4.6 update and upgrade sound quality ?

Donkeyhaute posted:

Hmm. I'm not convinced by the DSP update. On my system there's now a bass bloom and the classically 'Naim' midrange hump has gone. I watched a film through it last night and it was noticeably harder to hear the voices due to midrange recess. The bass was like pushing a loudness button.  I hope it's an adjustment period. I'll listen again later at reasonable levels. I imagine it'll sound better through NACA5 than Tellurium Q. This is, in no way, a criticism of our esteemed Beta testers, simply a reaction to how my own system sounds. 

I experienced exactly the same thing, I found the bass a bit overpowering in my room and it made the music harder to follow, everything got a bit warm and drums and guitar lost their attack. But it does seem to have got better with time, either I've adjusted or my NDS and PSU have warmed up after the restarts, probably a combination of both. I do have a bit more listening to do before I'm convinced I prefer the new presentation, but a big thanks to Naim and the beta team, appreciate your efforts and for me, not having to restart the app every 30 minutes is a great improvement.

Has the perceived improvement in SQ now negatated the  requirement to use an external DAC to improve the sound?

I think we all benefit from a little time and space to enjoy the music. I sat back and just felt it sounded right. You don’t always get an immediate hit. 

Harry posted:

Thanks for that link.

4.6 installed on NDS here and sounding as good as ever. Audible difference on my NDS? Not sure. But it doesn't need to sound any better.

Same here. Upgraded NDS to 4.6, and (still) sounds wonderful.

Thanks very much to the beta test team - your efforts are much appreciated!  

I think Naim should provide all of you with t-shirts or hoodies printed with “Boldly going where no Naim Uniti or Streamer has gone before”. 

KRM posted:

I unanimously think it’s a significant improvement for the NDS, the same way as described by 272 owners. My caveat would be that I spent soooo long in beta land I can’t now remember what the production firmware sounded like. I do know that I very quickly felt this version was right. Tight, dynamic and natural.

Keith

+1. I've seen loooong slow and frustrating progress in the beta program with this f/w development for over two years now. Many false starts and blind alleys. Naim has worked with great tenacity to overcome huge technical hurdles for multiroom, and then they topped that with great SQ improvements for the 272 (and other platforms from what I've read). This release is very significant in my opinion, even though I don't multiroom. It's sad that so many folks are having trouble installing it, some even calling it a day with Naim. I urge those experiencing such difficulties to perservere. I appreciate it requires a bit of technical know-how. But I am used to f/w upgrading so I can assure you it is not so hard with the right USB cable, device driver etc etc. Worst case, a dealer can sort it for you.

Has anyone else had the album art go awol from the Nova display and if so know what the fix is?

Big smiles on the SQ front here. 

Olly

Atherton posted:

AndyP19 posted:

Not to hijack the thread but I had to question the use of a Gang of Four album in terms of Hi Fi testing until I fired up the track 'Return the Gift' from the only album I have of theirs, the compilation 'A Brief History of the Twentieth Century' and wow what incredible production, how did this sit in the collection so long without me appreciating it's sonic wonders.

Checking out the producers, I was amazed to see and now understand why: Jimmy Douglass, Mike Howlett and The Albert Brothers.

Anyway thanks HH for this. Now back to main topic of the thread......

 

OK, so curiosity got the better of me and I tried this on Tidal. Interesting, but not my cup of tea! [@mention:4804681823084713] delights and surprises me with his eclectic tastes. Personally I think a better contemporary demo of 4.6 is Private Investigations/Dire straits. Stunning, dramatic sound.

Just heard this Dire Straits track for the first time. On my Pre updated 272/250 it sounds stunning. Looking forward to the updated rendition on he weekend! Thanks [@mention:54927090893530075]

Olly posted:

Has anyone else had the album art go awol from the Nova display and if so know what the fix is?

Big smiles on the SQ front here. 

Olly

I only know of the album artwork freezing which Naim owe a firmware update. If it’s totally missing you should contact your dealer or Naim. I presume you have tried unplugging and then powering up again? That fix’s the artwork freeze, until it happens again.

Olly posted:

Has anyone else had the album art go awol from the Nova display and if so know what the fix is?

Big smiles on the SQ front here. 

Olly

Yes my artwork has gone walkabouts from the Nova, via Unitiserve but not Tidal, have asked my dealer to get back to me, he is going to consult Naim tomorrow.

I think that my NDS sounds better now (firmware 4.6).
Tighter, darker, shiny sound, better timing and resolution, extra purity to the higher notes, better 3D, easier to follow, more interesting.
Due to a darker/shiny sound, instruments colours (naturalness) were changed - it's hard to know if I prefer the new sound.
Piano sounds different, by quite a margin. Some albums sound "weird" now. I will wait a few days to see what's up.

I believe it's a taste of what we will experience with the ND555.

BP.

Still a bit early to be sure, but I think vocals are easier to follow after updating the Nova. On vinyl I put this down to a new phono stage but listened to some familiar CD rips and streams from Tidal tonight and it appears there is an improvement. Sounds promising.

I posted the other day in the other firmware thread that I was not happy with the sound in this upgrade on my Atom. After a few more days I am still not convinced by it, it just seems to be too bright and lost some of the low and middle, I agree vocals seem more pronounced and I can hear more instrumentation but at the loss of warmth and overall depth. Not a happy camper I get listening fatigue from it now and can't afford another upgrade  if thats what is needed to balance this out, was just right before the update it had just got to the sweet spot, 

glasnaim posted:

Olly posted:

Has anyone else had the album art go awol from the Nova display and if so know what the fix is?

Big smiles on the SQ front here. 

Olly

Yes my artwork has gone walkabouts from the Nova, via Unitiserve but not Tidal, have asked my dealer to get back to me, he is going to consult Naim tomorrow.

Naim are now aware of this issue, and are investigating it. So far it seems to affect the new Uniti streamers when used with a Unitiserve - but it would be interesting to know if anyone has experienced the same issue with other UPnP servers?

I agree with the “easier to follow “ comments.

Hook posted:

Harry posted:

Thanks for that link.

4.6 installed on NDS here and sounding as good as ever. Audible difference on my NDS? Not sure. But it doesn't need to sound any better.

Same here. Upgraded NDS to 4.6, and (still) sounds wonderful.

Thanks very much to the beta test team - your efforts are much appreciated!  

I think Naim should provide all of you with t-shirts or hoodies printed with “Boldly going where no Naim Uniti or Streamer has gone before”. 

Can I install it on my own, and if yes how do I do it. So far I had the dealer doing it when he stopped by.

ChrisSU posted:

glasnaim posted:

Olly posted:

Has anyone else had the album art go awol from the Nova display and if so know what the fix is?

Big smiles on the SQ front here. 

Olly

Yes my artwork has gone walkabouts from the Nova, via Unitiserve but not Tidal, have asked my dealer to get back to me, he is going to consult Naim tomorrow.

Naim are now aware of this issue, and are investigating it. So far it seems to affect the new Uniti streamers when used with a Unitiserve - but it would be interesting to know if anyone has experienced the same issue with other UPnP servers?

I'm using Serviio as my UPnP server and no issues with album art (switched between server, Tidal, radio, Roon - all fine).

Bert Schurink posted:

Hook posted:

Harry posted:

Thanks for that link.

4.6 installed on NDS here and sounding as good as ever. Audible difference on my NDS? Not sure. But it doesn't need to sound any better.

Same here. Upgraded NDS to 4.6, and (still) sounds wonderful.

Thanks very much to the beta test team - your efforts are much appreciated!  

I think Naim should provide all of you with t-shirts or hoodies printed with “Boldly going where no Naim Uniti or Streamer has gone before”. 

Can I install it on my own, and if yes how do I do it. So far I had the dealer doing it when he stopped by.

Bert

if you look at the Naim post at the top of the Streaming Audio room and scroll down to the bottom, there is a video and instructions on how to do the install of firmware on NDS etc. You need the right driver for your PC and Naim have forgotten to include the link in these instructions but you can get it if you look at the instructions for the 4.4 firmware release in the updates section of Naim's homepage. If having read/seen all of that you still don't know what to do, then it would be best to get your dealer to do it.  It's not hard to do yourself, but if you have never done it before, there are some tricky bits to navigate, as reading this thread will tell you.

best

David

Beachcomber posted:

sjbabbey posted:

Steve,

You can find the usb drivers here:

https://www.silabs.com/product...t-bridge-vcp-drivers

Downloaded and installed the drivers - all working and now updated.  Many thanks for that

Steve

morning

I played a few tracks last night on my NDX (2014) build and YES i have to say the sound has moved up a couple of levels - more detail - focus  - image

i was thinking the DR on my 300 was the cause, however I can say the firmware update has increased detail accross the board

hope the update works for those members who have not sorted

but very pleased at the moment

Installed the new version last night on my NDX. I've done several updates before and all gone 100% hassle free. Not this time :-(

Detected the NDX fine. I selected the f/w file (western europe), it tried to start copying across and the NDX display said upgrading but nothing happened. I left if for 10 mins... still nothing. Ended up aborting it. NDX off/on. Start again. Thankfully it worked the second time but it did a full reset at the end so I had to resetup my settings and network config. The only difference between what I did this time and the last update was last time it was windows 7 and now windows 10, that's all I can think of. It's kinda put me off doing any more f/w updates :-(

PS too early to say if I can perceive any changes/improvements. After an hour sweating over the update I was too stressed ;-)

Another happy 272 owner now I have had a few hours listening since the firmware update

Well done all those who worked on this ...

solwisesteve posted:

....................  only difference between what I did this time and the last update was last time it was windows 7 and now windows 10, that's all I can think of. It's kinda put me off doing any more f/w updates :-(

I've done quite a few updates (beta testing) on my NDX.   During that time I've gone through a few Windows variants, mostly all with Win-10 & I've not had any problems.      I suspect you might have found a problem with the SiLabs USB driver,  its been reported by others.  but I've not seen any response from Naim on what might be going on.    That said I've loaded the latest SiLabs driver link included in the Naim 4.6 instructions .pdf issued this week,   and again I've not had problems.   

I start to be pissed off with this update/USB driver, so far 3 Computers (HP, Lenovo & Dell -> all quite new) where I'm not able to install this USB driver & make it work. It tries to install the driver when USB connected "USB not recognized" & gives an error when installing driver from the correct www page "cannot complete"...  Tried also 2 different USB cables (working ones).

Anyone else having this type of issue?

Yep! 

Im getting another USB cable to try in case mine is faulty. But I tried several times yesterday to no avail. Finally got the driver installed and the “port” is not showing up. Should it really be this difficult???? 

Gandalf_fi posted:

I start to be pissed off with this update/USB driver, so far 3 Computers (HP, Lenovo & Dell -> all quite new) where I'm not able to install this USB driver & make it work. It tries to install the driver when USB connected "USB not recognized" & gives an error when installing driver from the correct www page "cannot complete"... 

Anyone else having this type of issue?

You have to install the driver in a particular way. 

1) do it with nothing connected to the USB socket. I would restart the PC as well so it forgets what you had connected.

2) it's a while since I did this but I think you have to download and save the driver executable to your PC (eg the desktop) and then run it from there, rather than from the web page. It should install. But it's not a normal driver and doesn't show up until you connect your PC to eg a Naim product.

I hope this helps 

best

David