Thanks David. I thought they only did CDs for some reason. As you say, it’s nicely presented and for the one album I checked they are a few pence cheaper than Qobuz.
I am probably not best qualified to advise as I am unfamiliar with the SuperUniti. I have however heard the Nova, paired with Kudos 505 speakers at the Bristol Show a few years ago. Dispute the crappy hotel room, I was mightily impressed, very impressive.
I think you will need to home demo the Nova and make your own mind up. If you do, you could take out a one month subscription with Qobuz to evaluate it against Tidal with your SuperUniti. I am not sure the addition of BubbleUPnP is a game changer with Tidal but I am impressed with native Qobuz, especially the 24 bit catalogue.
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Very much agree Aoxomoxoa - I have the legacy Sublime subscription which costs me £159 per annum which i think is discounted as an early subscriber.
I buy a fair bit from them - either new HD releases of older content with a decent discount when I often never had the title on CD, or use streaming to trial new items before purchasing or adding to a Favourites list for occasional use if I’d not buy it.
Just a query as their pricing has changed over time, are you suggesting Sublime+ is available monthly now for an extra £5 over Spotify vs annual alternatives with the HD purchase discount?
I have Qobuz and Tidal (not to mention Apple Music), should probably ditch Tidal as it sees limited use.
I prefer Qobuz, but you really need to trial the services to get a feel for their content selection which may be as if not more important than sound quality. You can also buy downloads from Tidal though I’ve never done so.
Hardware compatibility is not insurmountable but may require workarounds.
No. Sublime+ is £249, payable annually. The Studio Premier is £14.99 a month or £149 annually. I used to have the legacy Sublime but then you could only stream HD tracks that you’d purchased. I imagine you don’t have that restriction now.
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I’ve bought/downloaded a couple of releases from Tidal (it was the easiest way for me to get the missing interlude tracks off Tool’s Fear Innoculum), but I buy most of my hires music from Bandcamp or Bleep.
I guess it’ll depend on where your musical tastes lie…
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No, I can still only stream non-purchased in CD quality but I’m fairly happy with that.
Prior to new streamer Qobuz support I found chromecast dire via the Qobuz app so didn’t really fancy the extra cost - the gap has narrowed now, it may well be worth an upgrade if Sublime+ is £249.
Hi all,
Thanks for your many replies - they have all given me food for thought…
A question arising from this:-
At present I have the Superuniti, ovator 400’s and Power Line. If i wanted native Quobuz integration should I:-
- Upgrade the Superuniti to a Uniti Nova?
- Look at a completely different setup i.e ND5, NDX2, ND555
Again, just trying to benefit from all of your experiences so I take the right route…
Thanks again folks.
cheers
Tony - Bournemouth
I used to stream Qobuz through a Sonos Connect plugged into my old Naim streamer. For HiRes I had to move to the Bubble UPnP route which was OK most of the time. I’ve never liked Chromecast because it’s doesn’t support gapless playback. Having Qobuz integrated now is a blessing.
As far as Sublime+ is concerned, you actually have to buy quite a lot of discounted HD albums to make the extra £100 worthwhile. It’s worth doing a calculation to see if it would benefit you.
With regard to your option 2, and stating the obvious, the higher you go up the new Naim streamer hierarchy, the better the amplification (and power supplies) you need to get the best from it, and that can get very expensive. Your speakers however would most likely endure this transition.
You really need to have a budget in mind, do some extensive listening at a dealer, narrow down your options, and then try and get a home demo of your preferred option.
A Nova will give you a nice uplift in sound quality over your Superuniti in addition to supporting Qobuz (and Roon, AirPlay and Chromecast if you want them). With the right amp, the separate streamers give you progressively higher sound quality if you’re prepared to spend the money. They do not give you any added features. In that respect, the Nova has it all.
DAB is not standard though.
Personally if I were in your shoes I’d probably want to compare the Superuniti vs a Nova vs standalone streamer into yuor Superuniti or other pre/power/integrated solution.
While it might be a bit clunky many swear by Bubble UPnP and I’d have to wonder if your Superuniti works fine if simply having a software solution/transport that supports Qobuz would not only be cheaper but perhaps little different sonically.
Both Superuniti and the new Uniti series are somewhat limited in upgrade options, especially in terms of external PSUs - yes, you could add an external NAP, different ethernet cable, maybe a Powerline (which does improve things on my Nova) but not much else.
I think you should probably look at your budget, and decide if you want a low box count solution (new or old) or are thinking of a separates system down the line.
Personally I’m far from convinced that the streaming ecosystem is ‘there’ yet, both from commercial and sonic viewpoints.
I’d add that the £14.99 pcm Qobuz studio option seems a bargain if it’s a rolling monthly contract to continue testing beyond the month’s free trial - you just need a method of accessing it.
I had a similar setup - SuperUniti with a Core (and Epos ES11 speakers). First up I added a 250DR, meaning that the SuperUniti was a streaming pre-amp, then an NDX2 (the uplift in streaming clarity was pretty substantial), and then some SL2s to replace the ES12s.
I hope to replace the SuperUniti next year with a 282 or 252, but in the meantime it’s running pretty well as a pre-amp.
Ultimately it comes down to how many boxes you want to have. I was pretty enamoured of the single box solution for nearly 10 years, but have currently given that up with a solid dose of upgrade-itis. I’m hoping that it settles down with the 282/252 upgrade next year, or I’ll need to find a topical cream or something,
My two-pennorth…
I’ve just tested audio quality between Tidal “Hifi” and Qobuz “CD Quality” with my LG V30 mobile and my B&W PX7’s with a view to upgrading my ND5XS to the ND5XS2, if the improvement over Tidal justified spending what for me, is an almost finger-burning tranche of shekels.
It took five minutes.
ND5XS2 ordered and on the way.
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I went through a similar upgrade process a few years ago, first adding a 200DR to my Superuniti, then an NDX, and finally a 282. The final addition of the 282 was by far the biggest improvement to the system, and showed just how much the SU was holding things back, so I’m sure you will not be disappointed.
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Hi Chris,
Thanks for this - after all these additions does the Superuniti do anything? As you have a pre and power and streamer…
Cheers
Tony
Good to know.
Thanks Mike.
Thanks Alley…
Your recommendations have been invaluable.
Cheers
Tony
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