I’m leaning hard towards trading in my Unitilite and NAP 200 (not DR) for a Uniti Star. Of interest to me is that the Star is Roon Ready and has a pretty interface. The CD ripping ability would not be utilized much if at all. That said, I can’t quite make the commitment. With trade in I’d still be looking at almost $2500; is it worth it and why? Will the Star sound better, or is the software better, than the ‘lite’s? All insights welcome. Thank you.
The sound quality comparison is something I think you need to do for yourself, as their is often a variety of opinions out there (some of which will not be based on a careful comparison of the two systems!)
For me, the big plus with the updated streamers is Qobuz 24 bit streaming, which really sounds good.
I also rather like the Radio Paradise FLAC streams which the new streamers support natively via vTuner.
chris, thanks for your insights. side-by-side comparison is not possible and there are many who prefer one over the other. the qobuz aspect is a definite plus.
Since you mention that the CD ripping possibility will not be used, you might consider to stretch to a Nova …
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Another vote for the Nova. 
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understood. I do need the cd player just not the ripping capability but yeah the nova is special.
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If you’re going to use Roon, surely you would want to rip your CDs? You then get a single music library with everything in it, including your Tidal or Qobuz ‘favourites’ merged with your CD rips and downloads. Whether your music is stored locally or online becomes largely irrelevant.
Personally I would rip my CDs just to get rid of the nasty plastic boxes, but we are all different.
chris, I look at the rack of cd’s every day and wonder about their usefulness. on one hand they are easy to use and have the cover art but on the other hand streaming is even easier and the art is virtually available as well. I’ve put a bluesound node 2i into the mix since that last post and am trying out roon. I’ve been loving it but today they upgraded the app and now nothing but problems. two steps forward and one back again…
I guess if your CDs are available on Qobuz there not much point in ripping them as long as you have reliable internet access. Also, very occasionally you may find that a track or album ceases to be available due to licensing issues, but I find that it’s a rarity.
It’s a pity Roon has stopped working reliably for you. I’ve found it to be completely stable since I started using it. I guess you can always fall back to Bluesound or Naim’s native Qobuz integration if necessary.
hi again chris, I’ve reinstalled the app on all of my devices and reset all of my devices by rebooting. I sure do hope that roon works because it is a truly great resource. the naim forum has been helpful in many ways (while the official customer support often delayed and lacking) so I’m looking forward to some insights from the roon forum. as you surely know few things are as disruptive as when settled into a nice musical groove and it stops dead.
I actually use tidal and have zero complaints about it. and yes, there are always the node and naim options.
very much appreciate your thoughts. for your money is qobuz a better way to go?
andrew.
I find Qobuz, especially the 24 bit material, to sound better than Tidal, so I moved to them a few months ago. Some have commented that Tidal’s catalogue is better than Qobuz, but I haven’t found many differences.
good to know. thanks again. ps - roon appears to be holding steady.
I recently upgraded from a UnitiLite to a Nova and the difference is amazing. I’ve never heard the Star but if you can give up the CDs and find a few extra £s then I would highly recommend the Nova. It really is special.
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can you tell me more regarding the improvement? my unitilite runs through a nap200 at 70wpc; the nova has 80. I’m intrigued.
Well I can’t compare to Unitlite + Nap 200 as I was only using the former, but there are improvements in every area. Most noticeably (and I’m not very good at describing how things sound) a bigger and more open soundstage, better timing, much less muddle in the mid-range (which is a product of my speaker placement, not the Unitilite itself) and tighter and richer bass. I haven’t heard a huge improvement at the top end, but it is still noticeable. Speaker cables and speakers have not changed, so this all down to the Nova. Not surprising really given the price difference!
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lol. great endorsement for the upgrade. I’ve taken baby steps… put a bluesound node 2i on my superuniti ($500) and a chromecast audio ($50) on the unitilite. the node will decode mqa, the chromecast not, but honestly, I’m hard pressed to hear the difference. now that roon is working again I’ll listen carefully (instead of wondering and worrying about any problems) and ponder a jump up the naim ladder. thanks very much for your encouragement.
If you’re using the Chromecast and Node to get Roon into your Unitis, I would recommend looking as a UPnP bridge which will make both these devices unnecessary. The Sonore UPnP Bridge is a relatively inexpensive way of doing this, or there are ways of doing it in software which may cost you nothing, but require more fiddling to set up.
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