upgrade steps for Naim Uniti with B&W 803S speakers ?

Posted by: Adler on 14 March 2013

I'm reconsidering to upgrade my Uniti and therefore I'm looking for your hints&tipps.
My actual  setup is a uniti with B&W 803s speakers which it's about 4 to 5 years old but only since 2 years in my ownership I'm happy with this combination, but better is the enemy of good ;-)   My thoughts are going in the direction to upgrade/exchange  the streaming board to 24/192 and to add a amp (i.e. NAP200 but could be also a non Naim amp) because I'm not sure if the internal power of the uniti is sufficient for the B&W 803S. The Problem is, that I have no chance to test it @home, and for this reason I want your thoughts if it's worth to pursue on my upgrade plans. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Posted on: 14 March 2013 by Pev

If you don't need a cd drive I would go for  a Superuniti. That's what I did - much better than Uniti + NAP200 to my ears and the cost was comparable if you trade in the Uniti. Otherwise the Uniti2 has a more powerful amp and still has a CD drive.

Posted on: 14 March 2013 by osprey
I would avoid NU2 until the serious quality problems concerning its CD part are solved. However if the CD is not needed then, as Pev said, SU might fit the bill.
Posted on: 14 March 2013 by Adler

Thanks Pev for your feedback. May that's an option. CD is not longer needed because all CDs are now converted into flac. Is the amp-power from the SU enough to drive the B&Ws ? But beside this option I would pursue on upgrading my existing uniti.

Posted on: 14 March 2013 by Pev

I don't know the B&Ws you have but the SU is vastly more powerful than the Uniti. I live in a detached cottage with no neighbours and the SU drives my large multiway floorstanders (Monitor Audio GR60s) to very loud levels without strain. It sounds way better than my original Uniti in every way and I thought that was very good. I traded in my Uniti and paid about the same as if I had added a NAP200 - and the SU wiped the floor with the Uniti+NAP200 in the dem I had. Also you don't have to bother with 24/192 upgrade and firmware updates for the SU are via usb so much easier.

Posted on: 14 March 2013 by osprey
SU is also rated at higher power output (80W) than NAP200 (70W).
Posted on: 14 March 2013 by winkyincanada

I drove 803S2s with a SuperNait. It did a fine job. Much better than the 100wpc pre/power Audiolab combo it replaced. No reason to think a SU would fare any worse.