who empowered them in the first place.
Fool me once, shame on you…
Give me reason to believe your business WANTS to do well by me; loyal fans you make!
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That’s because you own an obsolete streamer. All the recent streamers and even gen 1 musos update firmware automatically “over the air”. Naim can’t update out of date hardware with a firmware update!