Mu-so Qb

tonym182 posted:

If we're saying that 'Naim' - the brand say it's possible to re-produce music faithfully using a 595 pound product then why for years was there entry price point in the multiples of thousands - because they decided to re-produce hi-fi faithfully to a very high standard and not to dick around against NAD 3020's.

I think Naim are simply going into the mass market because of the 'focal' pressure. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.....

I'll stick with my superuniti and if I want another system for the bedroom I'll buy another SU.

 

 

What a ridiculous post. Taken to extreme, a Statement owner could ask why Naim dick around with those rubbish SuperUnitis. 

I have a nice system in the sitting room but plan to get a Qb for the kitchen. I can get decent sound and control it all from the Naim app, and synchronise the music if I want to. 

If Naim make shed loads of cash out of the Musos then that's great, it keeps the company going, gives people jobs and supports the economy. Naim cannot stand still. If they had, the SuperUniti would not exist. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

What a ridiculous post. Taken to extreme, a Statement owner could ask why Naim dick around with those rubbish SuperUnitis. 

I have a nice system in the sitting room but plan to get a Qb for the kitchen. I can get decent sound and control it all from the Naim app, and synchronise the music if I want to. 

If Naim make shed loads of cash out of the Musos then that's great, it keeps the company going, gives people jobs and supports the economy. Naim cannot stand still. If they had, the SuperUniti would not exist. 

Completely agree HH ... When I first came here 6 or so years ago there were arguments over if the NaimUniti was diluting Naim and distracting them.  Since that time we have had released a high class stand alone DAC; some of the best streamers on the market; a range of well regarded speakers as well as expanding the Uniti line with options from the UnitiQute to the SuperUniti to suit a wide range of situations and budgets.

FWIW, my views on the performance of the Qb, and a little insight into the launch event last week, are on my website at the usual place.

How do you find my site? Search me, guv'nor ;-)

I think that the Muso range complements rather than detracts from Naim's other products. I have an NDS based system in my lounge/listening room, a second Superuniti system in the dining room/conservatory and a Muso in the bedroom. What is really great is to be able to play from the same comprehensive source, a US in my case, through the Naim app in each location. The difference in quality does not concern, if I want high end serious listening I go to the Lounge, the second system is for more relaxed listening when required and the Muso plays some nice classical in the mornings and the evenings. What's not to like?

As always thanks for your replies - I'm not sensitive as it's only opinions.

Of course I understand how the 'cheaper' sons of the brand enable new users to be brought into the Naim fold and money invested back - to make better products etc etc. are we saying that if Naim didn't produce these cheaper variants that they would have ceased to be. To me they did fantastically well as a mid-sized company, everyone made money - why expand?

I'm sure if they hadn't done the focal deal they would have carried on making tons of money and great hi-fi in Salisbury.

I hope they sell them by the warehouse load and that the money generated significantly boosts the customer population and the R+D budget. I'd like a Mu-So style volume control on my 552, or should that be a Starement style volume control? I don't think the brand will dilute as much as the snootiness of a decreasing minority of the customer base. That's good.

tonym182 posted:

As always thanks for your replies - I'm not sensitive as it's only opinions.

Of course I understand how the 'cheaper' sons of the brand enable new users to be brought into the Naim fold and money invested back - to make better products etc etc. are we saying that if Naim didn't produce these cheaper variants that they would have ceased to be. To me they did fantastically well as a mid-sized company, everyone made money - why expand?

I'm sure if they hadn't done the focal deal they would have carried on making tons of money and great hi-fi in Salisbury.

As far as I know, they still make great Hifi in Salisbury.....

One of the rules of business is that if you don't move forwards, you move backwards. 

Harry posted:

I'd like a Mu-So style volume control on my 552, or should that be a Starement style volume control?

At the Mu-so Qb launch event last week, Trevor gave every indication that there isn't a massive stockpile of clear acrylic in Salisbury waiting to be glued to the base of a new range of amps – asked the question, he indicated the massed ranks of black boxes with green lights in the room, and said 'These are here to stay'.

Damn! Oh well, maybe something that works like the Statement gain control but looks traditional. I think I could live with that. I think some of already do.

That's what the SuperUniti and 272 have. It's so much nicer than the old knobs that give virtually full volume at 9 o'clock. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

That's what the SuperUniti and 272 have. It's so much nicer than the old knobs that give virtually full volume at 9 o'clock. 

That phenomenom is primarily the fault of preamps still having inputs that have not been re-rated to the now normal high output level of digital sources (except in the case of people with efficient speakers in small rooms).

Would't Qb be better with a handle so it can be at least reasonably portable, a means of having music in any room not having its own hifi? Like a sort of high quality boom-box (without the boom), even if it does need plugging into the mains.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Would't Qb be better with a handle so it can be at least reasonably portable, a means of having music in any room not having its own hifi? Like a sort of high quality boom-box (without the boom), even if it does need plugging into the mains.

Now that I could see being useful.  Slightly related but not exactly Bowers and Wilkins will sell you a transport bag for your Zeppelin.

Eloise posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

Would't Qb be better with a handle so it can be at least reasonably portable, a means of having music in any room not having its own hifi? Like a sort of high quality boom-box (without the boom), even if it does need plugging into the mains.

Now that I could see being useful.  Slightly related but not exactly Bowers and Wilkins will sell you a transport bag for your Zeppelin.

I did suggest at the launch event, where participants were given review samples to carry away, that a tailored 'shopping bag' to fit the boxed Qb might be a smart promotional item for new buyers to take home their new purchase. And of course it could then be kept for moving the unit around the house, or off to the weekend cottage/yacht/caravan in the future.

My fellow hacks all went off into the rain and cold with 'their' Qbs in blue Ikea bags kindly provided for the purpose, ready to face the vagaries of public transport (smuggins here had his car parked right outside the door). I gather from his blog from the event that Martin Colloms – who'd earlier arrived drenched having walked from the nearest Tube station – soon gave up the struggle and resorted to Uber!

Or should that be Qber? ;-)

We have an Arcam cube which is portable and has a battery for a few hours use away from the mains. Useful, although it does weigh a lot and can't be picked up without assuming a suitable posture. 

Online review, its the Daily Mail so readers beware, gets 5 stars fairly glowing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hom...i-just-wireless.html

Great review from the dDaily mail

just read it, very good review. 

Andrew Everard also wrote a nice review "the little Naim box that just rocks"

I think it is the equivalent of the nait for this generation, brilliant idea.

Wish this kind of stuff was available back in 2006 when I first heard of Naim, would have bought one on the spot.

Dan43 posted:

Online review, its the Daily Mail so readers beware, gets 5 stars fairly glowing.

I think the Daily Mail gets blocked here due to being unsuitable for viewing!

Eloise posted:

"I think the Daily Mail gets blocked here due to being unsuitable for viewing"

+1 from me

Excellent.

It's great to see the Qb getting such glowing reviews. It's a really interesting product and much more flexible than the original Mu-so. As a much more portable device that will fit into a lot more places I think the product's wireless performance is going to be really important. I had read that it only has wireless b/g network support which is pretty much legacy these days. It certainly is in this house, where I have as many devices as I can running in the relatively uncluttered 5Ghz band.

Can anyone confirm what wireless support Qb has? It would be disappointing for a wireless product launched in 2016 not to have a 5Ghz radio and wireless ac support.