Spotify Connect Arrives for Naim Streamers
Posted by: Arthur Geraerts on 15 December 2014
Best christmas present ever. Updated my UQ2 and it works like a charm!
Thanks guys! Naim rocks!
Ok, so I followed the instructions carefully, eventually found a usb driver for my iMac and having installed the new software on my Qute 2 I got the big green tick that everything was ok.
But nothing has changed My Spotify app doesn't list my qute 2 as a connect device!
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Switch the Spotify Input on (enable) for your Qute 2, it's in Settings on the Qute. You will then see the Spotify source on the Naim app (restart the app if necessary).
Thanks, this may be the problem, I don't see a Spotify source...
i already had had one of my inputs labelled as Spotify, this wouldn't upset the system would it?
It is not that hard to integrate services. Some make streaming sound like landing a spacecraft on the moon.
In simple terms the streamer and the services it consumes must talk to one another. The streamer so designed that it can absorb the search and retrieval functionality of various services.
If you get a quote online from one of the comparison websites the priniciple is broadly the same. Hardly rocket science.
Sonos have devices released in 2006 that still get all the latest updates and can talk to a myriad of modern services and aggregate their results. These have relatively modest hardware which tells you that the answer is in the software.
The actual streaming of data itself is straightforward too. There are some, usually selling something, who will tell you complex black magic is involved and you need lots of expensive kit. In reality it is very, very low throughput. Trivial in computing terms on the user end unless they have no internet bandwidth.
I don't blame Naim for any lack of connectivity though. They are an audio company first and foremost whereas Sonos was really a software company first and foremost. I hope Naim stay that way. Personally I would be happy if they had not bothered with streamers at all. However, their management and shareholders clearly saw the demand and an opportunity so good luck to them.
With all due respect, unless your primary business is third-party software integration, it is not the cakewalk you purport it to be, whether it be streaming media APIs, cloud storage, or device control. Even Sonos themselves have experienced delays in integrating third-party streaming services due to glaring technical obstacles, incomplete documentation, or simply shifty APIs.
The world does not consist solely of 120-character APIs for one's information consumption. 
It is not that hard to integrate services. Some make streaming sound like landing a spacecraft on the moon.
In simple terms the streamer and the services it consumes must talk to one another. The streamer so designed that it can absorb the search and retrieval functionality of various services.
If you get a quote online from one of the comparison websites the priniciple is broadly the same. Hardly rocket science.
Sonos have devices released in 2006 that still get all the latest updates and can talk to a myriad of modern services and aggregate their results. These have relatively modest hardware which tells you that the answer is in the software.
The actual streaming of data itself is straightforward too. There are some, usually selling something, who will tell you complex black magic is involved and you need lots of expensive kit. In reality it is very, very low throughput. Trivial in computing terms on the user end unless they have no internet bandwidth.
I don't blame Naim for any lack of connectivity though. They are an audio company first and foremost whereas Sonos was really a software company first and foremost. I hope Naim stay that way. Personally I would be happy if they had not bothered with streamers at all. However, their management and shareholders clearly saw the demand and an opportunity so good luck to them.
With all due respect, unless your primary business is third-party software integration, it is not the cakewalk you purport it to be, whether it be streaming media APIs, cloud storage, or device control. Even Sonos themselves have experienced delays in integrating third-party streaming services due to glaring technical obstacles, incomplete documentation, or simply shifty APIs.
The world does not consist solely of 120-character APIs for one's information consumption.
With equal respect, I disagree.
In its essence we're talking about search functionality and the ability to download a file. We all do that almost every day in some shape or form.
The music files, even lossless, are very small. All you have to do is download it quicker than the track is playing to allow for buffering. No great achievement.
An application which provides for a text search and returns results with some thumbnail pictures. Nothing to get excited about. Yes it takes effort to make it pretty but the essence of it is basic.
I agree some services have quirks in their search or how they return results but this is noise round the edges rather than a paradigm shift. Sonos have shown this for many years as their original hardware still works. If it was so difficult the nearly 10 year old CPUs etc in some of their original units would be unable to cope.
I believe Naim may have taken steps to refresh their original design and can now integrate new services with it more easily. If this is correct then I expect it needed to be done in order to reset the baseline. Good luck to them.