upgrade from UQ2

I have a NAP-100 on my UQ2 and noticed a big difference to the sound, but ultimately it depends on the budget? . . . My next step on from the UQ2 will be to upgrade to a bigger brother streamer in the NAIM range, probably the 272, but note that this needs a power amp, and move the UQ2 to the study.

In terms of ripped files being the same quality, it depends how you have ripped them.  To get "CD" quality sound, you need to use a lossless format like WAV/FLAV/AIFF.  MP3/AAC are "lossy" formats that are compressed.  If your ripped files are "lossy", re-ripping to a better quality format should reveal more of the sound...

Thanks Mike. I use apple lossless to rip. As for my upgrade question I am curious how much of a difference there would be from a UQ/100 to a superuniti 

The easiest upgrade is to move from 16bit files to 24bit files the only downside for yourself in using ALAC's is the maximum bit rate of 48khz for ALAC's as opposed to the higher rates of 96khz & 192khz with FLAC.

I've countered this by using a second NAS with my 24bit files stored on it as FLAC's as I didn't want to confuse things by storing them on the same NAS as my iTunes library.

Its easy to switch between drives when using the IOS app for the Qute

Also storing 24-bit in a separate NAS is a bit OTT & un-necessary:  Music is music,  does it matter if its 16 or 24.  If its important for a person to to know the bit-rate why not just add it as a line on the metadata,  or better still a note on the file folder  ......  Album Name (24/96)

No mention of budget here. OP mentions wanting to improve streaming quality but then mentions an amp upgrade, so it depends on exactly what the desired improvement is. A Superuniti gives an amp upgrade and still one-box, but probably not much in the streaming quality stakes. I quite fancy a bit of a left field consideration of adding a SN2 initially, leaving the UQ as a streaming/radio source into the SN2 until funds allow a streamer upgrade.

Mike-B posted:

MagicAxeMan,     are you suggesting to up-sample existing 16-bit files to 24-bit ???

If so, that does nothing,  it makes the file size larger but the extra space contains nothing,  it does nothing to the sound quality.

Also storing 24-bit in a separate NAS is a bit OTT & un-necessary:  Music is music,  does it matter if its 16 or 24.  If its important for a person to to know the bit-rate why not just add it as a line on the metadata,  or better still a note on the file folder  ......  Album Name (24/96)

Mike, you may be interested to know that Minim now has the facility to sort by sample rate and bits, just by adding a few letters into the setup. So if you want to find your high def files, it can be done really easily, with no need to adjust the metadata. 

jobseeker posted:

No mention of budget here. OP mentions wanting to improve streaming quality but then mentions an amp upgrade, so it depends on exactly what the desired improvement is. A Superuniti gives an amp upgrade and still one-box, but probably not much in the streaming quality stakes. I quite fancy a bit of a left field consideration of adding a SN2 initially, leaving the UQ as a streaming/radio source into the SN2 until funds allow a streamer upgrade.

Hi Jobseeker. Not really thinking of spending too much money but I have the opportunity to buy a SU for about the same price as adding a 100 and selling my UQ. So either I'd sell the UQ and buy the SU or just add a 100 to my UQ. 

Are you saying that the streamer in the SU isn't much better than the UQ?  I'm just curious what would give the best overall upgrade to the sound 

Kenrose - Are you able to get yourself down to a dealer and have a listen?  A SU gives you a better 1 box solution than the UQ2 - Whether this sounds better than a UQ2/100 is down for you to decide, but from a SU you have the ability to add a better power amp in the future as funds allow, whereas the UQ2/100 doesn't really have an obvious building block upgrade without something else being redundant...

It's all subjective, of course, but to me - and, I suspect, most people - the SU is substantially superior to a UQ2/100. 

Another option would be a 172/200, which I think is as good or better than an SU, although a different flavour of sound - a little less forward perhaps.

jobseeker posted:

I quite fancy a bit of a left field consideration of adding a SN2 initially, leaving the UQ as a streaming/radio source into the SN2 until funds allow a streamer upgrade.

This is the upgrade path I'm planning. Stageline/UQ/SN2.

KenRose posted:

jobseeker posted:

No mention of budget here. OP mentions wanting to improve streaming quality but then mentions an amp upgrade, so it depends on exactly what the desired improvement is. A Superuniti gives an amp upgrade and still one-box, but probably not much in the streaming quality stakes. I quite fancy a bit of a left field consideration of adding a SN2 initially, leaving the UQ as a streaming/radio source into the SN2 until funds allow a streamer upgrade.

Hi Jobseeker. Not really thinking of spending too much money but I have the opportunity to buy a SU for about the same price as adding a 100 and selling my UQ. So either I'd sell the UQ and buy the SU or just add a 100 to my UQ. 

Are you saying that the streamer in the SU isn't much better than the UQ?  I'm just curious what would give the best overall upgrade to the sound 

I would go SU over UQ/NAP100 at that 'cost to change' if that was the only choice. I've owned both combinations at the same time.

jobseeker posted:

KenRose posted:

jobseeker posted:

No mention of budget here. OP mentions wanting to improve streaming quality but then mentions an amp upgrade, so it depends on exactly what the desired improvement is. A Superuniti gives an amp upgrade and still one-box, but probably not much in the streaming quality stakes. I quite fancy a bit of a left field consideration of adding a SN2 initially, leaving the UQ as a streaming/radio source into the SN2 until funds allow a streamer upgrade.

Hi Jobseeker. Not really thinking of spending too much money but I have the opportunity to buy a SU for about the same price as adding a 100 and selling my UQ. So either I'd sell the UQ and buy the SU or just add a 100 to my UQ. 

Are you saying that the streamer in the SU isn't much better than the UQ?  I'm just curious what would give the best overall upgrade to the sound 

I would go SU over UQ/NAP100 at that 'cost to change' if that was the only choice. I've owned both combinations at the same time.

I may have mixed up my math a bit, it would still cost about 30% more for the SU. Could you tell me a bit more about owning both?  What do you use the systems for?  I'm curious as to how noticeable the upgrade is by adding a 100 to the UQ

It's always difficult to answer questions like this, as ears, rooms, expectations/tastes and interpretations of words/phrases vary so much. Whilst adding a NAP100 to my 'Qute added something, I've always felt that the 'Qute gives best value as the 'all in one' solution it was launched as. It performed well with some pretty expensive speakers of different types too. At one point I had a NAP250 on my Superuniti. That gave something extra too, but again I still ended up with the same opinion about that when costs versus gains were considered (for me). It worked best as a one-box solution. Others would disagree, as I've read before on here. However, as a choice between 'Qute/NAP100 and SU I would opt for the SU based purely on sound (worth of improvement V cost is a separate and personal thing). 

I have no idea of your future plans and what funds might be available when for you. If you're seeking really significant improvements and not needing to stick to one shelf of Naim, then there are so many directions you could take. 

Kenrose - if you had CDX2 in the past the question that rattles inside my brains is - why UnitiQute????
It's a fine unit on it's own, but the DAC is not up to the standard of the CDX2.

I woud not recommend adding NAP 100 to your UQ. Spend your money somewhere else.

If you plean to get serious with streaming, you can of course move up the Uniti range. However - none of them can be upgraded with Power Supplies. If an objective is to stick to one box, than Uniti or SuperUnit will do a stellar job.

If however you plan to 'develop' your stystem, there are three routes you could take:

1. NAC with a streamer built in (N171 or N272) + matching power amp.

2. Dedicated streamer (ND5XS, NDX, etc) + integrated amp

3. Dedicated streamer + separate pre / power.

The advantage is that all components are upgradable.