I don’t know if topic this has been covered before but I thought, after 1 month of my Nova ownership, I’d share a few thoughts and ideas regarding its functionality.
I have to say that coming from an early Nait 5i, the sound upgrade has been significant across the whole frequency range, but that is not what I want to focus on.
Out on my bike today my mind was wandering about what needed improving/fixing on the Nova.
the occasional screen freeze(and I mean occasional) is annoying and so far, not a deal breaker, but I am aware that Naim are working on firmware updates that may well address this, so at the moment I’m happy to let that be sorted as and when.
This one is a bit more annoying to me. With a family of 6 all using the Nova and with chromecast devices in the house, I find that the Nova occasionally changes to Chromecast for no apparent reason. I’m sure that the reason is that other members of the household might accidentally set the Nova as an output without realising it and shut off my music whilst I’m listening. My suggestion is that the app has a “solo” mode, configurable in the app, to allow the listener sole control of the music playing via an on/off function in the settings or until the device has a hard re-boot(to prevent one person getting access and then forgetting to let others do the same).
Some sort of DSP/equaliser function. I know this may go against the “purist” amongst you, but the one box solution doesn’t allow for flexibility in this regard and I’m sure a few people with awkward rooms and speakers may appreciate this as an option. If I were absolutely purist in my approach, I wouldn’t have chosen the Nova and gone for separates to allow me the option of room correction/DIRAC or such like. I’m also aware that Roon and other software playback mean can provide this but I’m not so keen on paying another £10 per month for the option(I’m aware Roon may have other benefits) and it would be an additional selling point for the Uniti range if they provided a user defeat-able option.
Tell me what your thoughts are on this and maybe someone from Naim might take note if enough people voice the same requests.
Not that I am not interested but I just don’t have any problems with my Nova - it behaves impeccably! However, I am the only person who uses it so I can’t comment on your issues related to multiple users. Hopefully the screen freeze issue will be resolved in next FW update. ATB
Thank you for your response.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m over the moon with my Nova, it’s great piece of kit in one box!
However, there are always little things that one can tweak in the app, especially as we don’t have independent buttons for input selection(although the auto switching does have its advantages too).
Now playing / volume controls on the lock screen (Android)
Option: Don’t connect to last used device when (re-)opening app when that device is in standby
Option: Don’t automatically start playing when powering up device from standby (especially annoying in combination with previous)
Allow/enable multiroom for all inputs (for example Chromecast)
Masterless multiroom / switch master. (i.e. ability to turn off device that started playback without interrupting playback)
Auto input switching for digital input (Qb1)
Unmute from external input (when muted and for example casting, it can’t be unmuted without opening either the Naim app or the volume dial on the device itself)
Ordering of inputs in app
Bugs:
Screen freeze
Phantom mute after using HDMI. (Device/app thinks it’s not muted, but is. Needs mute and un-mute)
I’ve an Atom, but for functionality I think these cover the whole range:
The ability in Settings to set “Shuffle” on/off by default. Currently it remains on the last setting used. Annoying if you play a playlist (often on shuffle) and then an album (more likely to be played in order). Would be nice to have some form of override. Presume that is fully with Naim’s control to implement such a feature.
The ability to create a playlist that is part tracks stored on local / NAS and part tracks accessed via Tidal (or similar). Appreciate this might be beyond Naim’s control (i.e. streaming company etc might be limiting factor here)
The ability to use iPhone volume buttons for volume control (the recent lock screen widget was a big improvement , but ability to use the phone’s physical buttons would be nirvana). Not sure if there is an iPhone licensing issue on that one.
Still just get the odd flaky moments where a hard reset of the unit is needed. Frustrating for the price
If add a new CD to local storage, would be good if the unit/app could just scan for ‘new music’ to add to the library. Currently rescans the whole library which takes a while (on SSD, no idea about NAS). I used to have a raumfeld connector2, which was able to scan for new music only, so presume this should be possible on the Uniti and with Naim’s control.
Export playlist into another app. Have created quite a few lists on the Naim. Would be useful if could import the list into iTunes so if on holiday can use the same list for music stored on my phone (appreciate this one is not about the functionality of the Uniti range ).
I don’t have any apple products to check with, but on Android this is possible. In ‘Settings’ -> ‘Other settings’ there’s an option: ‘Use hardware buttons for volume’. Can’t remember what the default setting was, but worth checking.
Since you mention, that you have several Chromecast devices in the house - I assume, you are also using it on the Nova?
If you would not (and only use the Naim App and other sources): you could disable the Chromecast “input” to avoid it from being triggered.
Just an idea.
I couldn’t seem to find a way to defeat the Chromecast option without a factory reset and then just not enabling it, which I just haven’t bothered to do because I actually use Chromecast sometimes with my Google Nest device.
Yes, I’ve wondered about this as well. Seems like, the Atom always assumes, that it’s a “new” device being plugged in. I also don’t know, if the database with the index is stored on some internal persistent memory or just in (volatile) RAM.
Ideally, the Uniti would remember the index and check, if the last device was re-plugged - and initiate a delta-scan in this case. Otherwise discard the old index and build a new one.
BTW - I think, that when I send the unit to deep sleep (long press on power button), unplug my external SSD, add the new files, re-plug it, and only then wake the Atom again, it works much better. (Like it would actually keep the index and still find the new content.)
Would be interesting, if this works the same for you.
Strange, yes.
I admit I did not check beforehand, and on my Atom Chromecast and Webradio seem to be the only 2 inputs, which cannot be disabled. Maybe adding this would solve most of your issues… (having a lock-by-user mechanism is likely to be a tricky thing to get a) fault free and b) intuitive.)
I just missed the post quite a good initiative. My Star doesn’t suffer from #1 and I don’t have a family to suffer from #2, and my wife is borderline tone-deaf so she rarely switches on any device for music.
Deep in my heart, I vote for #3 too. Having said so, not having an equalizer has got me twiddling endlessly with my speaker stands, toe in angle, sub, listening position, port plugs, and -yes- the channel balance control on the Naim app. Which is still good fun - luckily my listening room is only moderately acoustically challenged.
When it comes to my own desires… That’s just on the QB. I wish the app would also allow a ‘corner placement’ setting for a QB Mark 1. But that’s only available for the Mark 2. (either that or I missed the memo)
I know it’s heresy, but I’d like to see some tone controls. I’d also like to be able to set the display to show the squiggly purple line image it shows when first powered up (that bit might be possible, just not found it yet)
You can choose that image as a background for the app, but not for the front panel display, which I agree looks pretty dull when not showing album artwork.
I find it really odd that some Novas suffer from issues whilst others do not, I assume they are assembled the same, have the same software loaded etc. Why could that possibly be?
My first Nova went up in smoke but my second one has performed superbly.
quite a good initiative. My Star doesn’t suffer from