Hi All, looking to replace a Naim MuSo QB and going around in circles. B&W, Ruark, Phantom, B&O and now Meridian. I need a smallish one box or speaker solution in a mid-size office. Ideally, and obviously, Roon compatible. I was thinking of a single Phantom II until I saw the Meridian Ellipse and now I’m not sure. I know I need to listen to all these ideally but that’s not always straightforward and I would love to narrow the field first. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Why do you want to replace the Mu-so, what do you want to improve? Do you want to keep the small form factor or grow?
I love the MuSo but it has become impossible to use with AirPlay. I’ve updated and rebooted everything but playing from my iPhone no longer works. I’m reduced to listening to radio which doesn’t really inspire me. Also it is quite old now!
I don’t want more than one box and ideally I would like the best sound possible in a small footprint. Looking good would be a bonus.
Is a QB2 an option?
Hi Andy,
Possibly but still quite old and I believe Naim have stopped making them. I haven’t heard anything about a possible 3rd generation.
Not sure about production but it’s still on the Naim website. The advantage of the Mu-so v2 is that it is Roon Ready so you’d get rid of AirPlay.
With AirPlay, there has been an issue with Roon and the Mu-so v1 after Roon added AirPlay 2 support a year or so ago. Normally, AirPlay 2 should automatically work with AirPlay 1, which is all that the Mu-so v1 supports, but somehow this doesn’t work with the Mu-so. There is a workaround though:
- Enable compatibility mode in Roon for the Mu-so AirPlay.
- Add the Mu-so as a speaker output in the Apple Home app.
This should make it work. There might still be multiroom sync issues, not sure about that. But maybe this doesn’t matter to you, anyway
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As an user from three Roon endpoints from Naim, I can say: rock stable implementation and further support.
Mu-so V2 has in compare to the V1 version much better WLAN and you get it currently for real small price.
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If a QB2 does what you need now, I wouldn’t fret about a future QB3…
Naim aren’t usually in a hurry to ‘update’ hardware. It could be quite a long wait.
For sure, try what @Suedkiez wrote down above – it will likely solve the Airplay issue. That said – the Ellipse offers a lot more audio compared to the QB.
And yes – I have listened to them side by side:
Thanks Rene. I think you may have talked me into it!
The “2” versions were after the Focal integration and use Focal drivers. They really are very good and, at the Mu-So, I found to be a very nice upgrade. I’ve not looked at anything in this space in a long time but… I think this is one of those areas where if it not broke then don’t fix it. The Mu-So 2’s might just be that good to last this long. I’d check the Naim forum to identify if there are any lingering issues.
Of course… new is new… they certainly are not a new product.