Naim can now play ALAC!

Welcome to the party! You are quite late however.

Regards

Neil

Now wouldn't it be nice if Naim delivered on the commitment to support AirPlay on the SU etc?

Absolutely. It's the only way they will get any money out of me on streaming kit.

Goon,

I'm not aware of any specific commitment to Airplay from Naim, just an expression of "hope to have" in a comment made by Paul Stephenson last year.  No promises.  These things are never quite so simple as just dropping it into the box or adding a few lines of code and you're done.  There are all kinds of hoops that need to be jumped, particlualy with regard to licensing, and of course that ever present thorn of whether including it adversely affects overall performance, and if so, how do we make it so it doesn't...

Well, I accept there are a lot of difficulties, not least licensing. But I think the MD's remark (at least as widely reported) was a bit more positive than "That'd be a nice idea".

Ahh! The age old problem of large companies not living up to their end in their dealings with small companies still alive and well. Perhaps some letters to the good folk in California would spur them on.

I see the likelihood of a being that 'dreams of electric sheep' gaining a foothold, despite being later to the starting gate. 

Andy

Worth noting that while all of Naim's 24/192 products will play ALAC, they can't play them at 24/192!

FLAC is supported at this resolution, but ALAC is only up to 24/96.

Is the ALAC capability as a result of the hi-res boards update or software updates?

My Qute is quite an early version that I haven't updated at all yet.

ALAC comes with the new board (and by extension the new software).

The Qute board upgrade is expensive and so probably only worth it if you really need to use ALAC, or 24/192.

You can upgrade the software for free at home or at your dealers.

@goon: I don't think that Naim will ever implement Airplay. They will rely on their own app n-serve although I think that a STREAMING DEVICE should support streaming formats. And airplay however IS a streaming format. It's like you have a mobile with which you can only phone to o2 or Vodafone...ODD!

@Lontano: With me the same. No Airplay - No buy of a Naim Streamer!

> I think that a STREAMING DEVICE should support streaming formats. And airplay however IS a streaming format.

+1

I understand the problem for Naim as there are lots of formats, but Airplay would a great addition to its streamers, as is playing ALAC., Whether you use Apple products or still have a PC, you should be catered for.

However you can add Airplay support through an AE as a stop gap. 

Good point - we need to support all the formats: shame the world couldn't agree on FLAC as the standard, but .... well, it never seems to work that way .... I have a Betamax video about format wars, luckily I was able to convert it to HD DVD to preserve it 

ALAC is still important for me!

ATB from George

I still use both, but wish iTunes supported FLAC ... perhaps if I ask Apple nicely... as I would like a FLAC only system. 

I hope the NDS works well with a Vortexbox ... if it doesn't then I'll need to look elsewhere, maybe the Linn KDS or just stay with the Mac Mini/Naim DAC ... a DAC 555 would be nice = NDS without the streamer. 

Still UQ works a treat with VB so can't see why NDS wouldn't ... 

That just made my day!!!

Phil

Off-topic; nice Chimaera Phil. A 4-litre?

Thanks - it's an 18 year old 4.0HC that I've had for about two and a half years ... it was bought with nothing at all needing doing to it. (Famous last words!)

It's had all new discs, pads and calipers, new coolant hoses, new radiator, new coil and ignition amplifier, new clutch, new alternator, a "sports exhaust" (solid pipes in the silencer box rather than perforated), just had the old ECU / distributor / airflow meter / engine harnes ripped out and replaced with a nice modern CANEMS ECU and coil packs, just had the dash reveneered (fitted that last weekend)...

..it still NEEDS new carpets, new hood, interior trim repairs (after a cat got in under the soft top and tried to scratch its way out), new air intake hoses, new headlights and - ideally - a respray to get rid of all the various scratches and blemishes.

She's a daily driver - goes to work with me every day - and I guess does about 15,000 miles a year (the odometer hasn't worked for the last two years - best add that to the "needs fixing" list too...)

Love it to bits though ...

Phil

If only it was ... but my Alpine IDA-X305 head unit and 160Gb iPod Classic say otherwise.

Phil

Yes, if only itunes would support FLAC - it would make life so much easier.  Right now I tend to have all discs ripped to either WAV or FLAC for the NDX but also doubled up in ALAC for various iPods that get used for travelling and in the car.  I have found that importing into itunes is not so straightforward, so I usually end up ripping twice which is a bit silly I guess..

Indeed, looking like I may have to do that too which is a right FAFF! Perhaps I should have chosen an alternative player for on the go, but even there most portables don't seem to support FLAC, even Sony's much vaunted Walkman-Z.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

I use dbPoweramp to batch convert convert my ripped files over to ALAC and embed the cover art - haven't yet worked out how to get it to automatically populate the "Album", "Artist", "Title" and "Track Number" fields so far but a quick second pass through with "The Godfather" sorts that...

Phil

Phil, "The Godfather"...?

Ah, formats again and the question of compatibility with itunes.

After reading many, many posts on this, there seems to be a consensus that:

• WAV sounds equal to or better than every other format
• FLAC is either equal to WAV or a good second best
• ALAC is Apple's preferred lossless codec but is no better than (and many think lower sound quality than) WAV & FLAC
• Which seems to leave AIFF as the only format that itunes is happy with, that Naim streamers are happy with, that has metadata that most devices can read.

However, does anyone actually know how the sound quality of AIFF compares to FLAC, unless you are of the "it should be the same as WAV, FLAC & ALAC" school.

I will shortly be listening to an NDS at Signals, so hope to hear for myself...

Best regards, FT