It is - but in my opinon the amp performance between the Atom and the N50 is very different, I guess you ultimately trade convenience for absolute performance and where your priorities are.
I never gelled with the Atom sound, however the N50 brought me back to Naim amps.
As far as speakers - the N50 can pack a punch with dynamics but ultimately the average power over a period of time is relatively modest … so yes it peaks at over 200 Watts, so care is needed with low power speakers but if you are driving high sound pressure levels in extended spaces - then you are going to need a beefier and a significantly more expensive amp for a similar performance.
It has driven my ATC SMC19s well - which are quite inefficient being a smaller nfinite baffle design. Larger speakers tend to be more efficient and better for smaller amps.
However as said above one should always check room and amp matching with speakers if you can - or have the ability to return them.
Simon,interesting what you say. I have couple Nike fans who say that Atom is ok product, but they do not see it as Nike heritage and decide not to buy it.
In my room Unitilite played very well with Guru Junior.
Hi Andre,I had the Uniti Atom for several years and then switched to Nait 50 with ND5XS2. The Atom is a nice little device. With the right speakers, careful placement and good cabling, it produces a cohesive, beautiful sound. But I never regretted the switch. The Nait50 is in a different league. It is faster, controls my speakers better, even though it has nominally less power. It is much more transparent, faster, especially in the midrange and treble, and overall clearly the better amplifier. The Atom, as an all-in-one device, is designed more for streaming. If you are satisfied with the QB2 for internet radio and mainly listen to CDs, the Nait50 with a good CD player seems to me to be the better choice. But here it depends on a good choice with the Nait50, because the Nait50 clearly reproduces the quality of the sources. Currently, the Nait50 is also being offered at significantly reduced prices. In that sense, it’s an absolute bargain.
Wilfried, thank you for sharing your experience. Yes, streaming is secondary for me, QB2 does the job there.
I want to get myself good amlifier and CDP. Looking for Naim sound without being too bright and tiring. Great if could avoid many boxes.
I wonder if the Nait 50’s great sound is because it uses output transistors that can be used for 100W/channel amplifiers yet here, they are used at much lower power. It is one of the reasons for the 225W peak power (1ms of 225W btw).
For such a a small amplifier, it does have interesting features like the switching done by logic rather than direct/mechanical, which I suppose adds to the detail that I am hearing.
A note on the peak power, I would suspect most amps with a proper power supply have such peak ability by some factor greater than their spec wattage but perhaps this is moreso with the Nait?
Aesthetically, it’s a unique looking amplifier with a high end finish combined with old school end user tactile usage. There is just something so right about the “shoebox” size.
I can’t blame anyone for liking remote control but I wouldn’t trade that heavy aluminum knob for anything. It’s like manual vs automatic transmission on a small, sporty vehicle. Makes perfect sense to me.
I agree… I have an Atom, which admittedly I use in the kitchen with a pair of neat iota’s, but have tried with my SBL’s. The atom is fantastic and like most of naim’s equipment has the ability to draw you into the music… The N50 is, in my opinion too, is in a totally different league…
Yes Naim have stated as much on the forum… the limiting function is the transformer… any larger and it wouldn’t fit in the case. Also heat dissipation from the drivers uses the case, so when working hard, the case gets rather warm. But peak power you have oodles of it.
So playing sine waves loud into inefficient speakers… look elsewhere…. Playing a music signal reasonably loud in a controlled, musical way , it is usually superb.
I can’t get over how well it works, with real pounding low hitting beats on E/IDM tracks and orchestral… I love to feel the low energy… and this little amp delivers in spades.
I have recently come back to Naim fold (hi everyone), and I must admit this amp if very different to the Naim sound I remember, though that was a long time ago now. My sugden a21 was alot softer sounding though very good I cant touch this little nait even with my speakers of choice.
I’ve paired this with my unlikely speakers of choice the Klipsch Hersey 3’s, and it’s never a dull moment with these speakers, everything is super fast and “live” sounding. I really like quite a raw sound. Guitars have obnoxious bite when needed and delicate soulful tunefulness the next the textures convey here is awesome, it’s quite addictive . There is no hiding what is going on with this combo the nait really leans into this sound and I really like it.
The phono stage as mention numerous times above is a little gem to it tracks cleopatricks kinetic album bummer with ease, it can come across as an utter mess on some systems, not hear.
Black pistol fire album “dont wake the riot” is awash with bloom and bounce, really gets the foot tapping.
So yeah this isnt going anywhere and is endgame hifi for me.
Because of the NAIT 50, I’ve gone and bought a new Rega Planar 6 !
Got it today….
Dusting off and cleaning up about 2000 albums from my loft from the 70s and the 80s as well as a couple bought today !
I’ve been thinking of getting a TT for a while now. It’s one of the reasons why I traded in my SuperUniti for the NAIT50, I’ve read it’s got a decent phono stage.
I’ve narrowed down my search to a Rega. But still not sure if the P3 (with ND5) will be good enough or if I need to go for the P6.
I don’t own any vinyl, so this is all new to me.
One thing I don’t want, is to get something that won’t be as good SQ wise to my Auralic Vega S1 DAC/Innuos Zen Mini streamer, and I just end up not playing records.
Try a P3 or better still audition it with your Nait 50 .
The P3 can be upgraded with power supply , cartridge etc . I haven’t heard your streaming components , but I have had several P3s and am comfortable with saying that it can be effectively upgraded with cartridge, arm, power supply and platter . I think with upgrades it could actually go beyond the basic P6 . A lot of members of this forum have vinyl and digital
Thanks Ian, that’s great advice. The P3 might be the better starting point for me. And it also means I’ll actually have some money left over for LPs. At around £40 an album, it’s not a cheap hobby.
Been a long time since I spun a record on a platter and dropped the stylus…
Was strangely satisfying hearing the initial crackle and pop on stylus landing….
Great fitting the cartridge, setting up the arm and weight and bias too….
For sure my old analogue turntable system did not sound like the P6 and N50 !
Things have improved significantly haha!
I was curious about the ethereal claims that vinyl would give more soundstage than CD or streaming, the jury is out on that just now, but she sure looks pretty……
That’s it isn’t it. I have about 2,000 albums so to me it makes sense to have a decent method of playing them.
I still buy the occasional record now and then but the prices of new and sh albums these days is a bit of a piss take, spesh s/h. But I guess that’s just market forces.
20/25 years ago, a new CD was priced pretty much as now, I was buying Ex/M s/h records for between £1 and £5.
But I do get it, it’s the emotional involvement of record and TT ownership that wins out and even at today’s prices if I was starting over I would still buy a TT!
No need for a DAC here… this is my office system and I am blown away by the SQ of the Ultra to be fair !
B2B it with my new CA EXN100 and differences absolutely marginal…
the EXN 7x the cost of the Ultra!
You think the Qutest DAC offers VFM ?
In my case yes, I do have a clear difference in presentation, I do like the Chord DAC sound, and I have my Teac transport into it as well, so it serves two purposes.
I do agree with your perception of the Ultra being used without external DAC though. It is an ESS DAC chip after all, which has become the go to option for many it seems. In main system the Ultra on its own was totally liveable. It’s not as detailed on its own, which is not the be all and end all, but it is very musical and a pleasure to listen to.
