Hi all,
New to the forum and Naim world…I thought I would contribute…I’ve a brand new Uniti Atom HE, fantastic experience so far, great sound… it’s paired with the Audeze lcd-xc (for private listening) + pair of active speakers, the Buchardt A500’s…for my hears it’s a combination made in heaven, with the extra advantage that I can play with the Master Tunnings and tweak the sound to my room…
I mostly use Roon (Qobuz+NAS), amazing integration with the Atom…I’ve an EtherREGEN linking all together… … Chromecast for family (Google Home) casual listening (Spotify)…all works fantastic so far! As a side note, in my case, I don’t have any use for Spotify/etc Connect…and also no use for MQA…
I’m waiting for this device to arrive…
HDMI ARC Adapter & DAC Converter, edola HDMI ARC Audio Extractor Adapter & DAC Converter Selector with Digital Optical Toslink Coaxial and Analog 3.5mm L/R Stereo Audio for HDTV Speaker Home Theater
…and test if I can use my Apple TV remote to control the volume while connecting my TV to the Atom (Toslink/Coax/Analog whatever works best) as well (since we don’t have an HDMI ARC connection)…anyone trying to do the same? I’m not fuss about TV sound quality, just usability, once again, family use case… …I wish the Atom would be able to detect sound from one of those inputs and shift inputs automatic, but don’t believe that works…
I’m not sure whether it would work, but try setting up the Apple TV as a Roon end point and see if the ATV remote will allow you to control the volume.
Don’t believe that would cover my use case…the use case of connecting the AppleTV(through my TV) to the Naim is for watching TV/Movies/etc, using Plex, etc…not for Roon music…the best/easier option would be to use AirPlay2 directly from the AppleTV to the Naim…and that works (with volume remote control), but in my experience, unfortunately, that connection it’s not very stable and the AppleTV always forgets the connection, every time you turn off the AppleTV you need to reconnect again (only with the Apple speakers that behavior is different, I wish vendors like Naim would negotiate a solution with Apple, since it’s not a technical issue but an obviously a commercial decision for this behavior) not very family-friendly solution…
Btw, for someone looking to use the AppleTV has a Roon remote (big screen cover pics, control volume, next track, etc) there’s already a fantastic app “Roon TV Remote” that works very well…
What about using the Atom HE as just a preamp between an NDX2 and an amp like a NAP 250 DR? In other words using the analog output from the NDX2 DAC?
I’ve done this using the RCA analog output from my ND555 into the HE and the output from the HE into my 300DR.
I would like to downsize from ND555/300 to NDX2/250.
I could then reduce my box count from 7 to 3.
The alternative could be SN3, NDX2, Atom HE or just Atom HE/250 DR.
I suppose it does. I’ve tried connecting the analog input of the HE to snalog out of my ND555. It sounds better than the naked HE but I expect it could be even better w/o that analog to digital to analog conversion going on in the HE
I’m willing to sacrifice some SQ for convenience. I find I’m using my Gen 2 Mu-So and Atom HE more than my 500 level system because it’s so convenient…
I might pick up a NAP 250 DR and have a cable made up to connect it to the Atom HE just to see how it works. If it doesn’t work, I can keep the 250 DR and sell the 300 DR since I don’t use it all that much.
I wonder about NDX2/Atom HE/250
The one box I won’t give up is the Atom HE. Headphone listening is very important to me and the
HE is a joy to use. One box, great remote, enjoyable listening with all music sources.
I wanted to point that maybe the HE preamp would be the weak link, in Ndx2/ Atom HE as pre/ 250.
Maybe Atom HE/ 200, 2 boxes, would be better balanced?
It’s a matter of tradeoffs. I’m a source first guy so my inclination is to include the NDX2. Then I have to include the Atom HE in the mix. Now I’m up to two boxes. I could complete the package with an SN3. That probably makes the most sense.
I wouldn’t have to obtain another cable. I can use my Ansuz D2 DIN/DIN between the NDX2 and SN3.
Now I could dispose of my ND555/NAC 552/300 DR and the Chord Musics I’m using to the 300DR.
So what’s wrong with that?
I’ve owned an SN3 and the amplifier section isn’t as good as the 250 DR.
So if the analog section of the Atom HE was up to a NDX2 to NAP 250 connection that would solve the problem.
What’s keeping me from trying it are cables. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on cables unless I know it will work and if I don’t spend a lot of money I won’t be happy with the results.
I should just let sleeping dogs lie unless or until I’m forced to downsize.
We use the Apple TV for watching TV, Netflix and youtube. The TV is connected to the Atom HE via an optical cable, which works perfectly, but Airplay 2 is so much more convenient! When watching something just select the Atom HE as output device on the Apple TV and there you go. And you can control the Atom using the Apple TV remote. It is so convenient and seamless: no handshake issues, no lip sync issues, perfect. I would definitely recommend you to try this before buying and installing a cable between your TV and the Atom.
Thank you for your note…I will give it a try, my experience with other systems in the past hasn’t been great…and having to connect/disconnect all the time its not a great family experience…
Just checked it on my Apple TV and it seems sound output is defaulted to the TV loudspeakers, which indeed means you have to select the Atom HE manually every time you turn the Apple TV on. Not convenient indeed.
It sounds like you’re asking if the analog NDX2 outputs into the Atom HE then going into the 250DR would sound good? But then it also sounds like you’ve already run your ND555 into the Atom HE then into the 300? So you’re asking if running the NDX2 into the HE into the 250DR would sound as good as running the ND555 into the HE into the 300? I have no answer for that, but I wouldn’t think it would sound as good? Isn’t the 555 and 300 quite a step up from the NDX2 and 250DR?
I did not run the analog out of the NDX2 into the Atom HE into my amp for one reason, as someone pointed out the Atom HE is going to re-digitize the NDX2’s analog output so what’s the point? I ran the NDX2’s digital out into the Atom HE’s digital IN and used THAT situation as a preamp into my Luxman amp. Which is using the NDX2 as the streamer and the Atom HE’s DAC. But it did not sound any different than just using the Atom HE on its own into the Luxman amp. As I mentioned, this is likely because the streamer in the Atom HE and NDX2 are the same.
My takeaway from the experiment that I conducted was that the Atom HE is not going to be the answer for those looking to downsize higher end Naim boxes… Yes, you can reduce your box count and still have high quality sound. But you will not have as high quality sound as you did with your multi-box higher end Naim system.
No, I said I didn’t find the streamer in the Atom HE to be any better than the one in the NDX2. The NDX2 as a DAC/Streaming combo was superior to the Atom HE. Keep in mind I was going from the digital OUT of the NDX2 into the digital input of the Atom HE. This was using the streamer of the NDX2 and the Atom HE DAC. I did not find this to sound any different or better than using the internal Atom HE streamer & DAC. However when compared to the NDX2 streamer/DAC into my system (with the Atom HE completely out of the signal chain) the Atom HE did not measure up.
Whatever I do won’t sound as good as my present system. I’m wiling to give up some SQ for convenience and box reduction. I did try analog out of my ND555 into the Atom HE and despite the HE converting things, it did sound better than the naked HE (not by much). I suppose it’s because the ND555 cleaned things up.
I’m not really as naive to think I could use the HE to replace a good preamp. I just wanted to see how much I’d lose.
So my choices seem to be to go with NDX-2/SN3 or NDX-2/NAC 202/250 DR.
The SN3 option gives up too much SQ and the 202/250 option leaves me with four boxes counting the Atom HE.
I’m going to leave things alone for now until I’m forced to do something.
… Chromecast for family (Google Home) casual listening (Spotify)…all works fantastic so far! As a side note, in my case, I don’t have any use for Spotify/etc Connect…and also no use for MQA… 
