A great review - well written, and very positive - of the Uniti Atom HE in the latest issue of Stereophile.
The review is written by Herb Reichert - who I don’t really know.
I’ll not overly impinge on copyright by pasting any of the specific review - but it’s well worth reading, and a digital subscription is peanuts - but the introduction really resonated with me, as I think it will for many of us.
A bit of a long read, but worth it……
“One summer afternoon in Brooklyn, after a sweaty too-long day doing construction, I stumbled upon a hi-fi shop I’d never noticed before. I thought, hmmm, I bet they have air conditioning.
Inside, the air was only marginally cooler, but before I could leave, an excessively happy salesman introduced himself. After a bit of low-level chit-chat, he asked me if I was into British audio. I told him I “Never heard of it.”
After flashing a condescending smile, he directed me to a stark, nearly empty demonstration room (that I hoped had working AC) and showed me an unusual-looking stereo that consisted of a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable (on a funny metal wall shelf), an unusually proportioned “chrome bumper” Naim NAIT integrated amplifier, and these 12"-tall Linn Audio Kan bookshelf speakers sitting on 24" steel stands situated tight against the wall. The only other object in this airless, windowless, beige-painted room was one stingy, uncomfortable chair. I remember thinking geez, what have I got myself into?
With a serious look, the salesman asked me what kind of music I liked, and I said reggae, blues, punk. He responded by playing UB40’s cover of “Red Red Wine” from their album Labour of Love, a disc I played often at home.
At the time, my home system consisted of a Kenwood KD-500 direct-drive turntable, with an SME 3009 arm and a Shure V15 III cartridge, feeding some Hafler-kit amplification driving my DIY approximation of Jon Dahlquist’s DQ-10 loudspeakers using woofers salvaged from my Large Advents.
In that beige, airless room, through this now-classic Linn-Naim system, Labour of Lovesounded simpler, punchier, and a bit harder than it did at my place. When one side of the album finished, the salesman pointed out how much I was rocking my body and nodding my head while it was playing. He explained how this system specialized in “toe-tapping musical qualities that even non-audiophiles could appreciate.” He went on to explain the whole Linn-Naim keeping-the-beat PRaT thing.1
This was the first time I ever heard anyone talk like that about hi-fi gear. What about distortion and frequency response? Those were terms I was accustomed to hearing.
When I asked why the speakers were so small, he said “Speakers are the least important part of a hi-fi.” When I asked “What component is more important than speakers?” he said, “The turntable dominates how we experience recordings.” When I asked how many watts the amp was, he became totally dismissive, declaring knowingly, “Watts are irrelevant!” When I pressed him on the how-many-watts question, he mumbled, “Naim doesn’t publish that number.” Of course I didn’t believe him.
When I asked about harmonic distortion, he nearly shouted: “That’s irrelevant, too!” When I asked if I could hear some other speakers, he began sounding like one of those fanatical street-corner preachers, so I headed for the door.
As I made my way out, the salesman flashed his confident “you’ll be back” smile and handed me a free copy of Hi-Fi News & Record Review(with an article about the NAIT integrated) and a stapled-together magazine called The Flat Response that explained the Linn-Naim “flat-earth” viewpoint at some length.2
That first encounter with Brit-fi and a Naim Audio product rattled my brain. The engineering viewpoints of Naim’s founder, the late Julian Vereker (1945–2000), as expressed by that salesman, challenged everything I thought I knew about the reproduction of audio recordings in the home. And guess what:
Within weeks, I found myself believing that salesman’s crazy talk. Those flat-earth fanatics, though, seemed annoyingly blinkered, so I drank the Kool-Aid, but I didn’t join the cult.
That was almost 40 years ago. The Naim worldview continued to evolve after Julian Vereker died. Today, some flat-earth clingers think Naim has become less serious—more of a luxury lifestyle brand. This is a viewpoint I do not share.
I’ve been watching Naim from the sidelines as it has evolved, steadily and purposefully, while staying true to its music-first, toe-tapping roots. After years of wondering if I’d like Naim gear in my own system, I decided to review Naim’s Uniti Atom HE streamer/DAC/preamp/headphone amp. I had a feeling it might charm me, and now seemed like the perfect time to engage with another of England’s most esteemed brands”
Great stuff!
.