Return of the Mu-so

N aim Audio isn’t as odd as it once was; its jokey arrogance has largely subsided, and it answers, to at least some extent, to its holding company masters across the Channel, VerVent Audio Group, also owners of Focal. But this hasn’t stopped it delivering both high-level product like the Statement (see page 36) or projects which combine the skills of the two VerVent companies, as does this Mu-so wireless speaker, which benefits from an injection of Focal’s design flair and driver nous. The first Mu-so somehow maintained Naim’s emphasis on audio excellence while shifting into this potentially populace-pleasing product area; reviewers loved it (it won a Sound+Image award), and it proved highly successful with consumers. A smaller near-cubic Mu-so ‘Qb’ also followed. And now, five years on from the original Mu-so, comes the Mu-so Generation 2. So what’s changed, what’s the same?

Equipment

To recap, the Mu-so is a wireless speaker, with many ways to serve your preferred music to it. Naim’s own app enables UPnP network streaming via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, also Apple’s AirPlay 2, Google’s Chromecast, Bluetooth: all these are included,