Regarding potential (upcoming) firmware update for DAC V1 / NDAC
Posted by: Mortalcoil on 18 September 2015
As Mark R from Naim suggested in a Sept 9 post asking for beta testers I was wondering if anyone (including Mark R) had any idea on time frame for a potential release.
Will this be a mid October / November release? or is it something that will be "done when its done"?
How many more sleeps must we endure till 1.7 arrives?
Thoughts? Theories?
As Mark R from Naim suggested in a Sept 9 post asking for beta testers I was wondering if anyone (including Mark R) had any idea on time frame for a potential release.
Will this be a mid October / November release? or is it something that will be "done when its done"?
How many more sleeps must we endure till 1.7 arrives?
Thoughts? Theories?
Naim asks for beta testers but does not even care to communicate what the new firmware relese is meant to address. I am very glad that Naim is working to further improve its DAC range but, under such product information policy, I do not really care whether the new firmware will be released in three weeks or in three months.
Appreciate the input nbpf.
Unfortunately that is perhaps inevitable with beta testing. As part of the testing team I have found out that it's much harder than I realised. A new version comes along, only to contain some little issue that has popped up. To say that function X will arrive on date Y will only lead to disappointment. While this is frustrating, you can be reassured that the new developments are being tested to the edge of destruction.
Unfortunately that is perhaps inevitable with beta testing. As part of the testing team I have found out that it's much harder than I realised. A new version comes along, only to contain some little issue that has popped up. To say that function X will arrive on date Y will only lead to disappointment. While this is frustrating, you can be reassured that the new developments are being tested to the edge of destruction.
Fairly standard with software (or firmware development). Having managed development teams for 17 years giving customers a firm release date or list of features or worse, both, only leads to disappointment.
What we tend to do is give a target date range or something vague, for instance "Q4 2015" to show that estimation is just that.
Let's say you have a year long project and you state an exact week that you intend to ship in. If you're a week late people tend to be disappointed despite the fact that you're around 98% accurate!
Similarly, when questioned about features generally we only confirm that something will be in a release if it is in the top 2-3 prioritised feature list. Although that can vary depending on whether you time box a project to a specific date or allow the date to move to hit a feature list. I suspect Naim typically does the latter.
BTW, not suggesting here that Naim should change anything, just sharing!
Unfortunately that is perhaps inevitable with beta testing. As part of the testing team I have found out that it's much harder than I realised. A new version comes along, only to contain some little issue that has popped up. To say that function X will arrive on date Y will only lead to disappointment. While this is frustrating, you can be reassured that the new developments are being tested to the edge of destruction.
Good points made HH.
Fairly standard with software (or firmware development). Having managed development teams for 17 years giving customers a firm release date or list of features or worse, both, only leads to disappointment.
What we tend to do is give a target date range or something vague, for instance "Q4 2015" to show that estimation is just that.
Let's say you have a year long project and you state an exact week that you intend to ship in. If you're a week late people tend to be disappointed despite the fact that you're around 98% accurate!
Similarly, when questioned about features generally we only confirm that something will be in a release if it is in the top 2-3 prioritised feature list. Although that can vary depending on whether you time box a project to a specific date or allow the date to move to hit a feature list. I suspect Naim typically does the latter.
BTW, not suggesting here that Naim should change anything, just sharing!
More "Food for Thought" Graham ....appreciate the contribution and extremely valid points made.
For the current version of Naim DAC it is possible to connect an iPod or iPhone via the front panel USB input, as well as memory sticks with WAV files. In a potential upcoming update to the Naim DAC, it would be brilliant if this connectivity could be extended to include Mac input directly via USB cable.
Computer usb input can be implemented without hardware upgrade? Its a software only thing?
For the original Naim DAC, there is no way that the USB connection can be upgraded via software to support connection to computers. To put it simply... it's the wrong USB.
As Mark R from Naim suggested in a Sept 9 post asking for beta testers I was wondering if anyone (including Mark R) had any idea on time frame for a potential release.
Will this be a mid October / November release? or is it something that will be "done when its done"?
How many more sleeps must we endure till 1.7 arrives?
Thoughts? Theories?
Just wondering if we may be any closer now to final release, at the end of November?
As Mark R from Naim suggested in a Sept 9 post asking for beta testers I was wondering if anyone (including Mark R) had any idea on time frame for a potential release.
Will this be a mid October / November release? or is it something that will be "done when its done"?
How many more sleeps must we endure till 1.7 arrives?
Thoughts? Theories?
Just wondering if we may be any closer now to final release, at the end of November?
As others have pointed out, there can be good reasons for a company for not announcing tentative release schedules, let apart binding ones. But it certainly would be appreciated if Naim would provide regular updates on the status of their projects. This is doable and is in fact one way companies try to keep in touch with their customers. Best, nbpf
For the original Naim DAC, there is no way that the USB connection can be upgraded via software to support connection to computers. To put it simply... it's the wrong USB.
Gender, yes - which would preclude many aftermarket options.
The Squeezebox Touch has a USB slot which is intended for memory sticks, drives etc i.e. as an input. However there is a software plugin that converts this to digitial out so that you can use a USB driven dac. So I guess it depends not so much on the type of USB slot but more on the 'architecture' of the hardware as to whether it is possible to have usb out.
The plugin also supports up to 192k playback via the standard digital output.
So there is some possibility that Naim DAC might be upgraded for computer > USB > DAC use 