Don’t think he drinks beer 
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From memory I think my first purchase from Harry was olive gear when it first appeared ( around 88/89) with a pair of Linn Kaber speakers which I had for many years.
What a journey it’s been with Harry
Before that period the naim dealer in Sydney was Riverina Hifi on the northern beaches where I purchased the CB gear when it first arrived in Australia in 1981 from memory. Nick was ( and still is ) the dealers name and he is still in the game in Lismore with “The Audio Room”. No naim gear though. Really great guy.
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You are right. Series number is 032xxx, not 32xxxx, it is from 1987. I made a mistake in the Naim Series Numbers List…… may be too old without recapping….
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He can watch me drink mine and his. 
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Ha ha good one 
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I just have to post this here. I have been using my Atom HE as a preamp for some time now. Due to unfortunate circumstances a Classé CP-800mkII came my way. It had belonged to a dear friend and I added it to my setup and used the Atom HE purely as a streamer. With my previous Elac active speakers the Classé worked really well.
However recently, the speakers of the dear friend I mentioned above, came our way. A pair of Dynaudio Confidence C2 II. Very capable speakers that easily outperform the (already excellent) Elacs. I now drive these speakers with my Atom HE and an LSA Warp One power amplifier.
The sound quality is astonishing! I also tried the Classé but the Atom HE is just more organic and has better PRaT. I don’t listen technically, but only to the music. I have written it here before, but I keep being amazed by the quality of this little devil.
Sometimes I think about upgrading to the new classic 200 or 300 series, but I can hardly imagine that these will sound much better than the Atom HE. I love the small form factor and flexibility of the Atom HE. So for those who consider using the Atom HE not only as a headphone amp but also as a hifi preamp: just do it!
Here playing Hans Zimmer - Live in Prague. 
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I have the Celestee, Clear MG, Stellia and Utopia. I had always thought that investing more than USD 500 on a pair of cans was crazy, as no human ear could discern the difference. Well… no more to say at this stage. When I decided to invest some more money on the Celestee’s just to give it a try (a Christmas gift in a year I had nothing else in mind), I realized what I had been missing. Besides being on another level compared with what I had listened to so far, they were very handy to listen to quality music even outdoors or not to cause any disturbance at home. Like any other successful investment, I was again tempted and quickly moved to Clear MG, as I was intrigued to know how much difference was there with an open-back setup. I couldn’t be happier with the sound quality the MG’s offered: such an open sound image! But… as usually happens with music-addicts, I was victim of my own success: wondering whether Beryllium drivers would really make a difference. So, believe it or not, I recently bought both Stellia’s and Utopia’s at once, taking advantage of very good open-box offers. I know I said I was amazed with the sound of Celestee’s and MG’s, but the Stellia/Utopia play in another league. And I’m now in a vicious circle where I can hardly stop: I discovered this forum and, after thorough research (I haven’t managed to find anybody who could compare with the iFi Pro iDSD Signature DAC/amp/Streamer) I decided to buy the Naim UA He. Guess what: I’m right now listening to it, as I couldn’t wait for it to burn in. I didn’t know this level of happiness was even possible.
Oops: I’d love to continue, but my wife is complaining that I spend more and more time in my cubicle.
Bottomline: If you intend to give the Focal headphones a try, my only advice is taking whichever your budget can afford. None investment will be disappointing, trust me.
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I have the normal ifi pro idsd, not the signature and I also have the atom he and the utopia from focal, love my pro idsd is a great dac and a great sounding one, the atom he is a dac, streamer and pre amp is more an all in one solution.
The atom is a more musical dac, less revealing, less detailed, less everything than the ifi, but is a great product and depending on the mood you could prefer it to the ifi, ifi pro iDSD is a more powerful dac but also not an all in one solution.
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Great comparison. Thank you very much!
Not being as much into DAC’s, preAmps, Amps, loudspeakers (forbidden at home) as most users in this forum, I think the ease with which one can plug in and immediately start listening music with the HE makes me think I haven’t made a mistake :O)).
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I do not use my atom he that much, my primary listening is most of the time on speakers in the living room, and rarely use the headphone experience.
What I felt is that the atom is very musical and engaging, great bass. As an all in one is a solid product, lacks resolution and that is what makes me not use it that much.
The user experience is pretty good, the atom has good provided software, is very stable and has a fast streaming platform, and the screen and volume control is something I really love on the unit, I hate it does not provide some kind of coaxial or optical digital out.
Regarding the ifi Pro IDSD, for me the ifi sounds a lot better, a computer or a streamer is needed to make it sing, an SOtM sMS-200 Ultra or an Eversolo DMP-A6 will go great with the ifi, even a zen stream, in the end will cost more than the atom and also a less beautiful solution on a desk or living room.
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When I was demoing headphones, two of them were Focal; the Elear and the Clear.
Ended up getting the Elear as much preferred their presentation.
The bonus at the time was finding out afterwards that they were the cheaper of the two.
Been very happy with these. But did change the cable to a CustomCans one and, now to a Cxnnected cable, which I do prefer.
DG…
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Picking up with a small update on a previous topic of comparisons between the Atom HE and the NSC222.
Was comparing some phono stages and got the Atom HE involved to see its performance with an external phono stage using the HE line in. The 222 sounded better to me when connected to an external good quality phono stage (in this case the NVC TT) so to me the analogue to digital conversion in the HE (or its overall implementation) is not able to maintain the same sound quality as the 222 to my ears.
However, since I had them next to each other both connected to the Nait 50 I did another comparison for streaming sound quality and once again, when connected to the Nait 50 (i.e. an integrated just like I compared them previously both with the Supernait 3) the 222 and HE sound essentially the same for any real life listening. I am struggling to hear confidently any real differences. Directly to a power amp the 222 takes the edge but once again this test confirms for me my previous findings and shows the enormous value that the Atom HE offers for streaming.
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What level of difference did you experience here?
Hi, hope ok to include the link to my other post so I don’t repeat myself, here: (hope I’ve done it correctly : )
(Phono stages - Nait 50 vs NSC222 vs external - #6 by garcon)
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Thank you! Was an interesting read.
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Thanks for testing and confirming!
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Have you compared the headphone out? There was talk that the 222 was supposed to be better but I’m guessing it’s minimal. And it’s also missing the 4.4mm socket for better grounding. I find the 4.4mm improves soundstage over single ended even thought it’s not true balanced. So just wondering if any of this makes any difference?
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I only use headphones quite occasionally (and they are not anything high end) so not a lot of experience but did try compare at the beginning. I do agree that if there is any difference it’s very minimal IMHO. I may be thought the 222 sounded a bit more energetic but I could not really match the dB level and I found a small loudness difference at the same volume level between them which I could adjust through the speakers but not through the headphones. Regardless, they sound very very similar (essentially the same), same character. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to choose one over the other except for connectivity.
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I’ve compared the headphone stages of both. For the amount of headphone listening I do, they do sound very similar & because I can live without the pentacon & xlr inputs, the Atom HE is being moved on.
As a point of interest, ‘someone’ @ Naim said that the headphone stage was originally planned for a 500 series component which was never finalised. Also, that it will improve the headphone stage in the 222 using the NPX 300 which I’m getting around to listening to, at some point soon… 
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When I was chatting wait a Naim rep they did indicate the 552 would have a headphone socket - we’ll have to see if it is delivered with new or old classic! Either way a handy feature.
Gary
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