Unhappy with the new NAIM update

I tried the floating option on the grounding switch on my 222 this morning. I would say that there was possibly a minor improvement, but the sound was not as enjoyable/rich as it was pre-update.

I am still looking for a definitive solution and anxiously awaiting a response from Naim support.

Out of curiosity have you tried powering down everything to do with the system including the router, leaving it for 15 minutes and powering back up again? Another long-shot but these sort of things can sometimes clear even a sonic glitch! It’s worked for me in the past.

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I have also put my NSS 333 in the floating mode and I just listed for 1 hour to a playlist with all kinds of music (during my lunch break - working from home :wink:). My first impression is that the SQ has improved! I cannot judge yet if it is as good as with the old FW, but there is certainly improvement. I can also increase the volume now without the music sounding to harsh. Tonight I will have longer a listening session.

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When floating is Switched on, should i Plug in the grounding cable, which is currently unplugged

Have done it. Maybe do it again. Is it nevessary to pull powerline plugs also?

The point is to get the power off properly, but you can do that at the wall socket end. You don’t need to actually unplug the Powerline unless you can’t turn the power off at the other end of it.

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I normally only Switch off both 555ps by pushing their buttons.
Is this enough?
Its fully Powered down this way.

Switching off with the buttons is all you need. Pulling the plug from the wall applies to those with the standby functionality.

When you say grounding cable what do you mean by that? I’m guessing you have some sort of earth cable from something to something, which is not normally needed in the uk. The Naim ground switch only affects the ‘single’ point earth inside the equipment, so not sure of the impact of a secondary earth connection? And no, I’d only pull the plugs once every year of so just to clean the pins.

Again, for clarity. Don’t get too hung up on what the ‘theoretical’ correct position on the ground switch should be. Listen for at least an hour on both settings. And be warned the setting that sounds (initially) the most impressive is probably the wrong one!

As HH says, that is fine. But you need to wait long enough for the two power supplies to fully power down. They have big capacitors in them, so I suggest a minute or so before you turn them on again.

It is s Little cable from TT to pre amp with a Little screw on pre amp Side.
Will take a picture when at home

Hi all,

There seems to be various who are interpreting my proposal to contact our support desk to get help to sort out their streamer, as a statement that we’ll just do a forced firmware downgrade to last version.

Typically we won’t do this as:

  1. We have obligations with our streaming service providers to keep various libraries up to date and get it rolled out.
  2. It just causes even more instability in the medium term as ios/android app, plus server side services all get out of sync with each other.
  3. Our support teams find it hell when there are infinite combination of versions to support.

The normal policy is to get the streamer to a factory default state and then slowly enable feature, the diagnostic process done by the support team will vary depending on the equipment and issue the customer is experiencing.

Overall, sound wise we’ve had a lot of positive feedback on this release, so lets apply focus if we can resolve these cases.

Best regards

Steve

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Yes, understand now. This might/might not have an impact, which is why you need to try both settings and judge by listening.

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@Geko
Have you tried to listen to “Hey Jude” again…
At my side I am still really sad, that the sound balance disappeared and went hard and “loudness like”. Will do a third re-boot attempt and afterwards I will test the floating option with longer term listening.
But - at the all will be good and naim will sort it out :slight_smile:

Damn! I thought it might be just a solvable glitch. Mines now sounding fantastic again. Even better than before. What I will say is that the FW change seem to follow the typical Naim profile in the way that it affected SQ. A day of sounding good, a day sounding hard, a day of sounding bright, a day of overblown bass and then all back to normal!

I did the update last Saturday and everything sounded great. Then on Sunday evening we had an area power cut for about three hours. The next day everything started to get progressively worse to the point (yesterday) where I nearly gave up entirely. Then I played with the ground switch and within minutes the system was sounding fantastic again.

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had not tested the ground switch, but I had no impression of daily differences.
I currently simulate a power cut :slight_smile:
Streamer is off - and will keep him so for 3h. Afterwards … floating
Try to walk in your shoes…

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Switching the grounding switch of my NSS 333 to the floating mode has solved the issue for me! Really suprising that there so much difference in the floating mode with this new firmware.

The SQ is fully in balance now, the deep bass is back, the brightness has disappeared and the system sounds better than ever before!

Many thanks to Geko for the advise!

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That is what I experienced too - sounded like a cable run-in for me.

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As a customer I have a different perspective given the very significant investment in streamer and PSU. Sound quality is of more value to me than any of your three points, so why do you think they are more important than my enjoyment?

The streamer should retain a copy of the previous firmware so that you can try the new version, but back out if you’re not happy without needing to engage support.

With regard to the app, if you could actually fix the issue with re-ordering queued tracks that would also be a lot more useful than messing about with the size of the controls or changing branding.

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