NEW! Uniti Atom Headphone Edition – and streaming pre-amp!

Hi, I have a Uniti Nova with the Powerline lite and am considering the IFI supanova. What has been your experience with this cable please?

Best,
Shankar

The ifi supernova is not a bad cable, big image and musical, but I do not like it, because in my systems lacks realism, lacks transparency and that could be a personal thing or the combination of other associated cables and gear, but I do not use it, I have tried to integrate it more than one time but for me it did not work.

But do try before buy, my opinion is subjective and systems are diferente leaving to diferent results.

I have various power cables, and all of them have an use on some part of my home systems, the supernova is back on the box.

If you want a very musical presentation and big stage and bass the supernova could be interesting, but do not buy without trying.

Thanks, this is helpful.
What power cable did you end up with the end on the Nova? I read the Audioquest series of cables are good. Have you tried the Audioquest Tornado on the Nova?

I do not have the Nove, but have an NDX 2, Supernait and an Uniti Atom HE.

Audioquest are better than the ifi for me, I have the monsoon, the tornados and hurricane from the brand, on the Naim gear the tornado and monsoon are a good match, could not be perfect for all but they work well. The hurricane does not result good with naim in my case.

But as always the cables are system dependent, and also what I could perceive as a good match does not mean the same match can be perfect for you. Always try to ask the dealer to have a listen first before deciding to buy one.

On the tornado and hurricane cables there are high current and source, the source hurricane works, the high current is not so good adds too much extension and energy.

Hi all - thanks for the inputs above. I’m going to go away & demo some headphones…

HI…did any of you had some issues lately with the atom? I recently turned it on and it took a while till it started, showing a thin line on the bottom of the display like a progress bar. Maybe an update? Since then I need to go up to 40 with the volume to get something out i got before with 25.

The progress bar shows when you wake the unit from sleep mode (as opposed to standby) so my guess is that’s what you were seeing. It will not auto update without your intervention.

Has max volume in Audio Settings reverted to the default 80%?

No. It´s still at 85%. I didn´t change anything. It´s weird
I hope the device is not dying already.

Strange! If there is something wrong that is software related the usual advice is to do a factory reset, so there is no harm in trying this other than that you will lose any other settings.

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I will try. Thanks

Well that wasn’t what I expected… I’ve just tried using the Naim App streaming Quobuz vs Roon with Tidal MQA to the Atom HE and I think the Naim/Quobuz HiRes based versions are more revealing/ subjectively better sounding . So much so I’ve cancelled my Tidal subscription and am thinking of doing similarly with Roon. Almost all the music I have ripped on my Innuos Zenith I can access in HiRes from Quobuz (bootlegs excepted :blush:).

Clearly streaming Tidal via the Naim App is restricted to 44khz 16bit as MQA decoding is not in the Naim App/Atom HE.

What are other people’s experience / views?

PJW

I did find that I preferred Qobuz vs Tidal in terms of sound quality and when using the Naim app, I though the sound quality was marginally better than Roon.

However, I really like the browsing, discovery process of Roon. I might give the Naim app a try again… last time I was quite impressed with it.

I recently added the Auris Nirvana tube amp to the Naim Atom HE and I have to say, it is a marvellous combination. I’m really impressed with the Naim HE as a preamp for the Nirvana. The combination is very detailed, smooth tonally perfect sound (to my ears.) I don’t feel like I’m missing anything in terms of DAC performance etc.

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Thanks for that A-Fin. I agree re the organisation of Roon. It’s so easy to use. I particularly like the fact that you can play an album and then it goes into selecting music thereafter “randomly” using an algorithm…

Naim.Marketing do you have any updates to the App in the pipeline…? To make it more like Roon…?

Re the Audis Nirvana, I will check it out/demo it if I can - seems like not much stock in the UK.

I listen mainly to rock music . Is it good for that?

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Any other recommendations for Headphone Amps to pair / have synergy with the Atom HE, preferably with a Balanced XLR Headphone output?

Thanks,

PJW

Ah, the Nirvana has just gone through a transitional stage. I have the wood version but they’ve just released a new one that is all metal. If you prefer the wood ones, you’ll need to keep an eye on the used market as they don’t often appear.

Sonically, the Nirvana has great bass extension and texture. It really does rumble when it’s called on. The highs are beautifully and are not that rolled but not fatiguing at all. The mids are very detailed, textured. The overall sound is very natural, balanced and smooth while providing bags of detail. Soundstage and imaging are very impressive and very holographic with some tube combinations.

But, for most Naim fans, what stands out is how good it is in terms of PRaT and musicality. Even if you want the wood version, a demo of the new all metal version would do as it is supposed to be sonically the same but with the addition of a preamp out which the wood versions don’t have.

The Naim HE really shines with it as I love it’s user interface and the ability to flip back to a great SS amp as well!

Edit - Here’s a photo of it sat above the Naim Atom HE.

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To be honest, other than a good quality tube amp, I’ve never really considered using another solid state amp with the Naim HE as a pre just because the Naim HE is so good. If I was going to try one combination, I guess it would be the Ferrum Oor + Hypsos.

I compared the Naim HE to a couple of tube amps in the £1-2k region and to be honest, not enough improvement (if any) over the Naim to make it worth while investment. Funnily, I thought the Naim had more in common with it’s sound signature with tube amps than most other SS amps.

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If you’re using a Zenith, it might be an idea to try the Innuos Sense app to control things instead of the Naim app. You may find that gives you another lift in sound quality

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Did you demo the HA-2SF? At > x2 the price of the HE the Auris Nirvana is a big investment.

Problem for me is that Audio Emotion who seem to be the only people who stock Auris in the UK are in Fife and I live on the Isle of Wight LOL

Thanks - will give that a go. Though I was contemplating really simplifying things down by using just the Naim App/Quobuz and for ripped music not on Quobuz plugging in the back up drive from the Innuos to the USB on the front of the HE and using UPNP…

Plenty to test & try