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

Streaming Audio
671

The main issue i guess is that they would be cannibalizing the existing Uniti range.

If you can get an Atom HE and a matching small power amp for roughly the same price as a Nova, why would you still get a Nova?

Sure the Nova is a single box which has some small practical advantages, but with the HE you would have some other really interesting advantages:

  • Arguably improved pre amp stage, and the option to use both as a quality headphone amp as well as a hifi stack
  • The option to position the streamer/preamp and power amp in different ways, or move the power amp out of sight
  • The option to add a second small power amp at a later stage for bi-amping

I think that an Atom form-factor power amp would seriously hurt Nova sales, which is one of the biggest sellers of the last few years.

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672

Who knows litemotiv

As Clare said towards the front of this thread - no plans for separate amp but if dealers and customers want it anything could happen

Early days no doubt.

673

Would that really be a problem for Naim if they sold an Atom HE + Unity Amp instead of a Nova if that’s what the customer wants. I’m not sure why Naim would find that a problem if it’s similar profit for Naim either way. More flexibility for the customer if that’s what they want, or an all-in one if they prefer. With the option in the lineup it might even attract sales that could have gone to other manufacturers.

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674

Very good review there.

675

Yes, Chromecast thru Qobuz was very unstable if using hires files. I could only get it to work with 16/44. I also found you can use roon to send to the Naim thru Chromecast, however, the album art doesn’t show and think you lose other functionality. I do think this a bit more sparkle in the music with Chromecast.

I may interpreting this as better sound but if you read and if Rob Watt’s posts, he always says the darker sound is actually the better sound. That RFI can make thinks sound brighter and some people think it better but more fatiguing over time. And you’d think roon’s endpoint has little overhead while Chromecast is playing within the Naim itself.

The difference is very subtle and the roon experience is much better than Qobuz app and Chromecast, so best to stick that. I will be testing out Spotify Connect and Apple Music once lossless is introduced. I prefer Spotify over Qobuz and think interface has a few better features than roon, so if sound is on par, might end up using that. Haven’t played with Apple Music too much other than interface looks a little cleaner on iPhone but not sure if it’s better.

676

I really can’t stands Spotifies interface these days. It’s just too crowded with guff I have no interested in and gets in the way of the music. Also their playlists have been no better than Roons Radio feature for me. If I had to use it everyday I would be frustrated but keen to try out their lossless to see how it compares but having no integrated library will stop me from using it all the time I still buy lots of music and it all has to be controlled in one app for me.

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677

Spoke to my dealer today about it, his firm got it in, he took it home and placed an order the following day.

Guess he didn’t have to haggle over a discount

678

To be honest I mostly use Spotify for working out. I like just clicking on one of the daily playlists and not thinking about what to play. I feel the same for the car. And possibly when I’m finally working back at the office. At home, pretty much just listen to full albums but that could change if has chance to listen to lossless playlists. I only used roon radio feature a few times when it came out and found myself skipping a lot of tracks. Haven’t felt that way about the Spotify daily ones. Also like that other people’s playlists are shared. I’ve been watching Peaky Blinders and have been really enjoying the music. Can’t find right soundtrack on Qobuz but on Spotify, plenty of people have created great ones. So my issue is more to do with Qobuz than roon.

Funny is my son hardly notices my headphone setup but asked about this morning. He seemed impressed by it. He’s only 10, so don’t really let him listen unless I’m standing right there. And my wife listened when I first got it. She hasn’t listened to my setup in months. She always loves the sound and sometimes will listen for hours. She also impressed with the looks and the remote.

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679

Now when these new Atom HE are being roller out I for one hope to get your views on how it fares with a poweramp and speakers. Anyone tried it as a preamp yet?

All the best
Lucifer

680

Hmm not sure you looked hard enough this is on Qobuz. I have the vinyl and digital copy. Covers some of the better tracks used across the show.

Edit. Your right the tracks are mostly unavailable on Qobuz. :man_facepalming:

681

How many Qobuz favorites do you have? It’s a known issue in the Naim app with many Qobuz favorites, at least on Android (don’t know about iOS). I already reported it. I have 2000 favs on Android and until the last app update the Naim app was unresponsive for many seconds (3-10 usually and sometimes up to 30) each time he app woke up (switching from another app or waking up from sleeping). This was improved by some general performance optimizations in the last app update, and though it should be generally usable now, it is still a bit laggy at times

682

Yeah it’s too laggy and makes the app take to long to connect as it’s authorising Qobuz which takes some time. I just turned off Qobuz as I use Roon and overall responsiveness of the Naim app improved and connects almost instantly I have 1713 albums favourited.

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683

It was not just the connecting, but whatever you tried to do in the app was unresponsive for a while after waking up. As noted, is better now but not completely gone. The development team is aware. I also had logged out of Qobuz as I used the Naim app only occasionally for volume, but these days is ok-ish even when logged in (or at least better)

684

Over 7300 albums :open_mouth:

But as said, I don’t have any plan to use the Naim app, was just trying it.

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685

To be fair I checked this album on Apple Music and only a 1/4 is available there. But then there’s a playlist that has almost the whole thing. Spotify has 2/3 of the album but then has the fan made playlists as well. The other thing about the fan made playlists is if I’m looking for let’s say 80’s alternative remix tracks, I can find a dozen or so playlists. Qobuz will has a few, mostly bad, official albums is all. Qobuz also still has a lot of holes in its catalog compared to Spotify. At least for what I listen to.

686

So here is my review after having an Atom HE dropped off at home yesterday.

TLDR; It was for demo purposes but today I just bought it, I am that happy with it.

So to put my “review” into perspective this is why I was interested in the HE: I am extremely happy with the performance of my Star, but the location is not great for using it while I am working so I was looking for something that would equal or better the Star’s headphone abilities in my office.

This is not a review coming from someone with Naim separates, or someone with extremely expensive and/or demanding headphones. I have a Sennheiser HD660s and a Meze 99 Classics. I have also never owned another dedicated headphone amplifier so you are also out of luck if you hoped for a comparison there :man_shrugging:

As I wanted to demo the unit the dealer had already updated the firmware it and left on for a few hours before coming. But beyond that it was not run in at all.

As with all Uniti devices getting it running was super easy. Plug in the power cord and the ethernet cable and I was playing Roon instantly.

Even brand new the sound was more immediate and detailed than what I get from the Star. I was surprised that the Atom HE and the Star pretty much drove the Sennheisers to the same volume at the same volume setting, so I guess that says something about the type of headphones you can use with a Star.

The Star seems to have more base floor at this stage but the HE walks over it with clarity and tightness of the sound coming from the headphones.

I got my first taste of Naim multiroom and it just worked. Played vinyl on the Star at muted volume and multiroomed to the HE with excellent results.

Because I have a Windows computer the Mac Airplay or SPDIF options are not available to me but I do have a Focusrite Scarlet Solo microphone device which connects to USB and offers an analogue out which I connected to the analogue input on the HE with an Audioquest Golden Gate cable I had lying spare. The result? Well the best my computer has ever sounded.

I listened to the HE deep into the night and again put in some hours this morning, kinda knowing the whole time that the HE was not going back to the dealer.

This is an incredible device. No ways around that. Hits every mark it is aiming for with a bullseye. And the plethora of input options comes alive in a tech office setting.

I am looking forward to hearing just how far it will go with some more time running it in. Also have a Shunyata Venom HC cable on the way, so perhaps that adds even more. But quite honestly, if it stays as the level it is right now already I cannot be happier.

Thanks Naim, you really hit the spot here for us who spend more time listening to music on headphones than anything else!

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687

So happy to read that. Keep listening; it’ll only get better as all the components come on song :+1:

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688

Just for curiosity, what is the “official” length of time to run something like this in? Got two weeks stuck in my head from somewhere.

689

I had an early production unit that made great strides in just 48 hours continuous use (left the headphones playing internet radio overnight), and opened up further still in following days. I was so busy enjoying it by that stage that I no longer documented gains in terms of days!

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690

Haha, kinda already at that stage here. But already a difference between first impressions and what it is doing now. Will certainly report back in a few days again and also after plugging in the better power cable.

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