That indeed did the trick! The volume change activated the NAP.
Thanks a bunch for explaining, as I followed the manual’s instructions but that didn’t do the trick. The volume change was the last bit to succeed it seems.
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Indeed, I’ve never had a DAC sound so natural. It led to me parting company with my LPs and TT. No point anymore. It’s perfect with the N50.
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The first Naim unit I bought was atom HE. It was pair with just proaudio amplifier. I like the Naim sound and I start getting Naim unit eversince. After much consideration, I traded HE to 222 and to me it is very significant jump. It is just another level.I won’t go back. Then I got 250, it is even better. I am sold on Naim sound. Then, I traded my 222/250 to 333/332/350, big improvement, It is also up to another level. The music is just musical and lively, The sound has distinct shape and floating in space. It is also very quiet, detail is there even with low volume. Just happy with the sound and enjoy music. If you have the fund to spend just go with 222/250 first. I was happy with it I could have stopped there. Just want to share my experience. Btw, I just bought Uniti Atom for my second system with bookshelf speaker using NACA5 speaker cable, Very practical system with descent sound for background music.
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I bought an Atom HE as an alternative to my Astell & Kern, Hugo, headphone setup just before Christmas. Shingles on my head means headphones are out for a while so I connected it to a pair of active PSB AM5 speakers which produces an excellent sound in my study. Rhythmic, revealing, good bass depth given the speakers. If you want a simple realistically priced single box this is a definite consideration
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My experience is that the VERY best DAC was an Audio Note 1.1 signature… think that’s right!
If I get a chance to purchase another AN DAC I will but I won’t pay what I sold my one for… the AN DAC’s sound incredible and I still wish I hadn’t sold mine on as it sounded so amazing; was a good idea at the time… oops!
I sold it for a bit of a bargain but I’d buy it back in a heartbeat!
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That has absolutely nothing to do with my question Atom HE vs 222.
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Indeed it is. I bought a new one a couple of months back. Used as a line level source, or as a pre, it offers superb performance. Amd not just ‘for the money’. I tried this against some much more costly streamer/DACs (Bricasti M3, Moon 390, Auralic Altair G2.1 and others) and I preferred the Atom HE. Many might dismiss the HE as it’s a headphone amp and ‘can’t possibly be as good as my £5k streamer.’ Well, it just is (in many cases).
I currently use it as a Streamer/Dac/pre in to a Moon 330a (I tried an NC250, but wasn’t impressed, given its cost). I have my SACD player connected to the analogue in and the ADC seems transparent to me. Excellent remote or app control.
It seems to me that the HE is the star value pergormer in the Naim range. Unless a very expensive upgrade path is envisaged then this may well be all the Streamer/DAC/pre you’ll ever need.
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To me it is better than PS Audio directstream mark 1.sound.
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I think Naim dropped the ball somewhat by not including a 12V trigger on the HE. I would think that far more amps are set up for a trigger input than have signal sensing. I did have my HE driving a Moon 330A for a while, but I got tired of having to switch the Moon on/off manually and of course keeping the Moon in a place where I could easily reach its switch. The HE is now relegated to headphone-only duties in another room, while a Benchmark DAC3 HGC drives the Moon, while a regular Atom takes care of streaming duties.
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Unfortunately, in the end, I didn’t get on with the HE into active ATC’s
I know everyone is going to say I didn’t compare it properly and I’m ok with that but my view, I believe, is still valid…. I preferred my XS3’s sound into passive ATC’s compared to the HE into actives
For those that are interested, and still reading, I found the HE too smooth sounding… I missed the attack and musicality of the XS3
The actives are £5k the HE £2k so £7k…my passive ATC’s were £2.5k and XS3 just over £1k (used but brand new!) so that’s £3.5k…basically half the price…. I was expecting great things from the HE & actives but it didn’t work for me
I’m not discounting the HE for anybody but I would certainly consider a Nait (XS2, XS3, SN2, SN3) and a separate streamer before you decide on the HE
I didn’t think the streamer in the HE sounded any better than my very modest MXN10…
If you are looking for a headphone amp only then I’m sure the HE is good but not as a streamer/pre amp into active speakers
I know I’m going to get a lot of flack but hey it’s a forum so what else can I expect a?
I’m just giving my impression for what it’s worth…which is probably not a lot … but just the truth of what I heard… so be kind… as I have been 
Unfortunately I cannot comment on the 222 as I haven’t heard one but it retails for £6k against HE @ £2k so I’m hoping the 222 would sound somewhat better
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Have you tried any streamers so far HNC?
You definitely didn’t give it enough time in my opinion and I for one found the whole experience rather bizarre. Giving advice on the HE when you demoed it for such a short time is a bit of a reach.
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Are you purposely trying to mislead people? You’ve been called out for saying this numerous times and continue to repeat it. You didn’t compare one streamer to the other. You compared the HE into active speakers versus the MXN10 within a passive system. So many factors were different in both systems.
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How many times still will we have to read the same post. Is it a Groundhog Day?
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Like I said I expected flack… luckily I don’t care
I know what I preferred. I gave both systems plenty of time to ‘impress’ me and ended up with what myself and my partner enjoyed the most
If what I ended up with doesn’t suit people on here that’s fine… I know what a good setup sounds like after 30+ years of listening to my music via various systems
I’ve only got to please myself and my partner music wise and not people on this forum
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I think your post very clearly qualified your advice.
It’s fine to report what you experienced and we all like different things; it would be a dull world if we all thought the same.
But it’s not fine to state opinion as fact and to make sweeping generalisations, both of which you do here:
“If you are looking for a headphone amp only then I’m sure the HE is good but not as a streamer/pre amp into active speakers”
My system with an HE and active PMCs is truly excellent and to me far better than the same speakers driven passively with a Nova, a system that is actually a few £s hundred more expensive.
So let’s keep things balanced, and do bear in mind that this thread is about comparing an HE and a 222, nothing whatsoever to do with your comparison of the HE against the Cambridge and the Nait XS3.
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Here are a couple of post from Steve Sells on this very question:
For me 222 (+300) sounds very vinyl like in my set up which I happen to like but for £9,100 less the Atom HE is great vfm as are other streaming pre-amps - I took a slightly different route with my second system .
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I want to clarify something because the discussion keeps drifting away from my original question. I said it once above and I’ll explain it again…
I wasn’t asking for a comparison between the XS3 and the Atom HE. Those are completely different products. One is an integrated amplifier, the other a streamer/DAC/preamp. My question was specifically about Naim NSC 222 vs Atom HE.
You didn’t actually compare the 222 and the HE, and the setup you described introduces too many variables to draw meaningful conclusions about the HE itself.
For example, if you had run the Atom HE into the power amp section of the XS3 (using the XS3 purely as an amplifier), that would have isolated the HE much better as a streamer/preamp. It also would have created a fairer basis to compare actives vs passives. But that’s not what happened.
In your active vs passive ATC comparison, several major elements changed at the same time:
1. Two different amplifier sections, the ATC active amps vs the XS3’s amp
2. Two different streamers, the Atom vs your own streamer
3. Different crossover designs and internal filtering in the active vs passive ATCs
With that many changes in the chain, it’s impossible to attribute the result to the Atom HE’s performance as a pre/streamer.
What’s much more likely is that you simply prefer the XS3 amplifier section over the ATC active amplification and the voicing and crossover of the passive SCM40s over the active version
Naim power amps have a very recognizable sense of attack and drive that many people find addictive, and that presentation is quite different from the cleaner, more neutral character of the ATC active amps.
So your comparison doesn’t really help answer the HE vs 222 question. If you haven’t directly compared those two, I’d prefer to keep this thread focused on input from people who actually have, so we don’t keep getting sidetracked.
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Ok I’ll add… “In my view” to everything I’ve written..
But, of course, everyone that comments on here it’s only their opinion so maybe everyone should add “In my view” to what they write too just to make it fair all round
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