Mu-so Qb

dayjay posted:

I took my friend to my dealers in December, he left the shop with a Muso.  It is his first ever 'hifi' product and replaced a sonos.  He and his family would never consider buying black Naim boxed but this product, which he thought sounded brilliant, fits their lifestyle. I will be surprised if he doesn't buy one of these for his kitchen and not too surprised if he drifts into higher end Naim products down the line.  Without the Muso he would never have become a Naim customer and there are far more people like him than like the majority on this forum.  If Naim want to survive in the future it needs the modern equivalent of the starter hifi or it will surely die out with its current user base.  As long as they keep making oter high end products I think this is a very sensible way of accessing a market that would have passed them by.

I agree.  I bought a Mu-so in March and was so impressed that I bought a Superuniti (and I'm sure that further upgrades will follow).  The Mu-so has bought me back to Naim after a gap of 27 years. 

HazbeanZ posted:

I wonder if a couple of Qb's can be setup as individual channels for stereo.

I did ask the question, and the answer was 'no', as there would be too many compromises involved in making this possible.

andarkian posted:

Bedroom - done! To paraphrase the Who!

"Cause she's playing all night
And the music's all right
Mama's got a Muso box
Daddy never sleeps at night"

Like it!!

I was thinking it would of being closer to £400/£450 and I would of seriously considered one to replace my sonos play 1 in the kitchen. But convert that price to euro's and it's €800+ for a kitchen radio. Thanks but no thanks.

fred40 posted:

I got the slight impresion that naim Doesn"t care about sound anymore.   As long iit looks shiny and snug naim is satisfied. 

You're rather impressionable it would seem��

Bert Schurink posted:

I am asking myself how this fits into the overall portfolio, as it's close to a Muso - so what is the customer base going to be, how will it compare to the Muso etc....

Still big question marks....

Not really: it's an even more affordable/different form-factor alternative to the original Mu-so, and aimed at attracting new buyers to the brand, sorting Mu-so owners wanting to extend into another 'zone', and for Uniti/ND- owners wanting an extra speakers for 'casual' listening in another room – study, kitchen and so on.

That's a pretty big customer base, isn't it? And as quite a few posts in this thread have already suggested, it seems to be addressing those diverse needs pretty well in terms of customer appeal.

Sorry, small answers to those big question marks – but of course the proof will be in the listening, and I don't think many outside the Salisbury bunker have done much of that so far.

glevethan posted:

Looks like a home run to me and will offer a nice step up from SONOS. 

In order to justify it's price it will have to be. At GBP 425 the new Play 5 for example is very good indeed. I'm looking for a speaker to use in my basement and after hearing the Play 5 was seriously considering it. I'm going to wait to hear the Mu-so Qb first.

Andrew Everard posted:

HazbeanZ posted:

I wonder if a couple of Qb's can be setup as individual channels for stereo.

I did ask the question, and the answer was 'no', as there would be too many compromises involved in making this possible.

It's a shame Naim wasn't able to find a good way to implement this. I recently had two second generation Sonos Play 5 set-up as a stereo pair next to my Mu-so and while the Mu-so sounded great the stereo Play 5's were significantly better, both in terms of dynamics and separation. Two Play 5's cost the same as one Mu-so.

One thing I noticed from the Qb page is that the Naim devices can be synced to play the same music in many rooms.   Call me thick but I didn't realise you could do this with Naim.  How is it done?

Wireless? Must have a big battery for 300w output. And it's bristling with input sockets!

PeterJ posted:

One thing I noticed from the Qb page is that the Naim devices can be synced to play the same music in many rooms.   Call me thick but I didn't realise you could do this with Naim.  How is it done?

Using Party Mode (FW version 3.21).

I cannot understand the problems or compromises in setting up a pair for stereo playback. The competition (SONOS) can do this across their entire product range including the entry level PLAY 1's.   Am I missing something?

GregW posted:

glevethan posted:

Looks like a home run to me and will offer a nice step up from SONOS. 

In order to justify it's price it will have to be. At GBP 425 the new Play 5 for example is very good indeed. I'm looking for a speaker to use in my basement and after hearing the Play 5 was seriously considering it. I'm going to wait to hear the Mu-so Qb first.

A step up in sound performance, perhaps. But SONOS is also a software platform offering an integrated solution for many music sources and services. The Naim software platform does not (yet?) offer the level of musical service access of SONOS and relies upon hardware extension e.g. apps via iPhone, for broader service access, but which is ultimately not integrated. I suspect that may remain the case. 

Granted, it seems Naim wish to add services at the intersection of (some) quality and volume e.g. Spotify, Tidal, but the Muso is clearly aimed at more casual listeners who will likely have a broader set of (lower quality) services they access for music. 

I wondered if we would see another iteration of Muso to a pure streamer (similar to SONOS Connect), but this is where the software platform comes to prominence for its value-add. 

glevethan posted:

I cannot understand the problems or compromises in setting up a pair for stereo playback. The competition (SONOS) can do this across their entire product range including the entry level PLAY 1's.   Am I missing something?

I agree - Surely this device is all about compromise?

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

PeterJ posted:

One thing I noticed from the Qb page is that the Naim devices can be synced to play the same music in many rooms.   Call me thick but I didn't realise you could do this with Naim.  How is it done?

Using Party Mode (FW version 3.21).

Thanks, I can see there is a Multiroom option under Input Settings on the App which I have looked at but do not see how it is set.

I absolutely will audition this for our kitchen.  The Mu-so is too big for the only countertop location I can devote to a music player.  I'm not sure but it looks like there is no broadcast FM reception.  That's actually something I still need (want), as Patriots' football games are broadcast on FM, but the broadcast is not streamed during the game; that requires a subscription to the NFL's streaming service and I've resisted paying for it.  I'd have to pay to listen to the game via the internet.

You could add a 'Griffin Navigate In-Line Controller and FM Radio for iPod & iPhone' to your phone ($9 on Amazon).

robert- posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

So buy the Sonos. 

Please don't tell me what to do.

So don't post provocative comments!

Will this offer anything like Sonos' Trueplay room correction?  A Play 1 with Trueplay configured sounds remarkable good and for a fraction of £595.

Regarding wireless, the new £30 Chromecast includes AC wireless.  The Qb will be problematic with lossless playback if limited to B/G.  I can only assume this is a mistake in the spec listing and not the actual spec!

robert- posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

So buy the Sonos. 

Please don't tell me what to do.

You say that the Sonos is cheaper and looks better. So if you want one you can buy one. Why slag off something you neither like nor want? If you make that type of comment you are very likely to get a suitable riposte. A considered and sensible post will much more likely get a considered and sensible answer. 

What is it with people that they have to pick at everything that comes out? If people don't want one, there is a very simple answer. 

its about buttomline to investors

That's capitalism, for good or ill. If the profit from this helps to fund reinvestment and R&D, that has got to be good. Anyway, I want one for my kitchen. Very likely with a red front. 

robert- posted:

Sonos play 5 is cheaper £425 and looks better to me.

None of the Sonos Play convince on sound quality, they all sound quite terrible really. Slightly better if you use two, i.e. in stereo, but that drives the price up to an unacceptable level for the performance you get. Without having heard the Muso Qb, I put money down that it will outperform any of the Sonos Play products by a considerable margin. For the market Naim is targeting, the Muso and now Qb are pretty much best in class on sound quality terms. Well done indeed Naim.

I'm eyeing a Muso for my study, but I think it is too large. Well, this comes in time! Certainly going to listen to it one it is available at a local dealer.

Very sensible thing for Naim to do. The larger market is moving towards good sounding, small boxes streaming music that can be places around the house and access the same content stores at the same time (Sonos, Denon Heos, B&W Zeppelin). People are willing to buy better sounding equipment that is hassle free. 

Perfect. Just what we need for three more locations where a full size Mu-So won't go.

If it sounds good enough and doesn't cost a stupid sum.

I'm confident on the first point, hopeful on the second.