A Mega Uniti or Super Supernait?

I feel sorry for naim, the amount of different products they now need to produce to satsify the market!

152xs/150xs/naim dac and a stageline/superline, job done.

If you squeezed it all in one box would it sound as good?

quote:

Originally posted by Mikeie:
152xs/150xs/naim dac and a stageline/superline, job done.

If you squeezed it all in one box would it sound as good?

Probably not but it would be attractive to a lot of people at the £2500 price of the DS-I. I think the DS-I is a well judged product and it will be interesting to see how it goes against the Uniti. Personally, whilst the feature set is perfect for me, the yawn inducing Linn house sound isnt!

Then again, I totally agree that you can’t please all the people all the time. Especially in a market like digital audio.

Waz

Hello,

I would like to buy a new hifi system and as all my music is now on a NAS, I'm looking for a good amplifier + a good digital stream player. Do you have any suggestion? My budget is max 3000Euro.
I listened to the Nait5i + CD5i and was very satisfied by the quality (with Vienna Acoustic Haydn speakers). However, this is not a suitable solution for me as I don't need a CD player but a digital stream player.
I listened to the Linn DS-i and was not impressed by it. It's far below the quality of the Nait5i + CD5i and can't find the purity of the NAIM sound.
I listened to the Naim Uniti too and again was dissapointed by the quality. I think that the Uniti is not powerful enough.
I didn't tried the HDX because it is too expensive and I don't need the CD player/hard disks as I have a NAS.

Do you have any suggestion?
Is Naim gonna to release a digital stream player that could be combined with the Nait5i?
Has anyone tried to combine a Linn DS with a NAIM amplifier?

Tx for your feedback,
Gaetan

quote:

Originally posted by gaet:

I listened to the Nait5i + CD5i and was very satisfied by the quality (with Vienna Acoustic Haydn speakers)...I listened to the Naim Uniti too and again was dissapointed by the quality. I think that the Uniti is not powerful enough.

Gaetan

The Uniti is built around a Nait5i + CD5i and both should sound substantially similar! Speaker choice and synergy become very important with only 50 watts on tap.

Have you tried a Uniti with an additional power amp?

I found the uniti with a 250.2 was powerful enough and performed well enough for me to sell my top end multi box olive system.

Gary

Thanks for your feedbacks.

Indeed the uniti is build around a Nait5i + CD5i but with one single power supply for the whole system. I found the quality of the Uniti below the Nait5i+CD5i.

Adding a additional power amp is a good option but the 250.2 is far too expensive for me (4500€).

The vendor suggested me to use an external power supply because the one of the uniti is not powerful enough. Is it a good idea?

Rgds,
Gaetan

You cannot add a power suply to the Uniti. So you'll need either a power amp or active loudspeakers. How about a 200?

Lots of options if you buy used, but you'd need a dealer to help you there. I don't know anything about the NAS and digital audio tho new things are always popping up.

You can buy second hand and you may not need anything as powerful as a 250.2.

Have a chat with your dealer would be sensible advise.

Good luck

Have anyone actually heard the Uniti with a power amp? It should take some stress of the unternal power supply and drive loudspeakers better. Sounds like an interesting proposition.

Hello,

I went to the wifi show in Brussels today and Naim was present.
I had the chance to listen to the uniti. Speakers connected on the uniti were the new Neat Momentum 4i. According to the Naim distributor, the Uniti has not enough power to drive the Neat Momentum 4i speakers so for the demo, they added an external power supply to the uniti (a Hi-Cap I think). I guess then that it is possible to add an external power to the uniti ! Sound was very good.

I also saw the NS01 which is now running a new software (the NS01 now costs 3800€). It seems to be equivalent to the HDX except that it has no screen. The NS01 was controller by an Ipod touch running a NAIM application (according to the distributor, this application will be soon available on the App Store). Unfortunately, I didn't had the opportunity to listen to the NS01 as it was not connected to any speakers.

I also saw the new dac. It sounds good and is not too expensive (2500€). However, it was coupled with high-end pre-amp/amp so it's difficult to tell you if it's good or not.

For my new hifi system, I see 3 different options:
- Uniti with/without power amp. NAP 155XS? NAP 200?
- NS01. Has anyone tested the NS01 with the Nait5i?
- New DAC + Nait5i + basic stream player.

All 3 options will allow me to retrieve my music stored on a NAS and will approx cost between 4000 and 5000 Euro.
Which option do you think will give the best results?

Rgds,
Gaetan

I have a Uniti in my living room, and it has no contact for an external PSU. WIsh there was one, but no. Maybe there are some development going on.

Yes I did it and I never regretted it. Uniti is a fantastic piece of Naim Audio if you wan't as few boxes as possible. My Uniti was driving a pair of Audioplan Kontrast (Mk II) maybe now 20 years old. I still like this box a lot as it is very neutral and open (my next will be an Audioplan Kontrast Mk V ). My previous system was a Moth Audio passive preamp with a Mission Cyrus PowerAmp paired with a Primare CD 10 and a Grundig Tuner. I always thougt this was a pretty good system. With the Uniti alone, there was much better sound quality and as I happened to have the chance to get a demo NAP 200 at a fair price, I didn't hesitate to buy it. And this was again a big improvement in any respect. The NAP 200 leaves me with many possibility to upgrade (what I don't feel necessary for the moment) and as I said before, I would do it again!

quote:

Originally posted by Bach_Man:
I have a Uniti in my living room, and it has no contact for an external PSU. WIsh there was one, but no. Maybe there are some development going on.

I don't know how they connected an external power on the uniti and didn't look at the back of the uniti to verify. I will verify with Naim and let you know.

Rgds,
Gaetan

quote:

Originally posted by gaet:

quote:

Originally posted by Bach_Man:
I have a Uniti in my living room, and it has no contact for an external PSU. WIsh there was one, but no. Maybe there are some development going on.

I don't know how they connected an external power on the uniti and didn't look at the back of the uniti to verify. I will verify with Naim and let you know.

Rgds,
Gaetan

Sorry, I think that I made a mistake. The guy talked about an external power that costs 1300€... I just had a look at the price list and this is exactly the price of the NAP 155 XS. As the uniti has no contact for an external PS, I suppose that they coupled it with the NAP 155 XS.

That sounds more right. Naim power supplies are generally used to boost the preamp section, to make the amplifiers sound better, not be more powerful.

quote:

Originally posted by gmischol:
Yes I did it and I never regretted it. Uniti is a fantastic piece of Naim Audio if you wan't as few boxes as possible. My Uniti was driving a pair of Audioplan Kontrast (Mk II) maybe now 20 years old. I still like this box a lot as it is very neutral and open (my next will be an Audioplan Kontrast Mk V ). My previous system was a Moth Audio passive preamp with a Mission Cyrus PowerAmp paired with a Primare CD 10 and a Grundig Tuner. I always thougt this was a pretty good system. With the Uniti alone, there was much better sound quality and as I happened to have the chance to get a demo NAP 200 at a fair price, I didn't hesitate to buy it. And this was again a big improvement in any respect. The NAP 200 leaves me with many possibility to upgrade (what I don't feel necessary for the moment) and as I said before, I would do it again!

Hi gmischol,

Thanks for the feedback. I have the opportunity to buy a NAP 150 for 650€. Is it a good option or is the NAP 150 not powerful enough?

Rgds,
Gaetan

quote:

Originally posted by fathings cat:
Have you tried a Uniti with an additional power amp?

I found the uniti with a 250.2 was powerful enough and performed well enough for me to sell my top end multi box olive system.

Gary

Hi Gary

I am quite intrigued that the NAP 250, with an extra 30 watts over the Uniti, can have such a discernible effect. Does this mean that the Uniti power supply only serves the preamp (and all the other features - CD, Radio, etc)while the NAP 250 powers the speakers? Are you taking the signal from preout (RCA) or via the DIN?

I checked the prices for the NAP 200 and 250 and the latter is almost twice the price of the former! I must say that Naim watts are very expensive!

quote:

Thanks for the feedback. I have the opportunity to buy a NAP 150 for 650€. Is it a good option or is the NAP 150 not powerful enough?

As much as I know the Uniti and the NAP 150 are based on the same poweramp design, as the Nait 5i, so I don't think the NAP 150 will bring a big improvement. But I haven't heard it so I recommend to listen to it and decide wether there is an improvment or not. I wouldn't buy whithout this test.