New Mosaic User

Hi, as a happy newby to the dCS world (my APEX Bartók arrived today), I am finding the Mosaic app somewhat ‘clunky’ in comparison to the Naim/Roon apps that I am more used to. In particular, on the ‘global’ screen, I only need USB and Qobuz - none of the others (UPnP, TIDAL, Deezer, etc.) are needed and on the Naim app could be easily removed. Equally, one thing I like about Roon is that when you shuffle a playlist it displays the new ‘shuffled’ order, which Mosaic (nor Naim either, for that matter) doesn’t do. Any chance that these abilities could be incorporated in future versions? Otherwise - wow, what a fabulous piece of kit!

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Hi,

Congratulations. You can post pictures of your stereo in the dedicated thread, it is always nice to see some nice systems.

Mosaic is updated once or twice in year, there are no rules…It improves every time. But it will never be like Roon.
I use both Roon and Mosaic. Mosaic is way faster than Roon. So I start playing something with Mosaic, to have music playing while I take the time to explore something I want to listen to with Roon.
I also use Mosaic when I want putting the system in sleep mode, or changing some parameters, like filters, sometimes…

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I have no desire to have Mosaic be more like Roon (which I’m not a fan of at all - I only subscribed as it’s a ‘universal’ platform useful when exploring different digital options; I won’t be renewing). However, that doesn’t mean that Mosaic can’t learn from it. Before I moved to Naim, I had a Cambridge CXN and the Cambridge app also ‘shuffled’ the playlist, which I found really useful. Needless to say, Naim never took my suggestion on board either!

In order to be able to shuffle through a playlist, the control app needs to be database backed. This database runs on an external platform (like PC). Nor Mosaic, nor apparently the Naim app, have such a database.

Thanks for that, but I’m not sure that’s correct. As I said, the Cambridge Audio app (very similar to Naim/Mosaic) would shuffle the tracklist every time you hit the button, though that was using TIDAL (the CXN V1 didn’t accept Qobuz, but I don’t know whether that is significant or not). And, after all, it already has the database of track names or it couldn’t either play or shuffle them in the first place and, of course, you can scroll through your entire library on the app at will. I was merely raising the possibility of the playlist reflecting the play order.

A genuine advantage of Mosaic over most other control apps is that it does not lose or delete the play queue if the user switches to another source - whether a TOSlink/SPDIF input or internet radio - so the user can switch sources easily and pick up where they left off. That’s how it has been on my Lina 2.0 anyway.

It is possible to edit and move items in the play queue, like other apps, and Mosaic works seamlessly for that feature.

That hi-res internet radio stations have been added via Airable on Mosaic is another bonus compared with the Mosaic release of just a couple of years ago.

I agree with the OP that it would be useful to be able edit out the unused inputs.