I kind of feel that Naim engineers must have thought that too when they designed it. The fact that the Qb just received a significant refresh in its 2nd Generation guise makes me think there must be Trekkies at Naim.
The thing that set apart the Qb in the market to begin with wasn’t just its form factor though, it was its ‘hi-fi in a box’ sound that defied it being so small, and well, boxy. I heard it several times at shows and in bricks-and-mortar shops and was always impressed because it managed to pull off bold sound with color and texture, ran 300 watts without seeming to break a sweat and retailed for south of $1k. The new model comes in at $899 USD, features all-new drivers developed in conjunction with Focal engineers and a new, “10-times-more-powerful” DSP chipset which means more long term bang-for-buck for those looking to get solid sound through multiple digital sources (up to 32bit/384kHz) from a piece of gear with a very small footprint.
With what Naim is describing as “an enhanced feature set,” the Qb now packs in AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Roon-Ready certification, multi-room sync-ability, digital and analog inputs, a sweet handset remote, killer touch-control on the future-fi sensor-equipped top surface of the unit, digital room compensation, full TIDAL, Chromecast and Spotify support along (Deezer, Qobuz, Plex, TuneIn, SoundCloud and Pandora app support also built-in) with Internet radio and good old UPnP for easy communication with other sources. Naim’s proprietary application runs set-up and everything else you need. Available from Naim now. More information HERE.
Press release highlights below
Mu-so Qb gains the new 2nd Generation illuminated volume dial, complete with a full control array and a proximity sensor: it lights up in welcome as your hand approaches it. Easily access key playback controls, your favourite playlists and radio stations, Spotify resume, multiroom functionality and more from this tactile new interface. Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation can also be controlled via the updated Naim app and – by popular customer demand – a new remote control handset.
Available in the same burnished grey aluminum chassis and with the same upgraded speaker grille design as its Mu-so big brother, Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation is the perfect visual as well as sonic match. It can also be customised with optional replacement grilles in the same Olive, Terracotta or Peacock colorways.
Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation’s compact dimensions pack in 300 Watts of music power, served up to all-new speaker drivers – optimized in conjunction with Focal, the acoustic specialist celebrating its 40th anniversary, and Naim’s VerVent Audio associate. Like the bigger Mu-so 2nd Generation, the Qb now has an upgraded ‘brain’, too: a DSP with more than 10 times extra processing power for even greater musical accuracy.
Stream your music in high-resolution quality (Qb can handle files up to 32bit/384kHz) via UPnPTM, or browse millions of songs through AirPlay 2 (including Apple Music), Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Chromecast built-in and Internet radio. Upgraded Wi-Fi connectivity promises a slicker streaming experience, while Ethernet remains an option if you prefer things hard-wired. You can also connect devices wirelessly via Bluetooth. Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation’s USB input, meanwhile, supports music playback from USB drives, while its optical input means you can easily connect your TV and experience enhanced sound quality from your favorite television programs, films and games.
Link to Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation HERE
Author: Rafe Arnott
Publish Date: Aug 13 2019
Source: Audio Stream
]]>Record stores have a ‘New Releases’ section clearly marked, so finding the latest music was a no-brainer. You walked in and looked around.
Then the Internet exploded with Napster and we did our music shopping in a very different way; virtually flipping through LPs we wanted on other people’s hard drives.
But has it gotten easier since streaming audio online and high-res downloads started their inertial creep several years ago – when sound cards in our laptops or PCs were still dictating what we could listen to off our slowly-spinning hard drives – or is it more confusing?
Where do we find a place to browse new albums or releases online? There’s HD Tracks, Acoustic Sounds, and Chandos (to name but a few popular ones) for those still down to download.
But what about when it comes to streaming services?
There are music or audiophile-centric websites who have hifi cognoscenti curate their new-music picks to turn readers on to what they could be tuning into, but this (as with all things personality/taste defined) is not always ideal and can be hit-or-miss.
So, back to streaming services and their millions of offerings online… but for some this question has an obvious answer: it’s just a matter of navigating a menu system when using TIDAL or Qobuz (or other online services) or if you’re looking for an immersive experience, Roon, via drop-downs or buttons for browsing new releases. But, for many self-professed audiophiles or music lovers this can be confusing at best and frustrating beyond belief at worst. So, what to do?
To help some readers, friends and family who’ve expressed a desire for a bit of help plotting a course to new music on TIDAL and Qobuz, I’ve put together a very simple (I hope) step-by-step guide to doing so in both Mac desktop applications and Roon.
Let’s start with TIDAL. In the TIDAL app, start by making sure you are logged in and in your home directory – click on the HOME button on the left-hand menu bar. This will bring up a page that looks like this:
From there, scroll down until you see the ’New’ music button, highlighted in this screen shot:
Click it and you will be taken to this screen which shows ‘New Albums”
Slide your mouse over to the right and click ‘View All’ to see what TIDAL has got that’s fresh. From there you can start your journey into sampling everything that’s come out starting at the top with the latest and descending back through time. That’s it. Enjoy.
If you’re looking to browse TIDAL Masters (MQA) titles, simply go to the Home screen and scroll down the main window until you see the ‘Master Quality Audio Albums’ section to access these titles (if you’re paying for the MASTERS tier of TIDAL that it) as in this screen shot:
Qobuz users have it even easier as their UI (User Interface) has the ‘New releases’ button directly on the left side of the home page once you’re logged in. It looks like this:
Click on it and you’ll be taken to this screen, slide your mouse over to the right and click ‘View all new releases’
You will then be taken to this page where you can view all genres available as new releases, or click on the ‘Select one or more genres’ button to open this drop-down menu to choose your genre of choice.
That’s it, you can now search and listen to your heart’s content to all the new music available through Qobuz in PCM format up to 24-bit/192kHz.
If you’re using Roon to manage/curate either your TIDAL or Qobuz streaming music libraries (or both) then your home page looks similar to the image below. Go to the top left side of the UI and click on the three little horizontal bars icon as shown in this screen shot:
It will open a large drop down menu, from there click on either Qobuz or TIDAL as seen here:
This will open either application within the Roon ecosystem and both have clearly marked new music buttons. When Qobuz opens it’s on the top left and labeled ‘New Releases’ as seen here:
When TIDAL springs to life it’s open default is to the ‘What’s New’ tab and on the right you can toggle between ‘New,’ ‘Recommended,’ ‘Top 20,’ and ‘Masters.’
From these points you explore both services’ offerings basically as you would within each respective application.
I hope this little new music primer has been helpful. Happy listening!
Author: Rafe Arnott
Publish Date: July 4th 2019
Source: Audio Stream
]]>