Cambridge Evo threat to Uniti range?

To confirm, we have a significant in-house software development team, working on every element of our products.

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I don’t even know if the HDMI input works on my Nova. Guess I should use it to find out.

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Is it the one from Trends Electronics, TrendsU: … etc. ?

Yes! It’s 37 minutes long.

That was quite a nice video. It would be great to have something similar from Naim, other than the no-news on the mysterious 3 new products.

I guess they will have listened to the Atom in comparison and price matched it to be competitive. It clearly has the edge in features and appears to be objectively more powerful. It may well come down to features or form factor as much as sound quality for items like these when a choice is made by the consumer.
The phono stage may be a factor but I think it’s unlikely as someone after a turntable will probably sidestep products like the Evo. Ironically, Cambridge Audio have made it easier to pair their turntable, the Alva, with an Atom because of its built in phonostage or the ability to use aptX Bluetooth to connect them, which effectively removes a barrier there, should someone be considering that particular amp/turntable combo.

I couldn’t find it! Can you post the link here?

I think Richard has been more strict about links here lately, also uncommercial, so I’d rather not. If you search youtube for “TrendsU EVO Cambridge” it should come up, for me the first result. The account it’s on is “Trends Electronics International Inc”

Remember that Naim got their fingers burnt before by announcing products too soon. Uniti range was announced mid- 2016 with aim for late autumn 2016 availability. In the end they were available late autumn of 2017. I don’t think they will make the same mistake again

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I have absolutely no association with Naim other than buying their kit, but I think its wrong to put a link to another companies product. Talk about the competition , yes, but directly advertise them, no.

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I agree, the goal is not to sell Cambridge Audio, it’s just a look at the state of the art and how that influences the market and products. Competition is good if it stimulates everyone to deliver their best, which Naim is certainly also doing ofcourse.

Cambridge is now a competitor in the Uniti market segment, but they will have a hard time matching the critical acclaim that Naim receives in the sound quality department. In terms of design, both Uniti and EVO look great and will integrate well into any modern living space.

For us as consumers / buyers the EVO range is a great new launch, not necessarily as a buying alternative but because it will stimulate all manufacturers to step up and make their products even better.

These are great times for innovations in the all-in-one systems market, it’s starting to really mature and innovations are going very fast. I’m excited to see how Naim / Focal is going to approach these developments and what they will have up their sleeve going forward.

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I see that Naim and Cambridge Audio have another competitor in the form of Hifi Rose, a Korean audio company. Looks very similar as well.
Everyone is jumping on this bandwagon.

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Those Rose devices look pretty crazy (in a good way):

14.9 inch IPS touchscreen, Ultra HD 4K Video Support :flushed:

They’re running Android. Great DACs on board too though, so it’s not just about the eye candy.

Nice find!

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Oh yes, I think Uniti’s have very good and attractive screens. Just the infomation displayed on them is not presented attractively at all but the potential is still there.

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that picture of Nova must be an early one (before production). No such display view is unfortunatelly available currently.

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Yes the Rose will certainly draw admirers, that screen would be a selling point for many. I definitely think Naim could revamp the use of the their screen to maximise its potential and ward off some of these new threats. Much of this could be firmware driven e.g. look at wasted screen real estate when showing album art?

Saw the Evo 150 when I was in Richer Sounds getting some headphones replaced for my son. It did look very nice and was placed right next to the Atom on display.
When I asked what it was like, the Richer Sounds employee was very complementary about it and asked if I was interested in that sort of thing.
I said I wasn’t because I already had a Nova. “Ah, ok! You’re sorted on that front then.”, which was quite revealing in terms of where the hierarchy might lie.

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To be fair, the Nova is about twice the price of the 150 so you would expect it to outperform it and be in a different market segment so to speak.

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As they’re lifestyle products there’s of course multiple things to look at:

  • Looks, I haven’t seen the EVO in real life, but fully expect the Uniti range to win this.
  • Sound, I expect Uniti would do better
  • Usability/software/app, this is where the Uniti range underperforms IMO, so wouldn’t be surprised if the EVO could win.

It will be a balance between the three, but for different customers the emphasis might be on different things. I suspect there’s plenty of people out there for whom the last might tip the scales.

I’m unlikely to trade in my Star though :slight_smile:

It does appear that the Evo has a superior user interface to the Naim range. The Uniti boxes are also just about the most eyeball crushing ugly lumps I have ever seen. The photos of the Evo show it to be a far swisher design. Hardly anybody, apart from a few peculiar obsessives on here, care about sound quality to the exclusion of everything else. I suspect the Evo will do very nicely set next to an Atom