Naim App

It may help to reserve the IP address of the equipment involved (ie if your router supports it, tell it to always give your Nova and your NAS their current IP addresses).

Then rather than leaving the app to auto-discover the Nova, set it up as a 'room' manually by entering the relevant IP address.

I stress the 'may help', but it only takes a minute to give it a try.

Dave, the problem isn't finding the Naim Streamer (yes setting that to a fixed IP and manually entering the devices IP fixes that problem); the problem is detecting the Media Server.

There is NO SUPPORT for using a fixed IP to find the Media Server AND NO WAY to force the app to reconnect to the media server.  When the app messes up there is nothing that the user can do other than wait.  The app is written assuming that it's perfect and nothing will go EVER wrong with finding the Media Server.  The programmers believe that they know better than the users.

I've seen this programming style many times before...  THIS IS PROGRAMMING ARROGANCE of the HIGHEST WATER.

All that's needed is a button to allow the user to force a reconnect, it's REALLY SIMPLE; the failure to allow this option to the user is utter crap.

I'm now starting to send feedback to Naim to this effect EACH TIME the app f***s up.  Maybe we can embarrass them into doing something sensible!

Aha, so the 'may' in 'may help' should evidently be replaced with 'won't'.

For a while, I did make a habit of using the automatic report function each time the app crashed. I'm quite sure that someone at the other end got very bored. But this problem seems not to cause a crash, and so I tend to be too busy being irritable to send a report each time there's an issue. More power to the elbows of those who do so.

Fingers crossed that the expected update in a week or so is somewhat less arrogant! And in the meantime, let's just enjoy the phrase 'of the highest water'. It brings back some great memories of Niagara, last time I toured the US & Canada!

Can't you set-up the media server through rooms manually, or am I missing something? I should add that I don't have a Nova. If the app is playing up finding the MS and you're network is hard wired have you tried the Naim recommended start up procedure, IE, power every thing down including the router and network switch, disconnect at network switch if fitted. Power up router and wait 5 mins for it to connect to internet and network, power up n/w switch and wait. Power up media server, wait, then connect network cables to server. Lastly power up Nova, wait, then connect network cables to it. I think that's correct, others will tell you if I've got it wrong! I must admit to having hassle with the Android app and to a lesser extent also the Apple app. To get everything done I use a mixture of both, unfortunately you can't use both at the same time.

Setting up 'Rooms' manually sets up the streamer(s) not the media server.

Manual configuration of the network Media Server(s) and manually controlled re-connection is impossible.

Hi Huge and Boris, Sorry of limited help then, as I said, I don't have a Nova. Just for my information, would restarting as I suggested help in any way. On my system of Core, Qnap and NAC 272 it cured a number of issues including not 'seeing' my Qnap either in Apple or Android. Rich.

Thanks Rich 1.

I know exactly what causes the issue, and from previous professional experience, I have pretty good idea of what is going on when it happens.  I just need to persuade the people that write the Android code, either to drop and reconnect the network socket correctly or provide a way for the user to do it.

If they can't be persuaded to write their code correctly, then we need to persuade Naim to find a group of competent programmers.

It does supprise me that the app ... particularly the android app ...is so poor

It is not really fit for purpose , and it cannot be beyond the abilities of the design team to put some effort into producing a decent interface

But having seen the woes around the core etc ... perhaps it is ??

It's certainly not beyond the whit of man to make such a simple application behave properly; whether it's "beyond the abilities of the [that particular] design team" is a different question!  

Huge posted:

....the problem is detecting the Media Server.

There is NO SUPPORT for using a fixed IP to find the Media Server AND NO WAY to force the app to reconnect to the media server....

Does the Naim app connect to media servers? I was under the impression that it connects only to the streamer, and only sees info from the server that is presented to it by the streamer.

Chris,

My understanding is that the app connects to the UPnP server for navigating the library/track selection/starting playback etc. but presumably also connects to the streamer for issues relating to system automation e.g. volume control/imput selection.

A UPnP AV / DLNA Control Point connects to both the Media Server and the Media Renderer,

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

This is not a nova-only related issue

i own an Atom and it has the same issue as described above finding my NAS while my tv, Qute2 and my QB can all see it on the network. 

The naim app is not reliable when using the Atom 

Yes the app is just awful on Android unless you either reserve the devices IP in you DHCP allocation on the router or assign your own ip out of the DHCP range. Even then its a flakey piece of programming which crashes at the drop of a hat our fails you show you anything at all once connected.

Huge posted:

A UPnP AV / DLNA Control Point connects to both the Media Server and the Media Renderer,

Indeed, the Naim app gets all the directory and group information from the media server, along with a unique reference for each piece of media. The Naim app then tells the streamer which media server and unique references to sequence up in the buffer or play list. The streamer then fetches the media and its meta data  using this unique reference from the appropriate media server, and the streamer  then tells the Naim app what is playing at a point in time, what is in the playlist buffer and sequence list as well as providing meta data from the media reference on the media server.

The Naim streamer coordinates the media replay with the media server for a given sequence or playlist which enables  gapless playback where two adjacent  media references are actually concurrently  spooled by the streamer for a short period time so as to allow seamless playback between them.

Well the firmware update arrived and it did say it would improve stability of app. However I am still struggling to get it to see the NAS. 7/10 times it does not. Not surprisng I guess in view of the above.

This morning the older versions of Android seem fine but on Android 8.0.0 consistently nothing. Finds no network devices at all.

Out of interest what do I lose sound quality wise if I use Media Monkey? I guess it is using Chromecast.

Now I could move things around and place my NAS near the nova and connect up by USB cable so that I can reliably use my (now £4,200) Nova with my music library?

Very dissapointing last update, they had a chance to improve,  instead with Android V2.60, what is changed ?,  still as buggy as before...,  no visible improvements, new functions or whatever..

Wake up !! or better start all over...

Boris786 posted:

I have a new Naim Nova, having come over from Linn. While I am pleased with the sound I am concerned over the (Android) app.

It regularly falls over and just circles. This does sort itself out and I can live with it. But it regularly loses my NAS - when I select the servers button there is nothing there.

The next/day hour servers appear and it works.

I can always use Roon and Media Monkey happily and without issue. And previously my Linn setup had very few issues over three years of use.

I have spoken to tech support at Naim: they have advised me to check on my network and await the updated android app, which apparently should appear in few weeks along with a firmware update.

But does anyone else have any ideas?

 

Why not just stick with Roon? So much better...

V2.6 is the fourth attempt to fix a simple problem with the use of the network (sockets) interface.  When I worked as a systems designer / consultant, I frequently used to see these exact symptoms in applications written by naive coders; to fail to fix it in four attempts is incompetence.

Here's my latest feedback to the Android development team (I stopped being nice to them after telling them how to fix it and being ignored - twice, six months and two versions apart!).

"V2.6 yet another failed attempt at a simple programming task; obviously not a clue how to use a sockets network interface.

still won't find the media server on waking from sleep 4 attempts to fix this simple problem and all failed - complete incompetence, especially as I've already told you what the fix is."

my solution to this  was i buy an iPad that i didn't want to do BUT the android app was useless ,  in fact the apple one aint much better.  Hear it too many times ,its my fault /network etc. i STARTED STREAMING WITH SONOS  10 YEARS AGO AND THE APP WAS GOOD.   i also have aries system/app for the last year and dont recall one glitch  .  Come on naim  sort it 

sjbabbey posted:

Chris,

My understanding is that the app connects to the UPnP server for navigating the library/track selection/starting playback etc. but presumably also connects to the streamer for issues relating to system automation e.g. volume control/imput selection.

I've just checked your profile and see that you too have an NDS. Do you actually see a volume control on the Naim app? I don't. 

Clive B posted:

sjbabbey posted:

Chris,

My understanding is that the app connects to the UPnP server for navigating the library/track selection/starting playback etc. but presumably also connects to the streamer for issues relating to system automation e.g. volume control/imput selection.

I've just checked your profile and see that you too have an NDS. Do you actually see a volume control on the Naim app? I don't. 

Yes I do Clive. I have systems automation enabled and the app can control the volume via my NAP252. The "Now Playing" screen shows the + and - volume and mute icons below the play/pause and navigation icons. I'm using app v 5.9.1 on my ipad mini but earlier versions of the app had the volume controls. In "Other settings" I have both "Show volume control" and "Bottom bar volume control" ticked.

I hope this helps.

Steve

sjbabbey posted:

Clive B posted:

sjbabbey posted:

Chris,

My understanding is that the app connects to the UPnP server for navigating the library/track selection/starting playback etc. but presumably also connects to the streamer for issues relating to system automation e.g. volume control/imput selection.

I've just checked your profile and see that you too have an NDS. Do you actually see a volume control on the Naim app? I don't. 

Yes I do Clive. I have systems automation enabled and the app can control the volume via my NAP252. The "Now Playing" screen shows the + and - volume and mute icons below the play/pause and navigation icons. I'm using app v 5.9.1 on my ipad mini but earlier versions of the app had the volume controls. In "Other settings" I have both "Show volume control" and "Bottom bar volume control" ticked.

I hope this helps.

Steve

I don't see 'Show volume control' or 'Bottom bar volume control' in the "Other settings" page. So I suppose I'd need to enable system automation somehow. How do I do that? Is that something to do with the small small sockets on the rear of the preamp and NDS? How should they be connected? Is it just a 3.5mm iPod type cable?

Still waiting for the promised split-screen and slide-over functionality on the Naim app.....