The only vaguely contentious thing beyond no CD is why it wasn’t called the Nova Lite. Then the Nova range would have had three options under one name. As the full fat Star is gone, perhaps it should have disappeared as per the Core. However, at the end of the day, it’s very similar to a Nova but with less inputs and outputs, so less expandable and a bit less power.
If they then did an Atom PE, assuming you could get a bit more oomph out of it, then you could have three Atoms and three Nova’s… maybe slightly less disjointed, but hardly the end of the world
You are not wrong , but would it be really better sounding vs a Nas?
Personally I think a Naim transport, streamer without a dac, would be more appealing.
I’m not sure there’s much point as Naim no longer make a separate DAC on its own, instead the “streamers” are really network enabled DACs in their own right.
Even better (for me) would be to be able to stick some SSD inside the ‘streamer/DAC’ and do away with a NAS and an Ethernet cable.
Other companies, such as Aurender and Grimm, do this.
Again I have no idea if, from a sound quality perspective, it’s better to have the music storage with the most direct connection to the streamer as possible or for it to be as isolated as possible.
The answer here is that if someone wants to have the functionality of an Aurender or Grimm, they should buy and Aurender or Grimm. Naim have the history and reputation to make those products that sufficient people will buy and which fit with their ethos. And if people don’t like what Naim make, they can buy something else.
However by having the streaming computer andsoftware built into the same unit as the DAC, there is built-in redundancy of the DAC when at some point that streaming side becomes obsolescent and unable to be updated. A good DAC will always be a good DAC, even if better might become available in the future. Separating the two makes sense from that point of view to my mind, and whilst there are possibly some technical advantages of having the two parts in the same box, there are other technical advantages having them separate.
The rendering software might remain with the DAC if that made sense technically.
Agreed, it’s fascinating that so many hurrumphing old buffers seem to think they can run a hi fi business. I’m content listening to great music reproduction, I don’t pretend to be a marketing expert
As a happy Chord DAC owner, I agree. But it’s niche and given the small size of companies like Naim, I can see why they don’t want to build a streamer just for Chord owners, unfortunately :).
But they have customers who purchased (some at great expense) network enabled Dacs, NDS etc that will no longer function with the current streaming services now available.
Naim could have manufactured a streaming bridge for those customers, but they decided to say, tough t1tty, buy a new model.
My impression is just that most people posting here are somewhat puzzled as to the point of releasing the Star Lite, and where the different Uniti model’s now sit in the scheme of things.
I wonder if upon plugging an external CD drive into the USB socket the old CD play software then engages, effectively performing like the standard Star but with a CD drive of the user’s choice? That might explain positioning of it as a Star.
I compared the Star Lite and the Nova on the Naim web-site. You have to look very hard for differences: Nova has more analogue inputs / outputs and 10W more power output.
The Nova has nothing mentioned for USB and internet radio, which is incorrect. The Nova has an optional DAB/FM module, but the back of the Star Lite also has a connector for a DAB/FM antenna.
If I had to choose, I would have no idea whatsoever what to choose and why. Maybe the price for a Nova is a bit high for new customers and the Star Lite is more attractive (but why the lower price?)
