Quobuz Receivership

Kevo posted:

It isn't a big job to hook in a new service, it just needs the desire in the Naim marketing dept. It is a logical pairing as other have said. Given the good news at Qobuz plus what has been/is happening at Tidal you'd think they would be on it already.

I'd buy a Naim streamer if it supports Qobuz - All my other kit is Naim so currently I need to look elsewhere and that's what I am doing. I won't buy on the possibility Naim 'might' add Qobuz - A formal statement of intent would do it though.

Anyone from Naim marketing listening to this forum?

Yes it probably is in Naim's interests to enable Q, and certainly wouldn't do any harm if the cost to Naim is trivial, and my guess is that following Q's rejuvenation they are probably actively engaged in it right now...   Interestedly, Audirvana that I have on Mac Mini, that with Hugo replaced ND5XS+XP5XS, implements Q streaming now, though not of the slightest interest to me.

An interesting thread.

I suspect that GregW has has nailed the depressing reality. I suppose the hope for Audiophiles is that the last man standing/sugar daddy either develops or absorbs a CD quality or Hi Res service as it's premium offering.

Keith

An insight to Naim's approach to intergrating streaming providers is in tthe video interview for the Qb in What Hifi.

I also believe that Apple and Google will be dominant and this does not have to be lossy - the iPhone 7 is rumoured to forego its analogue out,meaning that it could output hi res audio to off board DACs. Google are turning YouTube into subscribed services gradually.  Apple Music got 10m subscribers in its first months (Spotify took six years) and Apple are including its catalogue of Internet radio within its subscription.

But vinyl is on the rise..... (So, I hope downloads continue to be available)

Jude 

1. Jude2012 posted:

   But vinyl is on the rise..... (So, I hope downloads continue to be available)

   Now, downloads of vinyl would be interesting - technically I suppose it's possible, using a 3D printer...

Market consolidation usually results in three long-term survivors.

IMO, Beats/Apple and Spotify will be two of them.  Tidal or Deezer may be the third, depending upon how serious Google gets.

Looking back, I think Naim has been pretty smart about how they invested their limited development resources. Given their worldwide presence, I think that support for Deezer Elite makes sense. But I can certainly understand Naim's choices of Spotify and Tidal (one being a likely survivor, and one offering CD quality).

Hook

Jude2012 posted:

.....the iPhone 7 is rumoured to forego its analogue out,meaning that it could output hi res audio to off board DACs.

Actually even the iPhones 4, 5 or 6 output a digital signal through the docking connector so you can use an external DAC.  Not hi res though of course.