Hi all, I have a first version Uniti (2010) at home which I enjoy daily with CD playing and Spotify streaming through a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i, but I feel the need to upgrade my system going the separates route.
Supernait 2 would be the amp of choice, along with a CD transport (6000CDT or CXC, don’t know yet), but I can’t decide which streamer+DAC combination to buy. I lean towards the all in one solution (ND5XS2), but I’m also tempted by the Raspberry + Chord Qutest route…
In the forum I see a lot of people adding the Qutest or Hugo to their Naim streamers (even to the NDX2!) bypassing their DACs. Are the built-in Naim DACs so inferior to the Chord models? The ND5XS2 is still a +2500 Euros piece of kit! How’s that? Is there such a difference?
All in all, I can’t make up my mind and need help…
I think your NaimUniti has digital inputs - you could add a simple streamer (Bluesound Node, Primare NP5 etc) to give you Qobuz, Tidal etc.
With your speakers you may be surprised at how good the result is. I have run an NP5 into an NDX and the result is better than the bare NDX.
Your NaimUniti is not a shabby bit of kit…
A shabby bit of kit by no means, for sure.
I bought it used from England about five years ago: rock solid. The 2010 Uniti is already a streamer, I’m using Spotify every day with it. It is an all in one solution (amp, cd player, streamer and DAC) so I thought that going with separate pieces of the system I could gain an increase in sound quality.
Well you could improve by going separates but it’s just a lower cost option to try the streamer into NaimUniti, that’s all (and from my experience get a lift in sound quality through the in-built Naim DAC).
You may find that you may also need to upgrade speakers to fully realise any increase in sound quality with separates though?
Hi, there are certainly big gains to be had from upgrading if you have the budget. The NDX2 is a good partner for the Supernait, although an ND5XS2 is also excellent for what it costs.
I would suggest that you consider one of the lossless streaming services as a more revealing system will show up the limitations of Spotify. My choice would be Qobuz, or you could try Tidal. Sign up for a free trial and see what you think.
There are two possible upgrades for Naim streamers, either the power supply or the DAC. I preferred to upgrade the DAC, but there are many different options, and you really need to hear them for yourself and decide what appeals to you.
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