Ah. Gotcha. My second COVID jab is tiring me. So it’s Star/250 versus HE/250 into passive 40. I got my wires crosssd. I thought that you were thinking of going straight from HE into active 40s. Been a long day…
Hmmm. The HE next to a core would look really gorgeous - a mega match. Core’s pricey though. I went for an innuos zen mini to get the same luxury of insert and go ripping as well as a roon endpoint in another room. The Core can’t do roon endpoint, but it’s user serviceable - simply drop a hard disk into it and screws the Lid down. That’sa nice touch.
A lot of people here use the Roon Nucleus avec internal hard drive which is a very good solution. I have the nucleus sans hard disk… but my end game might be different to yours. I think that’s what you should think about when it comes to the Core: your end game. If you’re considering Roon, then the Core might be expensive. Blimey… it does look good on a track though…mind you so does the Silent Nucleus. Sorry @paulbysea . A bit of a rushed stream of consciousness because my bed is looking so good right now due to my COVID jab grogginess. I have quite a lot of knowledge about the Core versus other solutions. Feel free to call me or email me if you like.
So if the Atom HE with its Statement trickle-down technology outperforms the existing Uniti range which I thought already incorporated Statement trickle-down technology, let’s hope there is enough trickle-down left to enable the 272 replacement to outperform both…for me then it would be OK to call the plumber…
First a disclaimer - I am a guy with a lot of speakers who is constantly changing bits based on what’s happening at work. Most men would end up divorced and ruined by buying so many speakers, let alone Hifi clogging up the house. A nice occupational hazard.
On my second system I use ATC SCM50ASLT towers which I’ve complemented with a couple of Focal subs to do the lower octave and balance out stereo image vs sheer bass weight and dialling subs into the room acoustics. The SCM50’s are old school in their design and need lower end reinforcement to really rock.
Nice speakers. I’ve often wondered how those or their bigger brother compare to mine. Mine are DIY but similar in driver layout and volume. The process of building, tinkering and listening has stretched my wife’s patience as you say. But now all done and worth it. I use an Atom and love it. Will upgrade to Nova in time.
Am I the only one who thinks the most intriguing statement was about the newly designed transformer?
Considering Naim’s preference for off the shelf high quality toroids, I’m by far most interested in what is new about this transformer and if it has any bearing on future products.
There has been quite a lot of work done to the circuitry in general. “There are improvements at every point,” says Steve. “For example, the transformer has the same sized core as Uniti Atom and the same digital winding but has new analogue windings for the headphone amplifier. These have been appropriately scaled for the headphone amplifier – the voltage is lower so that it runs cooler allowing smaller, faster power transistors.”
Doesn’t the NAP250 have a single XLR input (and the 200DR only DIN)? How to connect the Atom HE to a Naim power amp? Adaptor maybe but that would lose some of the NAP advantage.
But this would leave only the NAP300 as a Naim option as it has 2x XLR, unlike 200 and 250. This is a shame @Naim.Marketing - noted you say there are no plans to introduce a new power amp, but surely the NAP 200 and 250 inputs should be tweaked?
No offence but I think you’re missing the point. It is not primarily designed to be used to drive Naim power amps. It is a headphone amp/DAC/Streamer that can be used to power active speakers first and foremost, most of which have XLR input. Obviously you can use it with power amps if you wish but clearly they have a more appropriate streamer/DAC for use with Naim power amps in the pipeline with DIN connections. Everything has to be a compromise somewhere. I am sure there will be someone somewhere already making a few different cable options for this device.
Hi @Mark84 no offence taken. A significant number of the above comments are around its use as a pre, not to mention the 272 issue. Maybe active speakers would be a more convenient partner than a power amp. Noted your comment about pipeline of more appropriate streamers. I’m not sure on the conjecture, but bearing in mind the info above from Naim on the Atom HE having tech improvements and the fact it is being marketed as a pre, it would be a shame to have to use a non-Naim power amp (or indeed to have to wait for said pipeline).
Agree, I only asked because Steve said he had done it. Or had it done for him. For me the interesting thing is that the Atom HE is 2x XLR balanced out and the 250DR is, I think, unbalanced single XLR, hence my curiosity.
It is callled Headphone Edition, it has a pre functionality as well, it is not a 272 but rather a product like violectric 281, SPL phonitor, DCS Bartok……
headphone focus first, I am getting it from the name and brands commitment to headphones
I am curious if it has some special Eq for various Focal headphones etc
I don’t know if it has been said before but i feel that people may use this as a desktop / tabletop device when used primarly as a headphone amp/streamer. Therefore most interaction would be done on the device itself. I understand that a touch screen would be best but you could easily navigate the menu with the buttons and volume wheel on the unit. The problem is that the functionality of the uniti screens are very limited and i hope that a software update is in the pipeline to allow more useful interaction with the device. Naim should really take advantage of their rather nice screen and implement more useful features and reinforce the tactile pleasure of using this unit.
