Muso

I only have good experiences with my Muso. It doesn't switch on automatically - but perhaps you have something on alarm. The sound is more influenced by placing and setting of the Muso. So have a look at the place and of you have switched off or on your loudnesss and what the setting is with regards to how far it is from the wall.

If you expect a Muso to reproduce the SQ of a Naim hifi system, your expectations may be too high. I have a Muso QB and my partner has a Muso and I think the SQ is very good for what they are and how much they cost, but for a start they do not produce true stereo. On the other hand I don't think either sound shut in, rather they produce an expansive room-filling sound. The Muso has never started autonomously, and I have never seen a complaint here of that malfunction, so maybe your particular example has a fault.

Clive

Thanks for messages, like a total ****, I hadn't seen that the alarm was enabled, didn't see that, my fault, sorry Naim. Having unplugged it, ready to go back, I'm laying in bed, enjoying some low volume music!! I'll get me coat.

I find the sound of my Muso so so at low level, but once it is turned up,.....I like it loud, it really sings.  

I've tried a variety of products of this type and the Muso is easily the best soundbar type thing I've heard to date. I wouldn't put it up for Pope but it does well for what it is, in full size and QB guise. We have two of each. I suppose you have tried the positioning settings and the positioning of the Muso itself? If it is sitting in the middle of a wide open space it can't generate clought from nothing, although as mentioned above, the louder it goes the better it sounds - subject to good enough source material. There is some piss weak stuff out there, although a lot of it costs considerably less.

I agree about the quality of the sound increasing as the volume increases. At high level (~90!) the Muso Qb is sensational as a party machine...

At lower levels it sounds like a high quality boombox to me - enjoyable but not sensational. I hasten to add I've only ever fed it Spotify, Bluetooth and iRadio sources so it may be completely different with higher quality sources.

 The Qb caught my eye only recently, I guess I'd have to hear it at a dealer but the one nearest me in the CA desert is on the coast in dreadfully congested Santa Monica 150 miles west.  I'm not happy with the Samsung sound bar and wondering how it would stack up  mainly in clarity.  I'd have no sidewalls for 10' in an open room plan but it would be a few inches from the back wall. 

I got my wife a Qb for xmas and she hasn't left it alone since opening it. Room filling (in fact almost house -filling!) expansive sound. Very impressive performance and, imho, well worth the price ... even though over here (Canada) there is a hefty premium on Naim!

Gonna have to sound-proof the basement for my system ...

mudwolf posted:

I'm not happy with the Samsung sound bar and wondering how it would stack up  mainly in clarity.  I'd have no sidewalls for 10' in an open room plan but it would be a few inches from the back wall. 

Unknown. Very likely to sound better but impossible to predict. I think both the Musos sound superb for what they are. Good enough that the quality of the source material makes a significant difference. In a wide open space you won't get any bass reinforcement but there is a setting to enhance it. 

I use one of my Muso-QB in a very large open room, approx 20x10 metres (60x30') and I'm AMAZED at how it fills the space with quality music.

it is against a wall but open on both sides as it sits in a central position on the long wall.

Thanks for the input everyone, Harry, may I ask what the differences are (if any) in sound characteristics?

Mamy thanks

Happy to help if I can, albeit subjectively. What difference(s) in particular are you interested in?

Thanks, sound characteristic, i.e. Muso a lot more bass than Qb, as I find the Qb has ample, I don't like a heavy thumping bass. Does the Muso sound more open and detailed, or is it just in the bass? The other option is a Muso Qb for one room and a used Qute (with inexpensive) speakers for another room.

Many thanks for your help.

I have a MusoQB at home and my partner has a Muso. We were at my house over Christmas and came down to hers on Wednesday. Going to the Muso I did immediately notice an improvement in SQ - to use your terms - more open and detailed - certainly not booming bass - the bass is probably better controlled. Overall I would say the Muso has greater clarity and is more subtle than the QB. But of course apart from this being subjective, I am making a comparison between two different houses not even two different rooms.

Clive

The Muso certainly doesn't spray uncontrolled bass everywhere. The active amplification keeps it taunt and tuneful. To my ears the two main differences between the Muso and the QB are scale and stage. The Muso sounds bigger and can produce something approaching a facsimile of a sound stage. They both sound better louder, but the Muso has more substance if ticking over in the background. Weedy though the QB can sound back to back versus a Muso it is all relative. The little cube can pump it out and control it but the laws of Physics cannot be ignored. The Muso is worth it if you have the space to site it. They are both overpriced.

Thanks gents, Harry, I think you have possibly hit the nail on the head regarding my thinking. I am starting to enjoy the Qb, but I can't help feeling as though I should be adding to my budget and buying a used Qute2, as much as I love the "no wires" of the Qb, as well as the controls.

I am stupidly finding it a really tough decision to make as the Qb fits in the lounge in a perfect position. If I buy the Qb I will be thinking about the extra functionality and performance of the Qute, and if I buy the Qute, I will be thinking of the neatness of the Qb!! Doh.

Harry posted:

The Muso certainly doesn't spray uncontrolled bass everywhere. The active amplification keeps it taunt and tuneful. To my ears the two main differences between the Muso and the QB are scale and stage. The Muso sounds bigger and can produce something approaching a facsimile of a sound stage. They both sound better louder, but the Muso has more substance if ticking over in the background. Weedy though the QB can sound back to back versus a Muso it is all relative. The little cube can pump it out and control it but the laws of Physics cannot be ignored. The Muso is worth it if you have the space to site it. They are both overpriced.

Overpriced? At £649 the Qb is something of a bargain for what it does. To keep it in context it's the same price as two metres of SuperLumina speaker wire, or a third of the price of a din to din SL interconnect. Or the price of two 1.5m AQ Vodka ethernet wires. 

Kermit posted:

Thanks gents, Harry, I think you have possibly hit the nail on the head regarding my thinking. I am starting to enjoy the Qb, but I can't help feeling as though I should be adding to my budget and buying a used Qute2, as much as I love the "no wires" of the Qb, as well as the controls.

I am stupidly finding it a really tough decision to make as the Qb fits in the lounge in a perfect position. If I buy the Qb I will be thinking about the extra functionality and performance of the Qute, and if I buy the Qute, I will be thinking of the neatness of the Qb!! Doh.

The answer, clearly, is a Qute and some little speakers for the main room, and a Qb for the kitchen. Much as I like my Qb, it's never going to compete with a Qute and two speakers if you want room filling sound, rather than all the sound coming from one place. It's clever, but it can't work miracles. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Overpriced? 

Yes. 

They are the best soundbars I've ever heard which means that of course I'm going to cough up for one (or four) if I want a quality speaker of this type and I want the best. That's not an issue.

Nor does it detract from the fact that they are priced at a premium because they can be. Naim are very good at this. Observing it is not criticism. 

Harry posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Overpriced? 

Yes. 

They are the best soundbars I've ever heard which means that of course I'm going to cough up for one (or four) if I want a quality speaker of this type and I want the best. That's not an issue.

Nor does it detract from the fact that they are priced at a premium because they can be. Naim are very good at this. Observing it is not criticism. 

So does that mean that all Naim products are overpriced, or have thay somehow turned the law of diminishing returns on its head?!

I have to agree with Harry, perhaps not to the point of being overpriced, but to me personally they are right at the very limit (perhaps slightly over) of what I see as value for money. Saying that, they appeal to me due to no (apart from mains) no cables. I detest with a passion a large intrusive Hi Fi with lots of wires. Saying that I can get a Qute for less than the cost of a Muso, which is very appealing, and can see that being a safe bet with prices and maybe demand increasing?

Decisions, decisions!!

ChrisSU posted:

So does that mean that all Naim products are overpriced, 

I don't think so. You may think differently. It's a question with a different answer depending on who you ask.

I was already well enough catered for at 152 level and had no pressing need to listen to Naim. At 202/200 level and 282/250 level, Naim didn't represent good value for money to my ears. The opposite in fact. The 252/300 level doesn't represent a diminishing return because they don't sound like anything else in the range below them. They do music, not HiFi. I don't think anything else on the market gets close at the price level. The 552/500 doesn't represent a diminishing return on the 252/300 because it sounds nothing like them. A completely different listening experience.  Again, peerless at their price level as far as my ears are concerned, although I have heard some superb competition that just didn't do it for me. Not remotely. Same with the ND5, NDX and NDS. There is no Naim house sound. You don't get a bit more of it if you pay more money. You get something different.

Only in my subjective opinion of course. 

Exact the reason Harry that I have never had any desire to "climb" the Naim ladder, I just don't see the value for money in it, as good as I'm sure the 552/500 sound, the increase in sound would not be worth the outlay for me. I have always found the value at the bottom end, however, to me, the Qute2 has more value than the Muso/Qb.

It's all about what sound you want, and horses for courses. There's no way a QB or even Muso can compete with a fully-fledged hifi system giving something approaching realism, with, inter alia, full range sound and full soundstage etc etc - but of course they are never intended to compete with that. They are small, relatively cheap in the context of full hifi, if expensive in the context as superficially similar products on the retail market, and will provide music within the limits of their inevitably restricted capabilities. And quite simply if you like the sound and are happy to pay the money, then thay are for you.

I've heard the Muso, and was quite impressed considreing its size, and even considered buying for music apin another room - but I would be dissatisfied, and prefer to go to the music room to listen rather than compromise in other rooms, or if moving around the house I may play my system loud with the door open, while my wife is entirely happy to play a small £50 radio if she wants music whilst doing something in another room.

Kermit posted:

Exact the reason Harry that I have never had any desire to "climb" the Naim ladder, I just don't see the value for money in it, as good as I'm sure the 552/500 sound, the increase in sound would not be worth the outlay for me. I have always found the value at the bottom end, however, to me, the Qute2 has more value than the Muso/Qb.

Yeah. I can relate as I'm sure most of us can.

Long before we had Naim amps (202/200 and later 282/250 auditioned and rejected on the grounds of poor VFM), the 252/300 with a CDS3 was out dream, money no object  system. It never hurts to dream but we believed the cost would never be justified. By the time we were lucky enough to be able to have our dream amp combination, we had already heard the 552/500 and been left astounded - for the right reasons. "Oh" we thought, "so that's what our music is supposed to sound like". Great to experience and a treasure for the memory but not faintly realistic as an ownership proposition. I think this is the mark of a good system - if you can appreciate the virtues of what you have because it the best you can have at the price point, hearing better systems which are above your price point doesn't hurt. It's academic.