Naim has announced that the forthcoming and now hyphenated Mu-so wireless music system will feature Spotify Connect. This allows Premium Spotify subscribers to select from the service’s enviable catalogue and have content sent directly to Connect enabled devices. An approach which avoids the sonic and battery life drawbacks of streaming from a mobile device and leaves it free to be used in other ways. Naim has yet to name a launch date for Mu-so (£895) but says it will be in stores including John Lewis and Apple this Autumn. They have confirmed that the player will be supplied with a black grille and that optional Deep Blue, Burnt Orange and Vibrant Red grilles will be available for £70 later this year.
Cambridge has a software update that adds Spotify Connect to its top standalone network streamer the Stream Magic 6 V2 (£699). It cites the benefits above alongside no longer having to rely on line of sight connection between phone/tablet and the wireless device.
Spotify is clearly the Premium music streaming platform of choice yet it lags considerably behind YouTube in terms of popularity. I wonder how long it will take before serious audio companies catch up with the likes of Pioneer and start offering Miracast, which enables you to send YouTube content to a device. That device usually has a screen attached true but so does the phone or tablet that’s sending the content. What we ultimately need of course is YouTube Connect.