Uniti software update is here!

Chris, what speaker cables are you using with your Atom?

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I’m now using NACA5. Initially, I was reluctant to spend the £400 it would have cost, so I used some old cables I already had, but I recently picked up some used NACA5 for a good price, and the improvement was much bigger than I was expecting.

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In my experience the QED Reference XT40 is much better than NACA5 and is not expensive.

@Richard.Dane is it my imagination or was one of my posts about internet radio deleted from this thread last night?

Maybe yes because I was unable this morning to use the Naim App (Android and IOS).
I tryed to add internet stations (after reset all get lost), but always the App was disconnected. After reboot of my router (7:30 am) it was better. Maybe this was not the cause.

I didn’t remove anything last night. Was it posted on this thread?

Ok thanks Richard, yes I thought it was this thread, must be losing it!

Just seen that you deleted a couple of your own posts last night.

yes maybe I did now that I think about it, I’ve got a bit of flu so not firing on all six! Thanks for checking.

I use xt40 with my Atom. I’m not sure if they are the best choice. Most of the time, sound is dull, with less pronounced highs and mids. And they are very very cheap, the lowest priced qed speaker cables.

Of cource, maybe in my situation this is not speaker cables problem, I don’t know…

250 EUR is not cheap. Maybe you are right … thanks for the information. I’ll ask my dealer if he lends me the cables on the weekend.
Sorry, was not NACA5, was a old cable from Audioquest (green color, CV-4 not sure) with Naim plugs.
And compard with this cable and T+A Speaker Eight, the QED XT40 was better. And I like the type of connection, you can’t compare with the rough Naim plugs.
Sorry “off topic”.

Their price is 120-130 Eur for 2x3m (terminated in both ends with airlock).

This is not “off topic”. We are trying to understand why new update sound different to different user and this can be related to speaker cables :).

I use NACA5 and to me its sounded different. Last night was different again and not for the better, started to sound brittle again. I am not happy with the way the Atom fluctuates so much, interesting to see on this thread its not just me who has this issue to. I am seriously contemplating selling it and going for something else more stable in this regard. Now Arcam have announced the SA30 my interest perked up as I have always loved Arcam’s sounds and still have one of their AV amps and this new Amp will be Roon Ready which was one of the reasons I went with the Atom.

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So your sound changed also, very sad…

I suggest to start new post about Unitis quality fluctuations with the purpose to register people who experience this problem.

The user should report problem, also his system configuration: speaker and power cables, speakers, network connection, audio source, mains type (EU, UK, etc.).

We would have all users in one post and with this information we could write general letter to Naim with the list/link to this post, asking solutions/explanations how to eliminate this problem. Naim will have to do something, as it will be obvious that many people experience serious SQ fluctuations.

I wonder how such a thing is possible. The SW can not change, the HW also isn’t changeable (expect depend of the operating temperature). It seems to be a general HW failure in design similar to the plop-issue while awake from standby. And the Nova does not have this problem because the design is from the amplifier Nait XS 2.

As I already said, I am of an opinion that it is somehow related to accumulated static charges somewhere in the system, maybe in Uniti itself, as I explained in reply of the post “Nova, big SQ jump after 9 months!”.

And if these charges are accumulated by Uniti itself (or Unitis are extremely sensitive to these charges) it is of course HW and unit design problem. And there are some external solutions for this problem, which can be applied without doing changes to unit hardware. For example anti-static sprays, special speaker and mains cables, filtering devices, special magnets which can be mounted on cables. But all this information should be provided by Naim, what exactly to use to eliminate this problem. And if there are no solutions, Naim should take responsibility and fix or replace all the Unitis in the world, like Mercedes did it with their A class several years ago.

Also, let’s take this case. Everyone hears improvement in SQ after the fresh 3.2 firmware installation. But it is temporary. After 2 or 3 days sound comes back to dull, brittle, boomy, etc., depending on system configuration. This shows that it is possible to change SQ by software. I think that installation process does some serious discharges/resets in hardware and this influences temporary sound change. And such kind of reset cannot be achieved by user itself. So one of the solutions would be to do such deep reset every time unit is turned on. But this is also in Naim’s responsibility.

Today I found one more solution how to temporary improve SQ. I turned off Atom and pulled out speaker wires from the speakers. Then I turned on Atom and waited a bit. Then turned off Atom I put the wires back. Turned it on. Again – wonderful detailed, fast sound, with very deep and fast bass. But after 2 hours SQ came back to its bad state: boomy, dull, britle, no detail, etc… How to explain that if it is not some kind of parasitic static charges, which accumulated again in 2 hour? I haven’t had any system that would do that in all my life.

The NAD M10 looks interesting if you want an all in one, might be more consistent too. Not many reviews about though

The BluOS modules in them are a bit flakey when it comes to Roon apparently. Will wait until the Arcams out and see if its any good. It might well be over my budget hard to say as there is no mention of cost yet. It does match the Uniti range mostly for features, Spotify, Tidal, Chromecast, HDMI and Roon but has more inputs overall, a MC phono stage (which I would like so I can possibly ditch a box) and its got DIRAC room correction and it has more oomph than the Atom. If I could afford it I would go up the Naim Range but I cant stretch that far, the Nova is just way too much.

I do love the Atom though when its on form, its just you never know when that will be. Just venting at the moment likely I will stick with it as invested enough already to keep it as happy as it can be, better power blocks, naca5 etc. But who knows.

completely understand how you feel, I remember my Atom as being very inconsistent and it sounded different nearly every time I switched it on. Far away hills are greener and a Nova wont necessarily cure that issue and although it generally seems more stable sq wise it’s still far from rock solid. I find it all very tiring to be honest and when all you want to do is listen to good music it always seems disrupted by listening to your hifi.

You have already had all the advice given in other threads (including from myself with which I can draw a huge experience from) as to why your NAC A5 is behaving like this, but it seems you choose to ignore, oh well. It is not your Atom or your NAC A5 - i assure you. That cable needs to be professionally terminated.