very nice - congratulations!
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Good choice. I hope it brings you many happy hours of musical enjoyment.
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Just need to get a USB solid state hard drive to plug into the back and start ripping those cds in Flac to it ready for when it comes.
You haven’t mentioned what speakers you’ve got.
Re cables ,when I got my Star I didn’t get Naim cables because I’ve got flat Nordost ones laid under the carpet already and it sound very good with those and my PMC speakers
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Welcome to the club!
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Isn’t the “fancy plug” for the speaker cable connections to the Uniti supplied with the unit(i)?
Yes, Naim supply plugs with all their amps. They’re not the easiest to solder, but work very well if installed correctly, so I would use them. Not that other bananas wouldn’t work well enough. Some dealers can’t use a soldering iron properly, so they tend to sell crimped connectors instead.
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Had Naim for over 30 years now, only a minor couple of issues .
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[quote=“Proterra, post:23, topic:34079, full:true”]
Just need to get a USB solid state hard drive to plug into the back and start ripping those cds in Flac to it ready for when it comes. [/quote]
Thank you for the tip. I have quite a few bits of storage media available : SSD drives, USB Sticks and SD Cards.
[quote=“Proterra, post:23, topic:34079, full:true”]
You haven’t mentioned what speakers you’ve got.[/quote]
I will be buying a pair of used ProAc DT8 speakers and see how I go.
In the store where I initially demoed the NOVA Vs Audiolab 9000A, the dealer was highly recommending Focal Aria 926 and that’s what we used for the demo. This model is replaced with a new one and so there is a big price discount on them (now £1.2K). They were OK but my heart is set on ProAc. I’ll just go on a “tour” and start testing other speakers if I can’t make my mind up.
[quote=“Proterra, post:23, topic:34079, full:true”]
Re cables ,when I got my Star I didn’t get Naim cables because I’ve got flat Nordost ones laid under the carpet already and it sound very good with those and my PMC speakers[/quote]
For my home cinema setup, all my speakers are ProAc. For the main front 2 speakers I am using cables : Audioquest Rocket 11
I don’t know any better at the moment but I have gone for the same speakers for my NOVA.
3m x 2 came to a total of : £313
Should I have gone for the NAIM NAC A5 cable?
Wait and listen to what you already have before worrying as long as what you get sounds good to you, you are golden. I have never used naim speaker cable originally I had some cheaper QED cables but then I went with some kudos ks1 cables recommended by my dealer.
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No surprise really as Naim and Focal are under the same ownership, in generel I think Focal speakers are too analytical - I urge you to listen carefully before handing over payment.
I do like Proac loudspeakers that I have heard, unfortunately they are all with bi-wire plugs only.
A completely unnecessary link.
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Thanks for the advice . Which speakers do you use?
If that was aimed at me ?
I’m getting nervous if I get below five or six set of available speakers for my setups.
I’m a box swapper and have had more loudspeakers than I can remember.
Currently I do have Naim Ovator S400 in main setup.
Neat Motives, Ophidian Mojo and Rega Kytes or ATC SCM in other setups TV upstairs and office.
Other speakers awaiting action maybe next month, its quite silly really (Wife remarks)
TBH it doesn’t really makes sense asking what other people use - source/amp untold, as loudspeakers are very personal choice and people should go and try for themself, I realize thats what your going to do and thats splendid.
Good luck.
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All,
I have received my NOVA and it is a beauty! Thank you so much for your help and guidance.
I enjoyed the unboxing and connecting it up to my ProAc speakers. I can’t believe I have been missing out on this. If I had a bit more money I would have gone for the separates route… (maybe in a couple of years!)
I was going to purchase a CD transport and I just couldn’t decide which one to get and do not want to spend anymore money till I have understood and fully experienced the NAIM streaming \ ripping ecosystem.
I use an Apple MAC \ iPhone \ iPad etc and would be ripping my CD to a lossless format using tools based on that system. If I can get audio from my CDs at such high quality then there maybe no need for a CDT.
Please could you recommend and bring me up to speed with what software I need which manages everything such as ripping, tagging and cover art. I don’t mind paying for this software as long as I don’t have to keep going back to my CDs to get an even better recording.
Whilst looking into updating my hifi and streaming a lot of dealers recommended subscribing to Hi-Res services such as QoBuz. What have you subscribed to ? and why?
For music I would like it to be hi-res that is why I haven’t subscribed to Apple Music or Spotify.
I also enjoy mostly electronic music and Jazz.
I am using the Focal & Naim app to run music from a USB stick and I am getting familiar with it.
Any advise to get me up to speed would be helpful.
Cheers!
DBpoweramp is the go-to ripping software for many, and that’s what I would suggest.
Stick the rips on a USB drive and attach that directly to the Nova. View the files through the Server input under Local Music (not the USB input which is probably where you would think to look!)
You might prefer a more full-featured UPnP server, in which case try Asset, from the same lot who produced DBPA, and run it on your computer or a NAS.
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If you are looking at streaming two choices I recommend are qobuz and tidal. I picked qobuz for the last year due to me thinking it sounded slightly better also tidal charged more for hi res but that is changing in April so I would do free trials with them both and compare. I’m now using asset software that basically turns my pc into a server my naim can see. But I only started using it this week so I’ll let more knowledgable people chime in. The people who make the asset software also make software for importing your music. If you google asset upnp you’ll find the website and all their different software.
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I’m a recent dbPoweramp / perfecttunes / Asset UPnP convert - can say super easy to use and very powerful tools. have ripped about 400 CDs and converted file formats for another 200. also updating metadata, album art, tags, etc. very easy to do. am using on 1st gen streamers, so using on the new ones won’t be a problem
files rips are on my Mac being used as a server - sound quality is better than Tidal
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I actually manage just with the Apple Music app. It does not support FLAC, but ALAC (Apple Lossless) works with the Naim devices as well.
I did have an iTunes library for decades (literally) and also sync much of my library to my phone (old school). These days I rip lossless or download lossless from Bandcamp (they also support ALAC), and convert to AAC when synching to the phone to save space.
For my Nova, I just copy the Music media folder to a USB drive. (Using actually rsync to just copy the new stuff. Any smart sync/copy program helps here.)
I’m sure other apps give more options, but basics (lossless, meta data, covers) are fine enough for myself.
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I h have an Atom HE with an NAP 100 and I wonder sometimes why I would need more. Of course I also have a super Nate three and DX two and some Wilson Toon tots. The reality is I don’t need more than an atom even the base atom But then, of course we have our wants. The atom is an excellent product, and I’m confident that it will last me for a long time
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Update :
All, I’m just updating this post as it could help someone else in the future.
I calculated how much it would cost me to purchase a NAS plus two hard drives.
This would equate to a subscription to Qobuz for nearly 4yrs!
So I thought “what the hell…” I subscribed to Qobuz.
I have discovered nearly all my CDs on Qobuz, they have all since been remastered and sound so much better. By subscribing to Qobuz I have also discovered so many new titles, artists and explored further into various genres eg electronic jazz… I’m in heaven!!
No more dusty CDs and carting around “things”.
How different would Tidal be?
Do titles ever get removed from Qobuz ? I notice this occurs on Netflix a lot which is frustrating.
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Music can occasionally disappear from any streaming service. For me it seems to happen fairly infrequently. It’s usually because the license holder won’t agree to the terms on offer.
If a track or album disappears (it may be visible, but greyed out and it won’t play) it’s often because a different version has been added, so always check before you assume it’s really gone.
The only downloads or CDs I buy these days are albums that are unavailable on Qobuz. There aren’t many, so a USB stick connected directly to the streamer is all that’s needed.
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