Much happiness, a great success.
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Hi, I see you have the utopia and Stella focal headphones, also have a pair of utopia but I Am curious on what you think about the Stella because they are closed and I was interested in the difference that both have in sound. If is not ask for too much can you please say what you thinks about the Stella relative to the utopia?
Thanks,
Not being an expert on the topic utopia is wide open, very detailed and a very tight bass
Stellia has a good detail, better bass, less air as good as it gets for a closed cans
I listen classical jazz with utopia and rock electronic with Stellia when I can
When there is people around stellia is the only choice
Utopia is my favorite
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Thanks for your thoughts, they were very clear and helpful.
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Hi all,
Very late to the party! I got a fantastic deal on an Atom HE and have been looking around for info on a few things…
I initially wanted to replace my DAVE and Mscaler- unsurprisingly, given the difference in cost, the Naim doesn’t come close. It certainly trades blows with my Hugo2Go, however.
My one big concern is the buzzing when using an iem with a 4.4mm cable. The IEM I own scales greatly with more power (which the HE has over the Chord);
I got a ifi IEM match coming tomorrow, hopefully fixes things. Anyone else tried using their iems?
The other issue I have is that there is no true balanced output so driving power is not as high as I was expecting.
I have similar same set up, Dave/Mscaler and Atom HE, although not IEM’'s but Focal Utopias, no buzzing or power issues. I have posted recently in another thread, when asked to compare both headphone set ups, that given the Chord combo being nearly six times the cost, the difference wasn’t massive, it was pretty close. Maybe your headphone choice is influencing things more ?
Nope! Got the exact same user profile name on there 
I used to have the Dave/mscaler setup and don’t miss it. The Naim HE doesn’t have the same resolution but in some ways, find it more enjoyable because it has better weight and rhythm than the Dave/mscaler. I was never a fan of the Hugo 2. Too analytical.
I do think the Naim HE needs a good amount of burn in to open up the sound. And at least with the ZMF Caldera, the 4.4mm output was a noticeable improvement over the single end as far as soundstage.
What type of power amp would you need for the naim uniti atom headphone edition do I have to attach speakers to it and can I still listen to my headphones
Any equal quality power amp will do. And yes you can. When headphones are active the pre-amp section is switched off and vice versa.
If you are using the XLR headphone out you will need to manually switch with the headphone button on the top left otherwise the HE will auto switch for you.
Thanks for your reply what naim power amp could I use
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Personally I am using a NAP 250 DR and this gives a great result. Keep in mind that in this setup the HE is not good enough to show everything the 250 can do but is still sounds amazing.
You could also look at the NAP 200 DR or NAP 200
Any Naim power amp will work. If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a higher end amp you might want to think about whether is then makes more sense to get a better source and preamp so that you have a well balanced system. However, there are many affordable options in the Classic and XS ranges that would work well, depending on your budget, and importantly, your speakers. Matching the power amp to the demands of your loudspeakers is important. A Naim NAP 100, 152 or 200 might work for you.
I tried both the 250 DR and Benchmark Ahb2. The latter was superior, especially resolving low end frequency. It’s also a similar form factor to the Atom HE.
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This is a challenge for Atom HE users who use it as headphone first. It becomes a costly exercise to re-create the ease of use and headphone performance while upgrading the source. One then heads into NSC 222 territory. So it is a tradeoff between the price premium (especially when adding the NPX 300) and the amount of performance enhancement in your setting, with your speakers and with the amount that part of the systems is run vs the headphones.
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Yes, of course your options are limited given Naim’s current range of products. That doesn’t alter the fact that the 250 is quite a few steps higher up the ladder than an Atom, but perhaps when the rest of the new range is eventually released there will be more matched combinations available.
We have no idea what @Higgy’s budget is, or what speakers he wants to drive, so this issue could be academic.
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Fully agreed. But it does give more grunt in the setup than a 200. So depending on the deal one gets this may be acceptable, plus it opens the road for a further upgrade later that is just as cushy for headphones and wallet as the HE.
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There are good deals available now. A 2nd hand 250dr can be had for 2500
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Anyone any experience with the Hifiman HE1000SE on the Naim ? With their 35ohm / 90db they come across as relatively hard to drive… Not sure if the Naim is able to let then fully shine
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