Naim Mu-so Gen 2 hifi / soundbar

Markee

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Hi all,

I was looking to buy an Apple HomePod but after comparing with a Naim Muso Qb I concluded the Naim was head and shoulders above the HomePod (both in sound quality and cost!).

Anyway, so I got to thinking that maybe the Muso Gen 2 is a better bet as it also has a HDMI ARC connection (which the Qb doesn’t) so can be used as a soundbar and hifi streamer in one.

Is anyone using the Muso in this configuration? What do you think? I don’t think there’s any question over it’s ability to fill a room with hifi sound, but how does it perform as a soundbar?

Edit: My current music / soundbar solution is a Sonos Beam and 2x Sonos Ones setup as a stereo pair.

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I have had a Muso 2 in that configuration For about 4 months.

I absolutely love the sound (especially with Qobuz).

Regarding the soundbar side of it; we have nothing really to compare it to as previously we had an old Sony soundbase. It is lightyears ahead of that obviously. It's a lovely full sound, very functional with the arc and I'm really glad we went for it. it doesn't support Dolby dts etc., so you have to configure your Tv to simple left and right stereo. That doesn't bother me. It's probable the sonos may sound more expansive because of that, but it is certainly expansive enough for our needs.

It also looks really nice!

We have a qb in the kitchen and having multiroom works really well.

We did have a few connectivity issues with our BT “smarthub 2” which I'm hoping I've resolved.

All in all, we love it.

let me know if you want a photo to show scale etc.
 
Hi,

I have had a Muso 2 in that configuration For about 4 months.

I absolutely love the sound (especially with Qobuz).

Regarding the soundbar side of it; we have nothing really to compare it to as previously we had an old Sony soundbase. It is lightyears ahead of that obviously. It's a lovely full sound, very functional with the arc and I'm really glad we went for it. it doesn't support Dolby dts etc., so you have to configure your Tv to simple left and right stereo. That doesn't bother me. It's probable the sonos may sound more expansive because of that, but it is certainly expansive enough for our needs.

It also looks really nice!

We have a qb in the kitchen and having multiroom works really well.

We did have a few connectivity issues with our BT “smarthub 2” which I'm hoping I've resolved.

All in all, we love it.

let me know if you want a photo to show scale etc.
That’s great, thanks for taking the time to reply.
 
Hi,

I have had a Muso 2 in that configuration For about 4 months.

I absolutely love the sound (especially with Qobuz).

Regarding the soundbar side of it; we have nothing really to compare it to as previously we had an old Sony soundbase. It is lightyears ahead of that obviously. It's a lovely full sound, very functional with the arc and I'm really glad we went for it. it doesn't support Dolby dts etc., so you have to configure your Tv to simple left and right stereo. That doesn't bother me. It's probable the sonos may sound more expansive because of that, but it is certainly expansive enough for our needs.

It also looks really nice!

We have a qb in the kitchen and having multiroom works really well.

We did have a few connectivity issues with our BT “smarthub 2” which I'm hoping I've resolved.

All in all, we love it.

let me know if you want a photo to show scale etc.
Also planning on getting one of these this week. I'd love to see a pic to show scale etc. I'll also have it hooked up permanently under my 40" TV. Funnily enough it will also be replacing an old Sony Soundbase (HT-XT1) Thanks
 
This is under our 65“ Sony. Hope that helps.
 

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Well I set up my new Muso 2 today, hooked up to my TV. In the limited time I've played around with it; so far I'm impressed with its performance as a soundbar, as well as for music. Even at low volumes dialogue is pretty clear and focused, whilst still retaining a bass presence which doesn't dominate. I think it might be a keeper.

Only found one issue so far. I'm using a Logitech Harmony remote control, and for some reason I need to hold the volume button down for a second or two in order to change the volume level. With my previous Sony soundbase, I could just press and release the remote's volume button to alter the level. If anyone has the solution (if there is one!) I'd be pleased to hear it
 
Hi,

I have had a Muso 2 in that configuration For about 4 months.

I absolutely love the sound (especially with Qobuz).

Regarding the soundbar side of it; we have nothing really to compare it to as previously we had an old Sony soundbase. It is lightyears ahead of that obviously. It's a lovely full sound, very functional with the arc and I'm really glad we went for it. it doesn't support Dolby dts etc., so you have to configure your Tv to simple left and right stereo. That doesn't bother me. It's probable the sonos may sound more expansive because of that, but it is certainly expansive enough for our needs.

It also looks really nice!

We have a qb in the kitchen and having multiroom works really well.

We did have a few connectivity issues with our BT “smarthub 2” which I'm hoping I've resolved.

All in all, we love it.

let me know if you want a photo to show scale etc.

Hi there @Southernjock I’m pondering the Naim MuSo 2 and also have a BT Smart Hub 2. Can you please outline the connectivity issues you experienced and resolution that fixed it? I’ve just returned some Technics Ottava speakers because they wouldn’t stay connected to the Smart Hub 2, so neither Airplay nor the Technics Audio app could find them. I tried everything with the router, dual band, switching off either 2.4 or 5 GHz frequencies. Nothing worked.

My primary use case is streaming Apple Music via Airplay. And internet radio.

I could theoretically connect the speaker via Ethernet of course which I presume would address the connectivity issues.

Interested in your experience though. Cheers.
 
Hi there @Southernjock I’m pondering the Naim MuSo 2 and also have a BT Smart Hub 2. Can you please outline the connectivity issues you experienced and resolution that fixed it? I’ve just returned some Technics Ottava speakers because they wouldn’t stay connected to the Smart Hub 2, so neither Airplay nor the Technics Audio app could find them. I tried everything with the router, dual band, switching off either 2.4 or 5 GHz frequencies. Nothing worked.

My primary use case is streaming Apple Music via Airplay. And internet radio.

I could theoretically connect the speaker via Ethernet of course which I presume would address the connectivity issues.

Interested in your experience though. Cheers.
Good morning,

I'm not overly knowledgeable in techie stuff tbh., but here is my experience.
I started with a Muso Qb (2nd generation) last July. Connected via wifi to the smart hub 2. The radio has always been fine and never disconnected. At that time I was using Apple music connected via airplay. That would just disappear sometimes during playback (like your technics experience by the sounds of it). Couldn't really get to the bottom of it tbh.I tried everything like you did. Support from naim could not find anything wrong with the Qb2. Also at that time I tried the free trial of Tidal and thought the sound was a lot better than apple. Used that for the free 3 months and played that via the naim app with no problems at all. (Not airplay but wifi direct from the naim app)
On the back of that, I bought a Muso 2 for the lounge In October. I have that wired (live in a new build house with a socket).
I noticed from that occasionally the naim app would not see the Qb2. I tried various things. I had the 5 Ghz switched off for a while. That worked, but slowed down my other stuff. So I switched it back on but switched off the automatic channel switching. For a good few months I had 2Ghz on ch6 and the 5Ghz on 36. I thought I had solved it as it was fine for months and months.
Then a few weeks ago, I had the same problems again with the qb2 (on wifi) disappearing. This would appear to be a bug in my smart hub 2 software which was updated in mid April:



Until BT update my firmware, if the issues carry on, I may try disabling the 2Ghz band (All worked fine last night as I noticed all my devices happened to be connected to the 5Ghz band)

Sorry for the long post. To summarise:
My Muso in the lounge is wired and I haven't had any issues with that whatsoever.

I think it's the router that has caused the problems with my app not connecting to the Qb2.

I am now signed up with Qobuz. I can't really comment on airplay much as I normally use it via the naim app, but did try it via airplay on the qb2 one night last week (using qobuz app) and it worked fine.

Despite these issues, I really like both units. Hopefully BT will sort out a new firmware update asap.

Any other questions feel free to ask and I'll try and answer.
atb
 
Good morning,

I'm not overly knowledgeable in techie stuff tbh., but here is my experience.
I started with a Muso Qb (2nd generation) last July. Connected via wifi to the smart hub 2. The radio has always been fine and never disconnected. At that time I was using Apple music connected via airplay. That would just disappear sometimes during playback (like your technics experience by the sounds of it). Couldn't really get to the bottom of it tbh.I tried everything like you did. Support from naim could not find anything wrong with the Qb2. Also at that time I tried the free trial of Tidal and thought the sound was a lot better than apple. Used that for the free 3 months and played that via the naim app with no problems at all. (Not airplay but wifi direct from the naim app)
On the back of that, I bought a Muso 2 for the lounge In October. I have that wired (live in a new build house with a socket).
I noticed from that occasionally the naim app would not see the Qb2. I tried various things. I had the 5 Ghz switched off for a while. That worked, but slowed down my other stuff. So I switched it back on but switched off the automatic channel switching. For a good few months I had 2Ghz on ch6 and the 5Ghz on 36. I thought I had solved it as it was fine for months and months.
Then a few weeks ago, I had the same problems again with the qb2 (on wifi) disappearing. This would appear to be a bug in my smart hub 2 software which was updated in mid April:



Until BT update my firmware, if the issues carry on, I may try disabling the 2Ghz band (All worked fine last night as I noticed all my devices happened to be connected to the 5Ghz band)

Sorry for the long post. To summarise:
My Muso in the lounge is wired and I haven't had any issues with that whatsoever.

I think it's the router that has caused the problems with my app not connecting to the Qb2.

I am now signed up with Qobuz. I can't really comment on airplay much as I normally use it via the naim app, but did try it via airplay on the qb2 one night last week (using qobuz app) and it worked fine.

Despite these issues, I really like both units. Hopefully BT will sort out a new firmware update asap.

Any other questions feel free to ask and I'll try and answer.
atb

That’s really useful feedback, thank you. It does indeed seem that the Smart Hub 2 firmware requires an update to handle the dual band working. I read a lot about that on the Naim forums. I currently have mine only using 5 GHz and everything works fine. I’ve decided to obsolete any devices that only use 2.4 GHz :)

I would likely hardwire the MuSo 2 if I go for it, as I can locate it close enough to the router to do so without any hassle.
 
So I've now bought and set up my Mu-So 2, hardwired to the BT SmartHub 2 router. Loving it so far for music listening, it really is excellent. Now pondering connecting it to my LG E9 TV via HDMI as a soundbar but there is no room underneath the TV so the Mu-So is on a cabinet to the side of it. Which means none of my HDMI cables will stretch far enough and if they did, I think having the sound coming from a different direction would be a a little off-putting. So either a reshuffle or longer HDMI cable is now required. Or both. I'm actually very happy with the sound from my TV as it has decent integral speakers but I do want to try the MuSo (accepting that it's stereo mode only) to see if it makes a difference.

How does the Mu-So 2 perform in terms of voice clarity and lip sync when watching T? This is always a bug bear of mine when using external speakers with a TV. And one of the reasons I usually buy TVs with better internal speakers.

I have Sky Q, Apple TV and Xbox connected into the TV as sources.
 
I have had no issues at all with lip sync.
I use an old Humax freesat hd box And that works fine for us. Also Apple 4k tv for films and other streaming etc. And again, no issues at all. Voice clarity is also absolutely fine. No issues at all.
There is a lip sync adjustment slider bar within the naim app. I've never needed to adjust mine, but it's there.
We had the same problem as you regarding location; hence we went for the wall mounted TV route with the muso on a unit underneath.
I think if you can find a way to try it, you would find a positive difference to your integral speakers. I really enjoy the sound via the arc on our Muso.
 
I have had no issues at all with lip sync.
I use an old Humax freesat hd box And that works fine for us. Also Apple 4k tv for films and other streaming etc. And again, no issues at all. Voice clarity is also absolutely fine. No issues at all.
There is a lip sync adjustment slider bar within the naim app. I've never needed to adjust mine, but it's there.
We had the same problem as you regarding location; hence we went for the wall mounted TV route with the muso on a unit underneath.
I think if you can find a way to try it, you would find a positive difference to your integral speakers. I really enjoy the sound via the arc on our Muso.

So I connected the MuSo 2 to the TV over the weekend. It’s on a shelving unit to the side of the TV as there is nowhere else we can currently put it and that was the best location for it for music listening. Anyway, one longer HDMI cable and it’s up and running with the TV. So far, very impressed. Vocal clarity is great, no lip sync issues, the additional oomph for movies is wonderful, and the MuSo being to the side of the TV is not a problem. I thought it might be. Will be keeping it in this configuration.
 
I am also considering offloading a 2ch setup for a Mu So 2 and hesitating as many on this thread have done. The main reason for a change is that my TV is limited to 43 inches with the speakers, whereas if I went for something like a Mu So then the space afforded by not having the speakers would allow for a bigger TV.

So, pros and cons.

One question I did have is about Internet Radio. I listen to Radio Paradise a lot, historically through TuneIn which is now not possible. Does the Internet Radio on the Mu So allow you to listen to RP natively or would I need to stream from my phone via Bluetooth?

My other option is a Ruark R5 - again, looks quality.

Thank you,
 
Yes, the Muso 2 allows you to play internet radio natively. It's controlled through the app, but doesn't stream via it.
 

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