I’ve been setting up a second system at my second home, a small headphone setup with a Uniti Atom HE and a Class A amp for some of my more demanding headphones.
The system sounded nice, and when I was chatting with my friends, they suggested that improving the power foundation could enhance the sound quality. After doing some research and discussing it with my hi-fi buddies, I was advised to make a relatively small investment in a Furutech FP-1363-S NCF UK single wall socket and an Isotek V5 Sirius power conditioner.
Once I added the Sirius, the improvement was immediately noticeable—the background became darker, the sound felt more relaxed, and the soundstage and layering improved. There was also more dynamics and resolution, likely because the cleaner power reduced interference from other devices on the same grid. It was a really nice and noticeable upgrade as soon as I plugged it in.
Since I needed an electrician to install the wall socket, I had to wait a couple of days. Once it was installed, things got really interesting. As soon as I plugged everything back in, I noticed an even darker background and an overall more open sound—just with the Furutech wall socket alone! That was pretty surprising, and I knew right then that I had made the right call.
I also picked up a pre-owned Naim Powerline and decided to connect it to the Uniti Atom. Wow! Another level up! I’ve always felt safe upgrading within the Naim brand since their products are designed to work well together, and this was no exception—it was a definite step up from the Powerline Lite that came with the Atom.
Honestly, I was skeptical about these upgrades and just hoped they would bring a positive change to the Uniti Atom HE. After all my research, I’m really happy with my choices—everything turned out to be legit and doing exactly what it should.
Just wanted to share my experience—hope this helps anyone considering similar upgrades!
Adding a £1,200 power bar to an Atom HE wouldn’t be my choice. Naim recommend against using power conditioners, as they can reduce the musicality of the system. If you have terrible mains they may be the lesser of two evils, but otherwise they are best avoided. A well sorted dedicated mains setup, with separate consumer unit and a power cable just for the hifi is generally the way to go.
My HE uses the dedicated mains I had installed over 25 years ago when I had a big Naim system and I get totally silent backgrounds. It has a Crabtree unswitched double socket of similar vintage and I’ve never thought twice about replacing it with anything with alleged audiophile qualities. I do have a PowerLine, again a hangover from the bigger system.
Your mains and power management makes perfect sense and I can see why it sounds better. Taking all from a high quality mains socket (so often a bottleneck) to a single mains box (and a conditioner for your headphones system I think is very smart) feeding into your system is a great solution.
Splitting mains through different sockets, let alone spurs like some who advise here against what you’ve done is far from optimal but sometimes impractical or unavoidable e.g. with active speakers.
I completely forgot that it’s best not to use conditioners with a Naim system. I used to have an NDX/SN2 and a 272/250 setup.
Anyway, I got the conditioner at a very reasonable price—around 500 quid. In the future, I can always move it to my AV system and plug the Atom directly into the wall socket to test the difference.
Next, I’m planning to go with a pair of active speakers. I’m still considering my options, but I’m looking to demo ATC, Genelec, and Harbeth. I might also check out the new PMCs. Any suggestions? Anything that pairs well with the Naim sound?
Also, what XLR cables are you guys using? This is an unusual question for Naim systems since they traditionally used DIN connectors. I’m particularly interested in the Cardas Clear Reflection series—it’s a tribute to their legendary Golden Reference and has that warm, musical character that might pair well with Naim.
I have PMC twenty5.21i actives. They are connected using Mogami microphone cable with Neutrik connectors, made by designacable. They cost about £60 for the pair. I really don’t think you need anything fancy.
I recently demoed some cables from friends, ranging in price from $80 to $1200. This was a new experience for me with Naim systems, as I had previously only used stock DIN cables and HiLines. I had never experimented Naim with aftermarket cables from other brands before.
To my surprise, my system responded positively to higher-end cables. The $80 cable sounded okay—not bad, but nothing particularly attention-grabbing. However, as I moved up the ladder, I noticed a significant improvement in sound quality. Some might argue that this alters the classic Naim sound rather than simply enhancing it, but in my case, the changes were undeniably for the better.
I demoed the Cardas Clear Reflection XLR (1.0M) and was thrilled with it. To my ears, it complements the Naim house sound exceptionally well. it’s a considerable investment, but its musicality, smoothness, and forgiving nature—along with a really nice midrange and a deep, well-defined bass presence—made listening so enjoyable that I’m planning to order one for myself.
If Naim had introduced their own XLR balanced interconnects, I wouldn’t have gone down this route and discovered just how amazing the Uniti Atom HE can sound with them.
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