I know this is a common issue on the UQ/Uniti range and my pal has just had his replaced by Naim at cost. I have to say I am not convinced with the reasoning behind it failing and the explanations provided with which to avoid failure, however that is another topic for another day.
My question is; mine is now completely dead and whilst the unit works faultlessly otherwise should I move house or change wifi then it is impossible to enter some of these details as the screen and remote is required. (Here is the actual question) could Naim write something into their software app that enables you to set up and operate the unit without the use of the screen and remote? Seems this could be a good compromise for customers rather than charging them a fairly decent sum of money to replace a screen that in my opinion should have lasted longer than it has given the initial cost of the unit itself. I do intend to get it replaced at some point but given the current climate I don’t want to bosch circa £400 on it. Thanks, a loyal Naim lover and customer
PS: I know people have suggested leaving the screen off to avoid it failing in the long term but this to me seems counterintuitive and defeats the object of having one in the first place. I like seeing the radio paradise text and signal bar when in use it looks nice on the front panel. Mine was on 24/7 when the sytem was being used and has failed after around 4 (? I think) years of ownership.
I only paid £360 because it included a new CD mechanism and service. I used mine of over 2 years just using the iPad. I was thinking of selling the UnitiLite as I had an Atom in my second room. Having had a couple of silly offers of £400 from a certain place and decided to hold onto the UnitiLite as I might find somewhere else to use it rather than throw it away!
I have recently had mine back and asked this same question regarding allowing full settings to be accessed via the app. The response was a little vague but not in favour of this change.
Just so everyone is aware, Naim now offer the screen replacement for £140rrp. I missed out on this by a few days but did benefit from a service.
The problem is that the app is just a UPnP control point on the original ND/Uniti range. There’s no way to extend that to controlling the unit configuration. There simply is no API behind that.
The newer range have a more combined approach where the physical units actually expose configuration options. Hence they can be (and are) entirely app controlled. Worth noting it is the same app for both old and new ND/Uniti devices. So the app already does what you are asking if the hardware can support it. Sadly the older hardware doesn’t.
So you see, the problem really isn’t in the app. It is in the hardware. And the original range has very little scope for changing hardware capability here.
I know it is annoying. And I have units where the screen died immediately after a long power off. They were bright and clear for 7 years but 2 months off and a dramatic drop in temp seems to have done them in. But look at it this way: Naim did understand the problem. They did change the design of the new range and applied what they learnt. They can’t do anything about the old range, but anyone who’s screen died within the warranty period had the warranty honoured.
Doesn’t matter whether you left it on or off - mine was always set to ten seconds delay and then off but it still faded at the five year mark, just past warranty. I can still barely see it enough with the room lights out to do a factory reset yesterday (just replaced it in the office with a Matrix Mini-i Pro 3) etc but its resale value is currently about nil without a screen replacement.
Thanks guys. So the app solution wouldn’t work then, oh well it was just an idea. I suppose £140 isn’t as bad and certainly more palatable than £400 given that a second hand unit with a working screen is only about £650ish now. I do really like the display on the Unitiqute and of all the Naim gear it’s one of my favourite little bits of kit. So versatile and sounds great as a stand-alone system too so will probably get it serviced. It’s annoying it’s out of warranty and the fact the display failures seem to be more of a latent defect as it’s very common is why I feel it should be replaced FOC. Never mind.
I feel that £140 is really fair after the 5 years for a new screen. It made me decide to keep my Uniti. It is so versatile, I use it as a source into my 160/HC/62.
If it truly is only that cost to replace then that’s great and I’ll arrange it via my dealer. Of course being in the US it’ll probably be a much more premium price to fix.
