UnitiServe/NS01 Review
Posted by: Mr Underhill on 19 March 2011
Thought I'd write up some listening I've been doing over the last week to the Naim UnitiServe (US) and the NS01; and compare that to my old laptop build (CMP2) and its current build (XP).
I'd like to thank my local Audio-T, and Mike in particular, and Cymbiosis, and Wayne.
Introduction
Over the years I have been VERY unsatisfied with digital audio. The first CD player I heard that I thought had something was the original two box Naim CDS, but it was well beyond my budget. I went through a chain of players and finally ended up with a DVD5 playing into a Benchmark DAC1.
I was overjoyed when I found the CMP software, and more particularly their documented methodology for stripping the extraneous services from the XP operating system. The result, via a HiFace, was very good:
https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605731059
In November I decided to park my EAR amps and set up my HiFi as a fully NAIM AV system, for reasons I won't bore you with here. I also decided to rebuild the laptop with a standard XP build, restore networking and allow myself to stream Spotify to my nDAC.
This was successful, but I then started playing with DLNA & uPNP, and streamed my audio files to the laptop, and heard, within the context of that XP build, a jump in the quality.
https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604310558
In that report I wrote:
"...and now? Well, I'm sitting here listening to the best digital audio I have heard through my Naim gear at home."
Please note, 'through my Naim gear'.
Three weeks ago I reconnected my EAR864/534 amps.
I really thought they were broken, the sound was just not what I was expecting. I realised that in using the AV2 as a pre, and a 250 as a poweramp the amount of music I had been listening to has fallen off sadly.
I decided to have a listen to the UnitiServe.
Naim UnitiServe(Non-SSD) & NS01
Mike warned me not to throw the box over my shoulder, no heavy transformer in this box! A half size nicely finished box with a front slot for the CDs, and an illuminated Naim logo, that doubles as the button to close the server down.
I am very impressed with the job Naim has done to allow a non-technical user to simply take this home, turn it on and get it up and running. If you have a bit of technical knowledge and want to set IP addresses then this can be done, but requires a separate piece of software.
One oversight is the lack of settings for a Proxy-Server, even much cheaper hardware allows this, and I think Naim should look to make this available.
Having installed the US, and hooked it up to my nDAC using a borrowed DC1 I started to listen, and immediately realised how sadly the quality of the Laptop had been compromised by the switch from CMP2 to XP. Here was a sound that was powerful and engaging, much as I remembered from the CMP2.
I had also seen an ex-dem NS01 on sale for a very reasonable amount, and decided to listen to that also. The NS01 was very far from light!
I had talked to a number of people and was advised that:
-The NS01 has the OLD PCI card fitted;
-The NS01 has a switching power supply, like the US, but you cannot move it physically away from the rest of the HiFi;
I was quite prepared to consign the NS01 to the heap of bad ideas, and almost canceled it being sent at all.
The configuration of the NS01 was precisely the same as that for the US, and having set it up I sat down to listen.
I was immediately struck by the somewhat different presentation, and by how it seemed to allow my system to image so much better than the US, and this was when it had only been on for an hour or so.
Ultimately the US sounded warmer, in a way the some might call analogue. I could well imagine many preferring the sound of the US, I was biased that way myself before even listening to the NS01. BUT, the NS01 just puts the musicians on a sound stage in my system, and presents what they are doing with power, control, space and clarity.
NS01 or CMP2
I have been wrestling with this over the last couple of days, and the VFM conundrum.
As the NS01 has settled in, and I have listened to a LOT of music, I would confidently state that the NS01 beats the CMP2 in clarity and shear balls, in transmitting the shear power swings of music, whilst allowing me to follow the various musical threads, be it Pink Floyd or Mozart's Requiem, which is playing whilst I type.
Whilst the CMP2 gets close, and it is superb VFM, the NS01is better, and has a trump card to play, usability.
In moving back to a standard XP build, to get networking up and running, I enabled the streaming of Spotify, whilst stripping out the musicality that careful setup in the CMP2 build allowed. What a good job Naim have done in getting great music from their servers, and retaining such services as networking.
As the Naim servers are networkable I can keep my music remotely, and access the server itself whilst sitting in my chair. The CMP2 laptop was like using a turntable, listen to some music, and then bounce up to pick what was played next. The XP build allowed me to retain my seat, but I actually listened to little music, watching many films.
The Naim ripping engine is excellent. NOT because I believe it to be a step up in the ripping art, but it IS a step up in convenience.
These usability features are easy to overlook, or denigrate, but add significantly to the joy and enjoyment gained from owning and making use of a piece of hardware.
Cabling
In demoing the US and NS01 I quickly realised I could easily tell whether I was listening to a flac or wav file. Was this some magic of the Naim ripping or replay methodologies? Actually, it turned out to be the influence in my system of the DC1.
When I swapped my Stereovox digital cable back in my ability ended.
I bought the Stereovox in 2005 when I bought my DVD5. I listened to a wide variety of cables, including two extended runs with the DC1, which was OK, but failed to really impress, despite my internal bias.
And now? It certainly works well in the context of the US/NS01 and nDAC. Better than the Stereovox? Certainly differently, more finely etched perhaps. Further demo required.
The Decision?
For me the NS01, in the context of my system, is preferable to the US and the CMP2 laptop, it is very good.
I will be buying the NS01. I have considered the NDX / Linn DSs, ......but will stop rather than write three more paragraphs!
Now, should I upgrade the PCI? A blind upgrade, whilst I enjoy what I've got now??
Oh, and I'm going to keep the laptop XP build, so I can listen to Spotify when deciding what CDs to buy.
M
I'd like to thank my local Audio-T, and Mike in particular, and Cymbiosis, and Wayne.
Introduction
Over the years I have been VERY unsatisfied with digital audio. The first CD player I heard that I thought had something was the original two box Naim CDS, but it was well beyond my budget. I went through a chain of players and finally ended up with a DVD5 playing into a Benchmark DAC1.
I was overjoyed when I found the CMP software, and more particularly their documented methodology for stripping the extraneous services from the XP operating system. The result, via a HiFace, was very good:
https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605731059
In November I decided to park my EAR amps and set up my HiFi as a fully NAIM AV system, for reasons I won't bore you with here. I also decided to rebuild the laptop with a standard XP build, restore networking and allow myself to stream Spotify to my nDAC.
This was successful, but I then started playing with DLNA & uPNP, and streamed my audio files to the laptop, and heard, within the context of that XP build, a jump in the quality.
https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604310558
In that report I wrote:
"...and now? Well, I'm sitting here listening to the best digital audio I have heard through my Naim gear at home."
Please note, 'through my Naim gear'.
Three weeks ago I reconnected my EAR864/534 amps.
I really thought they were broken, the sound was just not what I was expecting. I realised that in using the AV2 as a pre, and a 250 as a poweramp the amount of music I had been listening to has fallen off sadly.
I decided to have a listen to the UnitiServe.
Naim UnitiServe(Non-SSD) & NS01
Mike warned me not to throw the box over my shoulder, no heavy transformer in this box! A half size nicely finished box with a front slot for the CDs, and an illuminated Naim logo, that doubles as the button to close the server down.
I am very impressed with the job Naim has done to allow a non-technical user to simply take this home, turn it on and get it up and running. If you have a bit of technical knowledge and want to set IP addresses then this can be done, but requires a separate piece of software.
One oversight is the lack of settings for a Proxy-Server, even much cheaper hardware allows this, and I think Naim should look to make this available.
Having installed the US, and hooked it up to my nDAC using a borrowed DC1 I started to listen, and immediately realised how sadly the quality of the Laptop had been compromised by the switch from CMP2 to XP. Here was a sound that was powerful and engaging, much as I remembered from the CMP2.
I had also seen an ex-dem NS01 on sale for a very reasonable amount, and decided to listen to that also. The NS01 was very far from light!
I had talked to a number of people and was advised that:
-The NS01 has the OLD PCI card fitted;
-The NS01 has a switching power supply, like the US, but you cannot move it physically away from the rest of the HiFi;
I was quite prepared to consign the NS01 to the heap of bad ideas, and almost canceled it being sent at all.
The configuration of the NS01 was precisely the same as that for the US, and having set it up I sat down to listen.
I was immediately struck by the somewhat different presentation, and by how it seemed to allow my system to image so much better than the US, and this was when it had only been on for an hour or so.
Ultimately the US sounded warmer, in a way the some might call analogue. I could well imagine many preferring the sound of the US, I was biased that way myself before even listening to the NS01. BUT, the NS01 just puts the musicians on a sound stage in my system, and presents what they are doing with power, control, space and clarity.
NS01 or CMP2
I have been wrestling with this over the last couple of days, and the VFM conundrum.
As the NS01 has settled in, and I have listened to a LOT of music, I would confidently state that the NS01 beats the CMP2 in clarity and shear balls, in transmitting the shear power swings of music, whilst allowing me to follow the various musical threads, be it Pink Floyd or Mozart's Requiem, which is playing whilst I type.
Whilst the CMP2 gets close, and it is superb VFM, the NS01is better, and has a trump card to play, usability.
In moving back to a standard XP build, to get networking up and running, I enabled the streaming of Spotify, whilst stripping out the musicality that careful setup in the CMP2 build allowed. What a good job Naim have done in getting great music from their servers, and retaining such services as networking.
As the Naim servers are networkable I can keep my music remotely, and access the server itself whilst sitting in my chair. The CMP2 laptop was like using a turntable, listen to some music, and then bounce up to pick what was played next. The XP build allowed me to retain my seat, but I actually listened to little music, watching many films.
The Naim ripping engine is excellent. NOT because I believe it to be a step up in the ripping art, but it IS a step up in convenience.
These usability features are easy to overlook, or denigrate, but add significantly to the joy and enjoyment gained from owning and making use of a piece of hardware.
Cabling
In demoing the US and NS01 I quickly realised I could easily tell whether I was listening to a flac or wav file. Was this some magic of the Naim ripping or replay methodologies? Actually, it turned out to be the influence in my system of the DC1.
When I swapped my Stereovox digital cable back in my ability ended.
I bought the Stereovox in 2005 when I bought my DVD5. I listened to a wide variety of cables, including two extended runs with the DC1, which was OK, but failed to really impress, despite my internal bias.
And now? It certainly works well in the context of the US/NS01 and nDAC. Better than the Stereovox? Certainly differently, more finely etched perhaps. Further demo required.
The Decision?
For me the NS01, in the context of my system, is preferable to the US and the CMP2 laptop, it is very good.
I will be buying the NS01. I have considered the NDX / Linn DSs, ......but will stop rather than write three more paragraphs!
Now, should I upgrade the PCI? A blind upgrade, whilst I enjoy what I've got now??
Oh, and I'm going to keep the laptop XP build, so I can listen to Spotify when deciding what CDs to buy.
M