Mu-so and QB sound tweaking tips....

Posted by: NIC NAP on 01 October 2016

Having owned both units ( love em ) here are a few tips. Firstly, try not use the supplied mains cables. Using better quality mains cables made a significant improvement to both mine. Do not go too expensive, used a couple of £50 ish upgraded figure of eight mains cables which tightened the sound up no end. Next, the Mu-so benefits from that old tip, Blutak. Again does wonders to tighten the bass. Strangely the QB sounds best without Blutak. Next, when listening make sure you remove those speaker front covers !. Particularly on the Mu-so the cover is not fully acoustically transparent, too much plastic in the design on the rear frame. Another tip, found both sound best when placed on glass tables. Play around with room positions as well as even a small difference can make a real improvement. Lastly, a plea to Naim, can a firmware update be considered in order that bass and treble can be altered independently rather that the off/on loudness control. Happy tweaking.....

Posted on: 03 October 2016 by audio1946

it improves sat on sticky mono pads. yes you do need to move it around alittle. just tried a better mains cable could notice any improvement.

Posted on: 05 November 2016 by Emil Kozlowski

audio1946 posted:
it improves sat on sticky mono pads. yes you do need to move it around alittle. just tried a better mains cable could notice any improvement.

Could or couldn't notice any improvement?

Thanks

Posted on: 06 November 2016 by blythe

Speaker grills removed make my QB sound artificially bright. MUCH better with them left in place IMHO.
I tried a different, high-end mains lead and there's absolutely no difference at all to my ears.
Stick with the original, Naim supplied one. A £50 mains lead is a waste of money and as well as making no discernible difference, adds significantly to the cost of a £595 speaker..

Posted on: 06 November 2016 by Emil Kozlowski

This is so hard . When someone says the main cable makes a significant improvement and others can't tell the difference :S.

Maybe I can try a cable before buying but I doubt it.

Any other tweaks? I'm all ears.

Posted on: 06 November 2016 by Timmo1341

Emil Kozlowski posted:
This is so hard . Any other tweaks? I'm all ears.

Not hard at all. Use those ears to listen to good music played back via a great bit of kit. I'm sure Naim would offer a figure of 8 Powerline variant if they thought for one moment it would make a significant difference to playback quality. Don't get suckered into the trap of becoming perpetually dissatisfied with what you have.

Tim

Posted on: 06 November 2016 by Innocent Bystander

Wow, tweaking Muso and Qb, whatever next? I suppose you could put them on a Fraim special speaker stand, change the internal speaker wiring to SL (but discussion of doing it would be against forum rules), add an external power supply with powerlines, and use ultra-something network cable connecting to at least a Melco N1Z music store. While at it why not add an external DAC, maybe a NAP 500, and perhaps some better speakers.......

They are compact player-speakers! And not exactly the cheapest around - nor the worst sounding as they come.

Posted on: 07 November 2016 by Foot tapper

Good point Innocent Bystander.

Perhaps also worth mentioning the Isotek Evo 3 Super Titan to optimise the Qb as well?

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Claus-Thoegersen

My qb is currently sitting on my hifi rack used for my power amps while they are waiting to be shipped to Denmark. It is in a different room so sound cannot be compared, but I think it is better than on my kitchen table. Hopefully the tweak will be reversed next week.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Emil Kozlowski

Innocent Bystander posted:
Wow, tweaking Muso and Qb, whatever next? I suppose you could put them on a Fraim special speaker stand, change the internal speaker wiring to SL (but discussion of doing it would be against forum rules), add an external power supply with powerlines, and use ultra-something network cable connecting to at least a Melco N1Z music store. While at it why not add an external DAC, maybe a NAP 500, and perhaps some better speakers.......
They are compact player-speakers! And not exactly the cheapest around - nor the worst sounding as they come.

Yeah yeah I totally deserved that answer. I know my question was kind of superfluous. But hey who knows maybe there is some magic trick .

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Olly

Audioquest jitterbug.