Tidal / Streamer Firmware Version 4.4 Required

I think the message talked about release on the 6th of October, or at least on next week. 4.4 has only been available in test versions for the beta testing group.

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The firmware updates will be released next week on Tuesday 6th October

v4.4 will be found on 6 Oct in the same place were 4.3 is now 

Also, just in case peeps don't read it beyond the headlines,  an update for Naim app to enable Tidal will also be released at the same time.

Does 4.3 not give BBC HD streams already?  If so, is 4.4 really only about Tidal and a few bugs?  Would like to know before I decide whether to bother or not

Yup  BBC HLS came with 4.3

It looks like 4.4 big thing is Tidal  ...  (I get the impression that might not float your boat).  

The other stuff is the clock & alarm (if your player has it) 

One item that I see that will be worthwhile is improvements to IGMP & that should help with discovery issues (if you have that problem)

But to bother or not is up to you, personally I can't see what is the "bother", it takes 15-20 minutes. And if you don't you wont know what you're missing .....  

Thanks Mike.  You're dead right.  I was underwhelmed by the streaming trial I did some time ago. 

Streaming seems to me an expensive fad.  Good music stations (R3, Audiophile classical, even Classic FM) cost next to nothing or are free.  Ditto talk (R4, R4 Extra etc). Then why pay for a Naim with 24/192 potential and listen to Tidal "HD" in 16/44?  Seems to me to be just another way of getting us to stump up again for music we've bought before, sometimes 6 times before in different formats.  And while there may be 24 zillion tracks the classical offerings are limited in many areas,  Perhaps it's improve, or have I got this wrong?

I don't use the alarm - my phone does that - and don't have discovery issues

You're also right though that the update doesn't take long but I always get nervous when I do it in case it goes wrong!

JSH

 I really would not be nervous JSH,   I've done a heluva lot in the last year with the beta team & not had any problems. 

With a USB cable & an ethernet into one of your LAN ports (or straight into the player),  its really very straightforward; & Naim have improved the install software since we first started, the dropbox system is as foolproof as it gets.

JSH, as.Mike says, the process is robust, and it is virtually impossible if not impossible to break anything. The devices come equipped with a hard wired boot strap. So if you are really unlucky and your upgrade fails perhaps because you have a dodgy lead or Mac/PC etc, then it will prompt you to repeat.. Or the Naim screen will stay in update mode.. and a dealer or another local Naim user can complete the update for you with a new lead..it really is very straightforward, and in my experience more robust than some  update over network options that some other consumer devices use...

Simon

Agreed, the update process is now pretty straightforward, but I would still be nervous if I was using the old RS232 connection. My old NDS struggled to maintain a connection with the PC, and had to go back to Naim twice after it bricked.

As to streaming being a fad, everything is a fad in the long term (although vinyl is turning out to be a particularly long fad!). Audiophiles for whom 16 bit doesn't cut it should definitely pass, but for the rest of us it's a fantastic and fundamental upgrade to the streamers. The cost is low in the context of many forum members' systems and is offset because you buy fewer CDs (for example, I bought the first FKA Twigs album, but haven't needed to buy the new one), but it is very annoying that in the UK we pay £20 and in the US it costs $20 (same issue with Qobuz in &euro.

Keith

Keith

Streaming isn't a fad. 

Like any successful shift, it starts with early adopter neophytes putting up with the problems, and then gradually the problems are ironed out and many of the rest join in. People attached to one way of thinking convert in their own way - for example using streaming just to trial music before buying it - but eventually the majority fully adopt the new paradigm. The mistrust wears off. I used to buy DVDs but now I'm fine with movies streaming from Netflix or whatever, I don't feel any need to hold the physical media.

None of that is to say everyone will adopt music streaming in the medium or even longish term. But a fad? Nope, not even close. The shape of the adoption curve shows the momentum is already there, and subscription-based streaming will be the next dominant 'format' (probably co-existing with paid-for downloads). I believe the economics of CD production will become quite challenging; they will either become premium/niche in the manner of vinyl records or, more likely, go the way of pre-recorded audio cassettes.