Naim Unitiqute 2 - Streaming to it??
Posted by: Lewis on 12 November 2014
As above. I have a Nait 2 at present and am using an airport express (as of tonight) but it's been a right arse to set up and keeps dropping off etc. I am this close to chucking the effing thing out of the window, it's a POS. Anyway, if I were to buy a unitiquite 2 can you stream to that directly rather than buggering about with any middleman boxes such as the AE? I know it's not possible with the unitiqute 1 but wonder if it is with the 2? Thanks.
Bloody apple!
Thanks fellas.
Ok, so the problem I was having was that initially it would not show up as a device in the WiFi settings. After resetting a few times, then setting it up and adding to the network it works. I got it playing on Spotify eventually, but I had the problem where it would play via iTunes, but then when I switched to Spotify it would play through my phone speaker, but when I tried to use airplay to play via the AE it would not play the track. To be fair Spotify can be buggy and annoying too. I did get it working at about 11:30 last night after swearing a lot and in between other house chores, however, it dropped off the network twice while playing, and could only be found again after re-doing the set up process. I suspect this is more to do with my WiFi signal downstairs right? I wanted it to remain wire free and don't have anywhere to plug in an Ethernet cable downstairs (new house and rubbish wiring). I'll admit I am impatient with things and just like things to 'work' without effing around but I am also prepared to spend time setting things up properly when they work well! I will give it a chance and let you know how it goes.
I am still seduced by the Unitiqute though. Can you stream to the 2 directly from Spotify with need for an AE? That's what I actually wanted to know initially after my rant! 
quote:I use a UnitiQute 1 with a 128GB thumb drive plugged into the front USB port. I use FLAC files. It just works.
O ?! Hmm, that sounds interesting to me. 
Despite the fact that most people don't seem to give a beep about the USB playback option I find it rather clever, because:
It always works.
No need to know anything about network settings of any level.
No need to have a PC powered up. (no, I don't have, need, want a NAS)
Many albums stored in flac on something small and solid, for peanuts money
Only small bummer I experienced so far with streaming music on a USB-stick is no cover-art.
I'm (pleasantly though) surprised to read that even a 128GB USB thumb drive works fine with a Qute. (I was told once that 32gb would be max) 
I can almost store my complete music collection of 570 albums on one 128GB thumb drive.
If I understand correctly, the next batch of uniti Qute2s will have Bluetooth, which will allow them to receive Spotify from e.g. an iPhone. Older 1s and 2s require the AE or similar Bluetooth adapter to play a phone wirelessly.
Nick
Do we know when these new systems that have Bluetooth will be launched?
How will this work? Will the UnitiQute do this via WiFi, or will it have to be connected to the modem/network?
My problem is that I have a CDP, as well as turntable, but also want to be able to stream music from spotify as it's convenient. I want (need) a way of being able to stream music without need of an Airport Express as the damn things keeps dropping off the network. I do not have any sockets downstairs that I can hard wire it into. A bluetooth device may work, but haven't really seen one that's decent/looks tidy. Also I would need a standalone phono stage for the turntable if I went with a UnitiQute right?
I also have an external hard drive full of music that stores the files accessed by itunes to play music, is there a modern fandangled way of using a Naim device to play these? Ideally I would sell the CDP to raise funds then burn new CD's to itunes/the hard drive when I wanted to listen to something new, but also be able to play vinyl and spotify. Not much to ask I hear you say!
If I understand correctly, the next batch of uniti Qute2s will have Bluetooth, which will allow them to receive Spotify from e.g. an iPhone. Older 1s and 2s require the AE or similar Bluetooth adapter to play a phone wirelessly.
Nick
Do we know when these new systems that have Bluetooth will be launched?
How will this work? Will the UnitiQute do this via WiFi, or will it have to be connected to the modem/network?
My problem is that I have a CDP, as well as turntable, but also want to be able to stream music from spotify as it's convenient. I want (need) a way of being able to stream music without need of an Airport Express as the damn things keeps dropping off the network. I do not have any sockets downstairs that I can hard wire it into. A bluetooth device may work, but haven't really seen one that's decent/looks tidy. Also I would need a standalone phono stage for the turntable if I went with a UnitiQute right?
I also have an external hard drive full of music that stores the files accessed by itunes to play music, is there a modern fandangled way of using a Naim device to play these? Ideally I would sell the CDP to raise funds then burn new CD's to itunes/the hard drive when I wanted to listen to something new, but also be able to play vinyl and spotify. Not much to ask I hear you say!
Ok, a few different issues there. Basically everything under discussion here requires at least one piece of equipment to be connected to a network. There is such a thing as wifi direct which doesn't use a network, but as far as I'm aware that's not how any of the devices concerned operate. That is to say, as far as I know, you can only currently stream to a Unitiqute via a network, regardless of whether it's a wifi or cable connection.
In the case of bluetooth, you don't need the UQ to be connected to a network (or at least you shouldn't - obviously Naim's implementation is yet to be seen, but there's no reason why it would need to be connected to a network). So if you had files stored on an iphone, you wouldn't need a network to stream them from the phone to a UQ via bluetooth. No extra bluetooth device is required if you have a phone and one of the new UQs.
But we're talking about spotify. Spotify connect means instead of playing spotify songs on a phone and then streaming the audio to a UQ, the UQ communicates with spotify directly itself. The iphone is just used to tell the UQ what to do, and the data doesn't pass through the phone en route.
But you still need a network either way. In order to play spotify on an iphone and then stream the audio via bluetooth to a UQ, the iphone would need a network signal, since it has to get the data from spotify in the first place In order to play spotify tracks directly on the UQ using spotify connect, the UQ needs to be connected to a network. And to control that with an iphone, the iphone needs to be on the same network, too. So in practise there's little difference. If the phone can connect, presumably the UQ will be able to as well. Generally it's considered best to connect uniti products to the network via ethernet cable, but wifi should work fine if there's a decent signal. It *should* be far more stable than using an airport express via wifi if my experience of the latter is anything to go by (i.e. it was hellish, and I gave up).
It remains to be seen, but one would have thought there would be sound quality benefits when using spotify connect on a UQ compared to using spotify on a phone and then sending the audio to a UQ from there.
Hopefully I've got the point across intelligibly, but ask away if I haven't!
The other bits. Yes, you'll need an outboard phono preamp to connect a turntable to a Unitiqute. I do this myself, running a turntable into an old NAD phono preamp, and thence into the analogue input on my UQ. I only really do it to maintain a legacy capability to play vinyl, but I'm sure with decent gear it'd sound good.
Similarly, I have a CDP which I run via coax digital cable into one of the digital inputs on the UQ. No real difference between coax and optical as far as I could tell, it's just convenient that way for me. Again, I could just rip CDs, but it's there to maintain the ability to play them conventionally if required.
As regards the hard drive, it depends what kind of drive it is. From your phrasing 'accessed by itunes' it's hard to be sure. If it's a standard USB external drive, then I believe you can plug it in to the UQ directly, and the UQ will access the files on it. But I haven't tried doing so myself. Others will be able to confirm/deny. If it doesn't work, you could copy the files to a USB memory stick and plug that into the UQ - high capacity sticks are getting pretty cheap now.
But a more elegant solution is to use a NAS. Again, this requires that the UQ is connected to a network - be that by cable or by wifi. But it works without having to move external drives from one device to another or having to have a stick poking out of your stereo.
Bottom line is that what you ask might seem a lot, but it isn't too much. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of how it works if you're not familiar with it, but it can and does work well once you've got it sorted.