I’m not going to post that quote, despite it being Naim’s own words, so factual rather than vitriol. The 2 quotes above cannot both be correct, so one bit of Naim is apparently giving false information to its loyal customers, which I find wholly unacceptable even if others do not. That compounds what I regard as the very unsatisfactory handling of this issue.
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It doesn’t appear to be looking that way.
Naim are a successful company but not a huge one. Things don’t always move as we would wish but they will be moving.
I’m sure the email from support was an honest mistake. We all make them, and it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that you do to. So get down off your high horse, and wait like everyone else. You wouldn’t want to sound entitled, would you?
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Go-ahead post on social media, beat the drum, shout it from the roof tops, ‘Hey World, Naim is an inferior products far as Tidal is concerned’.
What will happen once you have done this, well apart from you being able to puff your chest out and walk around with a glow about you knowing that you put the world to right about Naim and Tidal, absolutely nothing.
Tidal Max isn’t on Naim products at this moment, it wasn’t there when you bought your products, you will get it when Naim are ready to release it, so until then enjoy what you have.
Of course if you’re still unhappy you could flog all your Naim kit and replace it with Tidal Max friendly products if having Tidal Max is so important to you.
Well… frankly speaking the fact it wasn’t there when I bought was not clear to me (and may be many), that’s not so fair, I would have expected a clear indication in marketing materials from Naim.
And I would expect a (more or less) precise statement also here, also because it’s about six months the dev.kit has been updated by Streaming Unlimited…
And always frankly speaking, this refrains me from considering a Naim streamer for another setup, one of the objective of a company-owned forum is to let the company know what its customers think and need, after all…
Peace to everybody!
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I don’t think it’s a sense of entitlement. If other streamers from Lumin, Bluesound et al have managed to integrate Tidal Max hires FLAC into their native app almost 1 year ago then I don’t believe it’s too much to ask Naim to do the same within a reasonable timeframe. I paid $6K AUD for my Uniti Atom (just before A2A massacred the RRP and second hand market but not cheap either) so I would expect compatibility with the latest flavours of Tidal Connect.
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100% agree. What’s frustrating even more is that in order to play hires losses through the Focal Naim app on my Uniti Atom I need to use Qobuz “Connect” which leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the required features in the native Qobuz app are simply missing from the integrated version. I was hoping to trial Tidal Max and make an informed decision on whether to migrate from Qobuz but I can’t as yet.
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Qobuz works fine through the Naim app. There isn’t a Qobuz Connect feature.
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Exactly! Worth bearing in mind the following, for those who are fretting about not yet available.
First if Tidal hadn’t taken themselves up the cul de sac of MQA - probably rather a dead end, then they wouldn’t now be having to change to hi-res flac, iiuc. There have been some reports on the forum, that many a file have yet to be changed or available in hi-res.
Second Naim have well documented here on the forum, the lengths necessary to integrate Tidal into first gen streamers. For those with new(er) streamers, that may have been overlooked.
Third Naim have never rushed to do anything and likely won’t despite negative comments here.
Fourth as far as possible, Naim attempt to ensure backward compatibility with all streamers, where possible. I have no knowledge, but Naim are no doubting looking carefully at what possibilities exist for the first gen streamers.
It is far from implementing across just one or two streamers like Atom, so comparison against other makes is unrealistic.
Naim is one of the few UK manufacturers to try and ensure that backward compatibility of its products and most importantly, to service almost everything ever made. A valuable attribute imho.
To achieve that aim, doubtless requires careful assessment that takes time.
It appears that it is a case of getting the “latest” must have, rather than just how much better the quality will be. Since none of us have heard Tidal hi-res directly from a Naim streamer, we will have to await the implementation.
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This is what Naim say on their web site about the ND333 for example:
“Allowing you to play the latest streaming platforms, such as Spotify Connect, Apple Music, TIDAL, and Qobuz, as well as listen to your favourite internet radio stations.”
However, it actually doesn’t play the latest TIDAL platform, so a refund could be presumably be claimed under the UK consumer protection laws for false advertising.
As to the web site, what a joke. Try finding the ND333 on it….apparently it’s not a source….
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I was being facetious about Qobuz Connect hence why I used inverted commas. I have used both the native Qobuz app and the integrated version. I’m afraid the latter is sub-standard in my mind and a shadow of the former. Hence my consternation over the inability to trial Tidal Max with hires FLAC.
I recently read that Naim has an enviable reputation amongst Hifi equipment manufacturers for not only designing a bespoke app but actually supporting it with timely firmware updates. It would seem that on this occasion they are dragging their feet.
I agree.
It is simply not reasonable to expect that any technology consuming online sources should be sold as “be happy with what you got at time of buying”. Imagine saying that about an iPhone?
Not being able to consume the latest versions of API’s you support is called being obsolete.
This is also from official Naim promotional material:
They chose the architecture so that it can be updated and remain relevant. And someone who spent a bundle knowing this has every right to be upset when it appears not to be true.
That said I am simply disagreeing with the idea to at it is ok for a premium brand to sell obsolete equipment. Not that I doubt anymore that Naim will sort this out and make it work.
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My guess is the biggest reason for the delay is Streaming Unlimited that manufacture the streaming board for Naim and Lindemann and others. Lindemann hasn’t been able to release Tidal Max over connect yet either. They do however allow you to stream Tidal Max through their own app and I guess naim could have decided to do that too but didn’t. I believe Lumin released support on September 2023 so… Lumin has always been very fast on updates with the latest support. My guess is due to doing sw/hw in house having full control of resources and priorities which Naim doesn’t have on this matter. And competition is tough these days. I would sit down and think through the future of radio, streaming platforms and such if I had a say within naim.
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Depends what you mean by platform. Since Naim does play tidal but not 24 bit flac. So partially may be the correct term.
I recall that at one point Naim posted at length on here about the complexities of integration. Innuos are also up front about same. The reality is that Naim took some flack for the first generation streamers as dealers and users used to Linn and Sonos didn’t think the platform up to snuff.
The second generation have a platform which is much more adaptable but time stands still for no-one and what looked adaptable a couple of years ago can be over-taken by further developments in the world of streaming and IT in general. That’s before you even look at things like the streaming companies having staff turn over; making decisions on change of direction and so on.
It can be as simple as someone new taking over the coding team; deciding they don’t like the way things are done and asking for revisions of blocks of code. Manufacturers might have been working to integrate that code for months but it can change overnight and there is nothing the likes of Naim can do about that. It was public knowledge for example that Innuos were about to launch a new version of Sense but had to delay Tidal integration specifically because Tidal took a left turn. Neither side got worked up about it. There was just honesty from both sides and the functionality was simply welcomed when it did arrive.
It just isn’t as simple as “they told me it has this” or “and now it should have this”. It’s a delicate negotiation of many complex factors. I really don’t have a problem with people saying what they want about that on any social media. The reality is that if someone chose to do that then sooner or later someone would come along and simply put them right.
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OMG, it’s been months since i checked in in this and it’s still not implemented.
I understand there is a cost to Naim to implement this feature update but they have advertised that their system is ready for such new technologies.
This really is dragging on a bit now. I definitely think if you where thinking of an upgrade or a new streamer, with the increased competition and options out there, you would be looking around a bit.
This is just like the Spotify Connect update (which took a while too) only worse.
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Yep, 276 posts and many months later and we’re still not even close to getting somewhere.
The treatment afforded to us by Naim, their paying customers, is scandalous. A little honest communication goes a long way even it if it means the seemingly interminable wait continues.
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It’s not a source, Mike. At least not a Naim one, nor a Naim product. Unless of course you mean the NSS333, which you can find on the Naim website under “sources”… 
This was communicated on this very forum by Naim’s R&D Director, Steve Sells, just a couple of days ago;
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It’s a tad unfortunate that this update about Tidal was hidden away in a thread about the Nait 50. I know what’s going on because I’m part of the Beta group, but the vast majority aren’t, and Naim’s communication on this can hardly be called world class.
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