This is the problem I’ve worked hard the last 25 years to get the setup I have now and tbh I’m unsure. I know it sound fantastic but so does the Atom. I have friends that struggle to hear the difference, I’ve always dismissed them as ill informed, maybe we listen too much to the electronics and not enough to the music.
I’m still unsure and confused.
My plan is over time to reduce the 18 (not 17 ) naim boxes down to 10
Well in 2 places anyway - I’ll get depressed departing with the other 8 though
And stay away from the bar. 
It’s a huge part of our lives over many years but I get your point
But what I do know is that the Atom and Nova ( have had both ) didn’t do it for me after a while
So went back to separates
Apologies everyone gone a bit off thread here
Do you miss your CD555
See the links in these posts:
While I’m not at the stage you guys are at with my main system I am looking at my study kit. After two years of using the study as a bit of a test lab for trying out kit for the main system I now have a whole number of boxes to play with. I’m not sure that the current 4 box system (plus turntable, phono and streamer is necessary. I’m now looking at the GoldNote IS-1000 as a possible one box replacement. I’d like Naim to have something similar.
I certainly do - it is a magnificent machine
The SQ was just so natural.
I now have the CD5XS/nDAC/XPS-2 combo and whilst it’s pretty fine it’s nowhere near the level of the CD555 (those 3 boxes will go in time)
I miss it
CD play back has become a real problem for us loyal Naim fans. Think not having a decent new generation play is disappointing. This brings us back on topic and new player would be welcome.
Pete, you have plenty of time to make a decision. I see many people on this forum with the same dilemma. I do not think there is a wrong or right here, it is just a personal preference. It was like when I decided to give up having a CD player and rip all my discs to a Naim Core. I now could never go back to playing a cd again, what with all that rummaging to find the disc, then take it out of case and put it in player. In fact, if I only owned a few discs, I would have got rid of them, not bought a Core and relied entirely on a music streaming service. I wonder how many people, who have spent vast sums of money on HiFi boxes, would make the same choice again, after living with it for a few months and doing a revaluation against so called lesser boxes. I believe the perceived difference would have diminished from the original demonstration and that convenience, functionality and lower maintenance, would play a part in this revaluation.
What I will say is for most people is, no matter what HiFi you choose to purchase, you will never have the best HiFi system in the world. 
How true obviously a first world problem, maybe that’s it -guilt.
There is probably a market for a book “The hi-fi psychologist”.
I will not wait, for the royalties to roll in.
I get the streaming thing I just haven’t gone there yet ( do have core and dac though) in the sense of NDX2 etc etc
What would be good in that department would be a naim shoebox streamer with quality of nd5xs2/NDX2
If we are talking about trying to cut down on full width boxes taking up space
Seems to be a gap in the market for half width streamers (incl dac)
As Jon Anderson, of Yes, once sang:
Soon oh soon the light
Pass within and soothe the endless night
And wait here for you
Our reason to be here
Soon oh soon the time
All we move to gain will reach and calm
Our heart is open
Our reason to be here
I have resisted going down the streaming route for a few reasons but mostly that unless you are a mega-successful musician you get shortchanged by the payment model. Because I am shielding I haven’t been to a music shop for a couple of years, everything has been bought online. So s a result of these two factors, I have recently begun to buy downloads from Bandcamp. Which I find works well for me. It is a bit of a hassle downloading to my PC and copying the file onto the SD card for my Star, which doesn’t recognise the download until I edit the folder name. I can live with this as it is easy to download an mp3 copy for my phone and the car.
Ah “Soon”, one of our wedding songs!
How cool is that, Yes play at your wedding.
Wish I had received an invite.
@NoNaim as a fellow ATC40a owner do you miss the 272/555 combo versus the Uniti Atom HE? I seem to recall asking you a similar question last year but you were reluctant to say too much for some reason?
Hard question to answer, as I never ran the ATC’s with the 272/555. I also was using the 300 with PMC Twenty5 26 and Townshend Seismic Podiums.
Sat here listening at present, I could live with this setup. However, I have one more change - can you guess what it is? - Schhh 
What you have going for the Atom, is the updated streaming board and also the balanced XLR output.