I will have to test the Stellia. They are a bit over the budget i figured. But closed back is not an option.
Has anybody compared Atom to Atom HE as a streaming preamp? Is the sound signature identical?
I watched a review where it has been pointed out that Atom is quite warm (which I can agree to) and Atome HE is more neutral.
My subs are Dynaudio Sub 6 as these have DSP built in and we had Dynaudio speakers at the time of purchase. The subs however turned out to be very flexible and excellent quality.
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You prefered the Elac over the Dynaudio?
Yes, I prefer the Elac ARF-51 over the Dynaudio Contour S3.4 LE. 
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I don’t find any difference. I have had my Atom and my Atom HE driving the same amp from the preamp output on each, and they both sound “neutral”.
i have the atom and i would never defined it as neutral, it is quite warm sounding.
They are closed back.
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Thanks!!! I ordered them yesterday!!! 
Did you make the black wood diffuser yourself?
That’s very dense foam actually. Bought them.
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How much burning time do you think for full performance?
Of the Stellia? They burn in quite quickly, or seem to, so you think you’re there after a couple of weeks, but mine kept improving for over a month after that, maybe longer. The final improvements are small increments but add up quite impressively. The longer I have them, the more impressed I am. I generally use them when things are noisy, sticking with the Utopia most of the time, but there are aspects of the Stellia I prefer and never feel hard done by when I have to switch.
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After 40 hours of breaking the bass opened up and the sound stage became alive. The instruments are separated, bass, bass drum everything takes places. I will continue the breaking 24/7 for a while. They sound awesome! Thanks!
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Wow. Thought I was a trailblazer using the HE with actives………great to see the SCM40a systems.
I have the Elac ARF51’s and would endorse afgverhart’s enthusiastic appraisal of the system. Have to confess that it has never occurred to me to deploy sub woofers though.
I also have the Audeze LCD X headphones which like the speakers give me all the detail without any treble glare or forwardness which I suspect I am susceptible to.
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Nice! Pics please! I am considering the elac also! Dont know yet if powered speakers or small amp (like nait50) will be my next move! Thanks
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Same here … Own the Stellia and the Utopia 2022, together they form a combo covering just about everything I like in terms of various musical tastes and variations. To the point even that I am starting to consider selling off my Meze Elite and ZMF Verite Closed
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Went to CanJam again this year and came back with same conclusion. The Naim HE is very competitive.
I got to try my Caldera on a number of different setups. Tried straight out of the Chord Dave and was somewhat bass shy and lacked impact. Would definitely need an external amp. Didn’t care for the dsc Lina stack again. Now Caldera did much better on it than the Expanse did on it last year but it just doesn’t move me. Too polite and not enough impact. Headamp gx mk2 sounded just fine but heard nothing special either. The Feliks Envy tube amp was incredible with the ZMF Atrium but not the right match for the planar Caldera. The worst they sounded was out of this small amp from Austrian Audio that was meant to power their efficient Composer headphones. The Composer was nice sounded my no meat. The Caldera just sort of dead sounding. No dynamics and just warm and thick.
Please not that the Caldera seems to work better with solid state for my tastes, so dynamic headphone would have bigger advantages of using tube amp for an improvement over the internal one. But for the Caldera, think the Naim HE is a really great combo.
The best I heard the Caldera was on the Ferrum Oor stack. And that’s because it sounded like the Naim HE. Punchy, great weight, rich mids, detailed and musical. I spent about 20 minutes or so just enjoying it. Then had lunch and headed home. When I got home, I fired up the Naim HE and didn’t find it lacking or missing anything I heard on the Ferrum. Possible it had a hint more detail but not sure and has no effect on enjoyment. The other thing with the Ferrum stack is it’s 3 boxes and you still need a streamer or hook to pc. I don’t believe there is a remote. I guess one option is to run in bypass mode and still use the Naim HE as dac/preamp. But I really don’t know what the Ferrum Oor would bring that the Naim doesn’t already have.
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