WIRELESS SPEAKERS
Versatile, talented and boasting great sound, these devices are perfect whether you’re out and about or listening at home
Naim Mu-so Qb 2 £749
For a product to have made it to the top table of our Awards, you can be sure a lot of work has gone into making it. We can thank the hi-fi engineers for that, those backroom boys toiling away in the lab, constantly improving their products to serve a rapidly evolving market.
In the case of Naim’s engineering team, not only did they bring us the excellent Mu-so and its 2nd-generation follow-up, they also created its cubeshaped descendant, the Mu-so Qb, which, in due course, spawned the phenomenal Qb 2 that we see here.
First you are lured in by the unit’s asymmetrical curves, then you’re wooed by that gorgeous rotary volume dial with touch-screen controls in its centre. But it’s what happens underneath that makes this speaker so exceptional. A three-way stereo speaker combination with midrange and bass drive units is powered by 300W of amplification. The single bass driver fires directly forwards, while a pair of tweeters and midrange drivers are angled outwards for wider dispersion.
Inside is Naim’s premium streaming platform, also found in the secondgeneration Uniti products and the £20,000 flagship ND 555, with streaming options courtesy of Chromecast, Apple Airplay2, Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Roon Ready, internet radio and Tidal.
You’ll also be able to access files up to 32-bit/384khz on your home network via the Naim app. Here you can build a high-end multi-room system of up to five Naim streaming products, all controlled by one device. Want to add your Mu-so Qb 2 to an existing Apple or Google multi-room ecosystem? Simple.
Sonically, treble response is lively and open, truly sparkling after a little running in to match the richness of tone evident throughout the rest of the frequency range. The overall presentation is muscular but agile. There’s plenty of bass weight and precise low-end punch too.
The Qb 2 operates with a mantra of openness. There’s an airiness to the soundstage, those angled drivers doing well to disperse sound. It also displays first-rate timing and dynamic range; it doesn’t simply keep up, it thrives on snappy rhythmic patterns, issuing a sprightly performance anchored by its impressive scale in the low frequencies.
It can bare its teeth when necessary too, snarling as it attacks distorted guitar lines, but also has a gentler, more caring side when the noise quells to a whisper.
It is well equipped to bring that kind of hi-fi sensibility and analysis to one-box wireless listening, and we can think of few combinations of separates able to both better the sound and match or undercut the price. This is one-box wireless listening par excellence, and once again a worthy Product of the Year in its category.