I am a big fan of the Atom HE. It may be as close as Naim gets to a “best value for money” product. If I compare it to the new 222, the 222 has a non-digitized analog input I don’t use, a phono input I have absolutely no use for, and a different volume control. As far as I can tell, the streamer module, DAC, and headphone amp are the same. In my neck of the woods the 222 costs exactly 3 times as much as the Atom HE – and takes up more space. If I compare it to the ND5XS2, it still costs significantly less, has the same streamer but adds a display, same DAC, adds a remote and a really good pre-amp and headphone amp. (And it still takes up less space!) It’s a very versatile piece of electronics: mine is permanently connected to my headphones, a TV, CD player, a power amp, and an active sub-woofer, and sounds very, very good!
Can anyone confirm if the HE can use the RCA input with AV fixed volume pass though like standard Atom?
Just checked this on my Atom HE and yes, it supports AV fixed volume on the analogue RCA input. It also sets the input sensitivity to automatic when enabled. I did not test it myself though, I just checked the option in the app to see it is there. See the screen shot below (in Dutch).
Interesting to read about the Atom being very susceptible to mains variations. I remember when I had my Atom a good few years ago it wrecked my head as I swore it sounded different every time I switched it on, I didn’t keep it long. I thought I was losing it but reading this maybe not!
And I can confirm that the AV fixed volume on the analogue RCA input works as expected (at least as expected by me): The volume to the front L/R speakers (the Acoustic Energy AE1 Active) is set by the volume control on my AV receiver and, in this mode, the Atom HE’s volume control has no effect.
Why you mean,cephas, that’s not possible to connect power amp to regular ATOM? I have it.
I ave it even biamp - tweeter section powered by ATOM and mid/bass section by power amplifier (EdgeA2-400XTZ)
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