Just said the same , from a marketing point of view , I think it could have been rebooted /re-boxed as a Classic , Claire says it’s a Uniti i.e primarily a stand alone product, but reading this thread most of us look seem to look on it as part of a system rather than just add 'phones
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And still living. 
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I’m reading this as essentially Headline 3. Makes sense but no doubt the positioning as a so-called lifestyle product will disturb some.
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I’ve got Classic, Olive and a Nova in my rack.
I’m somewhat confused these days …
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Really? A HL3? As @Pete_the_painter said, it ticks the box of a V1 replacement and functionally that is exactly what it is. And the V1 was basically a lifestyle product. It looked the same as a Uniti Qute2 with a volume knob.
I think a HL3 would be an analogue only device if such a thing ever arrives.
I expect so, but at the end of the day, there’s a big market for function and form. Assuming the HE sounds great and can drive high-end phones, it certainly has the aesthetics and functionality with the Naim streaming tech, which despite our grumbles, is probably best in its class.
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I fear you missed my point. There isn’t going to be a HL3. The likelihood of analogue only is slim on any front in the current climate. Yes it certainly takes up where the V1 left off but it’s also the new HL3 whichever way you look at it.
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Looks like it got it covered then. The pentaconn Trrrs, is not one I’ve seen before though?
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AFAIK the 4.4mm Pentaconn is a relatively new connector, particularly suitable for balanced connection on smaller devices. It seems to be a better and more robust connector than the smaller TRRS types that have been seen, and has been well received so far. Time will tell. There is, of course, the standard balanced connector as well on 4 pin XLR, as well as the standard unbalanced 6.35mm 1/4 inch jack.
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It’s quite a popular one for balanced headphone connections on portable devices for its small size compared to the XLR socket. Quite a few manufacturers support this. My Sony has this option for balanced headphones.
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I can see how the extended TRS format works for most. Particularly any portable headphones, rather than home based ones.
A growing range of high-end in-ear headphones - including new ones announced yesterday by a well-known German headphone brand - feature Pentaconn connections. We included Pentaconn on Uniti Atom Headphone Edition to cater for owners of those products.
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One more question:
Has the digital stage (DAC / streaming board) of the Atom HE also changed, or is that the same as on the Atom?
I didn’t miss the point at all. I know that there is very likely never to be a HL3. But functionally, the Atom HE is close match for the V1, not the analogue only HL2.
Very few who were in the market for a HL2 are likely to snap up an Atom HE instead. Totally different use cases and customers. The HL2 supplied that Analogue headphone amp segment where an existing system or high end source (higher than an Atom’s DAC capabilities) was the front end. If you have an NDX2/XPSdr source in your main system, you’re unlikely to want to downgrade to an Atom just to drive headphones with something that has a Naim logo on it (yeah there are a few fanboys but that’s their business I suppose). Those users are never going to see this as a HL2 successor. They’ll look outside of Naim for an analogue only add on instead.
That aside, I think the Atom HE looks like a great little system. I’m not a huge fan of the Uniti styling at all but functionally it is a tidy well thought out package. Perhaps the one trick it really misses is a pair of speaker terminals driven direct from the headphone amp at whatever it is rated (6w or something miniscule). There are some cracking speakers that work on fleapower and can be driven to realistic levels on a suitable headphone amp - I use such a pair.
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Question … when plugging in a pair of headphones, are the analog pre-amp outputs automatically muted, or would that be done manually? Also, if automatically muted, does that work for the 4-pin XLR balanced headphone socket as well as they don’t normally incorporate a muting switch?
When using the front-facing 6.3mm and Pentaconn headphone outputs, the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition will automatically mute the pre-amp outputs and turn on the headphone sockets - the Headphone button’s symbol illuminates to show they are live.
To activate the rear-panel 4-pin XLR output, simply press and illuminate the Headphone button; 4-pin XLR connections do not have an insertion-sense switch, so this process cannot be automated.
To switch to using the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition as a streaming pre-amp, simply toggle the headphone button off (the Headphone symbol will no longer be illuminated). You can keep any set of headphones plugged in – great for convenience, but also saving unnecessary wear and tear on the headphone jacks.
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Thanks Clare
DAC/streaming is same on both Atom variants.
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The guy’s at Signals have one on demo and they have already tried the Atom HE with a NAP250 dr and commented it was cleaner, colourful and more dynamic than the standard Atom. Sounds a well thought out piece of kit, i am sure Signals will try out on some active ATC speakers, which would be interesting compact system.
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As this is primarily a device to drive headphones, do we know what headphones were tested with it?