I bought a second hand Nain Uniti Atom some time ago to form a new sound system.
The truth is that I was not impressed with the sound quality, I saw no improvements compared to the amplifier I was using before, a Sony TA-F570ES from 1992 that was never serviced.
I recently did some tests listening to some pairs of speakers with both amplifiers, and again neither I nor anyone else who was with me noticed any differences in the quality of the amplification. Since I find it strange that a 2018 Naim has a sound quality similar to an amplifier that is good but old, I am wondering if the Naim needs service.
The Naim doesn’t seem to have any problems, there is no distortion or any other anomaly in the sound.
The best speakers heard in this comparative test were Focal 806V.
Much here will depend upon the quality of the source and how the test is conducted. If the source is not a good match or not particularly good then differences in amplification are minimised. How did you conduct the test?
I know it may sound like heresy but I tested it via Bluetooth connection. On the Naim it was directly through playback from my cell phone, and on the Sony it was through a small Bluetooth receiver from Fonestar. Even under these conditions I think some difference in amplification should have been noticed…
The goal was to test the speakers in a informal way, not the amplifiers…but surprisingly it was the amplifiers that I was most surprised by, in a negative way.
Could it be that your ears are so conditioned to your old amp, that changes are harder to determine? Perhaps get a friend in and do some blind tests without telling them which one is active.
Which unfortunately will reveal very little by way of sound quality.
You have a wide choice, assuming you have performed the latest firmware update, of Naim hosted iRadio stations. Alternatively take a trial with Tidal or Qobuz or even ask a friend to lend you a usb memory store with flac or wav files.
Finally, if you are asking such a question, worthwhile to let us know your region, speakers and how these are wired - Naim speaker cable or other.
The Atom is a worthwhile piece of kit, but it needs to be appropriately setup. There is a a source expression - garbage in, garbage out, ymmv!
My inclination would be to ask them to compare your Atom with theirs (if they have one) as you’d need a dealer to arrange servicing for you should yours sound off.
You would need to compare using the same firmware as it can surprisingly alter the sound for better or worse depending on your preferences and other equipment.
As others have said Bluetooth really isn’t an ideal source for comparison - it’s ok but I avoid it if I can.
The idea of ​​the test was just to hear the differences between the speakers, and since none of them were of high quality, we assumed that the Bluetooth connection would be sufficient for this test, since the signal would always be the same in all tests. The test was done outside of my home, so I did not have access to my music library stored on a NAS. Eventually it would be a better option to use a pen drive with some flac files. The Naim would always be the signal source, the amplification would have to be alternated between the Naim and the Sony.
The speakers varied between Tannoy, Elac and Focal. The cables were from Kimber, 4TC. I live in Portugal.
Bluetooth won’t cut it unfortunately. If you have wi-fi, use a proper streaming app that will connect to your local network, or plug it into your Ethernet.
Worth trying with Naim’s own speaker cable, Naca5, before introducing another variable.
Naim kit is designed to work well with Naim speaker cable, while there are plenty of other options, always worth using it as a starting point in comparisons; ymmv.
This is a high capacitance, low indictance cable. Exactly what Naim amps don’t like. So trying NACA5 would be a good idea, or if you want to try something else, at least go for a brand with known compatibility with Naim amps such as Chord or Tellirium Q.
but I tested it via Bluetooth connection. On the Naim it was directly through playback from my cell phone, and on the Sony it was through a small Bluetooth receiver from Fonestar. Even under these conditions I think some difference in amplification should have been noticed…