Unitilite upgrade to.......

You say you really like your equipment's 'way of sound'?

I Wouldn't bother messing around with an other power amp and going blind.

Just have a listen in your set-up to see how much of an improvement you'd get with a Uniti or SU.

How long have you owned the UnitiLite? Was it new when you bought it?

I went from an original Uniti to Superuniti and am very happy - it was a significant upgrade and I'm keeping it for the foreseeable.

If you're happy with the UL, are you sure you want more? That way can lie madness, and poverty. 

It may be that the UL isn't the 'problem' (if indeed there is one). Are you using a good equipment rack? Also, I note you're using bookshelf speakers and a sub, which I've never fund completely satisfactory, personally.

If you want to upgrade, I doubt a power amp below a 200 would offer much improvement for the money. Better would be to sell the UL and upgrade to a Uniti 2 (if you must have a CD whotsit) or a SuperUniti, depending on available funds.

A thing about the Uniti range is it isn't easy to pick an upgrade path - which is a good thing (one box, no fuss) and a bad thing (change the whole lot when you want to get better sound). On that basis I can recommend a 172xs/200 combination, which sings beautifully and can be upgraded (slightly) more easily, although I have no urge to do so.

I had a new UL for 6 months last year and upgraded to a SU (my lovely dealer basically gave me back what I paid for the UL against an ex demo SU with full warranty).  

In my system the SU was a big step up in SQ and also by this time I was a complete streaming convert with no need to play CDs once they were ripped.

I bought "blind" but the dealer was so sure I would be happy with the upgrade he offered to reverse the deal if I wasn't happy - so I couldn't really lose out.   He wasn't wrong - the upgrade effect (to my ears) was huge.

Hi HUNGRYHALIBUT, 

I bought my UL the last December,  was new with the latest update to blutooth. 

BORDERS NICK

Do You remember the performance of your ex slim box? As I write this post I Listening italian Jazz , Enrico Rava, the album "Happiness Is" : It will also be the absolute quality of the audio recording anyway it's hard for me to understand what mean that "Big step" that you've got, but maybe that's what I'm looking for.

You have waited six months, I hope to resist till next June

Cheers

I think either of your proposed upgrades will give you a nice improvement. Which of the two is best in terms of sound quality, only you can decide, as it will have much to do with your personal preference, your room and speakers. There are, though, a couple of practical considerations: do you still want a CD player which the SU doesn't have, and do you intend to make further upgrades in future - in which case getting a separate power amp now will be a more useful step in that direction. 

UL was great but after a while I felt that I wanted "more of everything" - punchier, deeper (but not overwhelming) bass; better defined mid-range and smoother treble.  SU gave me all of these in my system.  The effect will obviously depend on your speakers, listening room, cables etc.  The only way to know is to try it in your home ! Enjoy your UL for now - I certainly did 

Hi Anto68. I'm a not so very excited about UnitiLite owner, after parting ways with my beloved Nait 5i. I'm thinking about upgrading to NaimUniti 2, mainly because of the following statement.

"NaimUniti 2 has an analogue heart. Its NAIT 5si-derived integrated amplifier beats true to our long established design philosophies and is the foundation of the NaimUniti 2's audio quality." 

I'm not sure what exactly UnitiLite is derived from but I'm telling you it does not have 2x50W power rating, no way in hell it has. 

Sure, you can aim higher, to SuperNait. Have a look at what Naim guys say about this one:

"The SuperUniti amplifier is derived from our reference integrated the SUPERNAIT 2. Its digital hardware is drawn from the NDX network player and its 24bit/192kHz capable DAC uses the same data-buffering jitter removal process as the Naim Audio DAC."

Dan.S posted:

 

I'm not sure what exactly UnitiLite is derived from but I'm telling you it does not have 2x50W power rating, no way in hell it has. 

 

it would be interesting that qualified member like Richard Dane informed us about the interesting question

 Anyway I was considering the Densen B 310 plus power amp 80W per ch in 8 ohm which is sold at a special price 1700 euro; anyone knows this product or have tested it with naim pre amp?. The Nap 200 is to expensive, at the same price should I sell th UL and buy the SU
I have already contacted my dealer ..... 

I would be very careful about mixing Naim and Densen. Both are very good, but you will lose some of what you like about the Naim sound of the Lite. If you can live without the CD player then the Superuniti is probably the best way to go. 

I don't know where you are based, but you could also look at buying a used 200 from a UK dealer. Lots of people do this. A 200 would be a good idea if you plan on getting a 172 or 272 in the future. 

So: if you just want a bigger and better one box setup get the SU. If you think you want more than one box, get the 200. But whatever you do, don't add the Densen.

I had an SU for two years. Before buying it I tried the Lite, the Uniti 2 and the SU. The SU was a lot better than the Uniti 2, but I felt that the Uniti 2 was miles better than the Lite.

Very reasonable what you say

in fact I do not need a CD player since I can transfer everything to Nas and probably would get better results with the SU through UPnP rather than the same  CD tracks played with the UL CD player.

Now the problem is:

ok I don't need CD player

what is the best solution for better music performance:

Unitilite and Nap 200 (better power amp section than SU)

Superuniti (better pre amp section than unitilite)

Help me

That's a tough one. I called my local dealer to ask if they had tried the comparison, but they haven't. Their instinct, like mine, is that the SU would be better, but the addition of the 200 would make sense if you wanted to move to something else later - say a 272, or maybe a separate streamer and preamp. 

Payed upfront for the SU an hour ago. Left the UL to the dealership and went home empty handed. But happy. The unit should arrive in a month.

The SU power stage is directly derived from the SuperNait2 (so it is NOT just +10W), the dac is from Naim DAC and all the digital stage from NDX, not to mention the digital volume which is a state of the art trade secret in its own right.

I'm just saying..

I haven't heard the SU but I have the U2. My dealer prefers the U2 over SU. From my reading here the SU seems to be a bit warmer sounding or even dull. I'm not sure since I haven't compared the 2. Think if I upgrade I'll add a 200 or 250 then a 272 later on but in still happy with the U2 for now. It's a fun listen to me. 

Anto68, depending on how much money you see yourself spending on this hobby, don't look past the XS components. I started with a UL and now have all XS and the step up from a UL is significant. 

You could add a 155 to your UL,then later sell the UL and buy a 152 and ND5. Or sell the UL and buy a Nait XS and ND5. All these can be found for good prices on the second hand market if you are patient and prepared to shop around. 

Of course a 272 + 200 would be great but it's still an expensive option for many (like me!).  

I think the way forward has to be a change to the Superuniti, which is the best one-box player that Naim makes. Why settle for anything less?

Good luck!

Singslinger posted:

 Why settle for anything less?

 

Exactly, I agree with you, I am totally convinced for an upgrade to the SU.

 I read that the SuperUniti is designed for those who like to play their music very louder’ ; what is your opinion about this question? Do you think that even at moderate volumes there are improvements?

Dan.S posted:

 The unit should arrive in a month.

 

Why so long time? In my local dealer it comes in 3 days (I live in Italy)

I upgraded from Uniti to SUniti in 2012.  Still happy.

I do have a 250 connected to it and I demoed the DR

version a couple of weeks ago.  I'll upgrade to it.

Going from the UL to the SU will be dramatic improvement.

California Jim

California Jim posted:

Going from the UL to the SU will be dramatic improvement.

Good to know. Thanks.

Anto68, it sounds like you've already made up your mind, but still, I urge you to audition the SU against other options like 172/200, 272/200, nd5/nait xs, nd5/152/155 etc. 

If you are set on a one-box solution then the SU is a great choice, but IMO you can get better sound quality from other combinations.  

I just pached my Unitilite and soon I'm going to change it with the Superuniti. My dealer takes it back to full price after all is brand new only two months.

It 's so exciting

One more question:

I bought a Naim cable 4Din /RCA for to conect my UL to a SUB: I noticed that the Superuniti has two dedicated RCA outputs for the sub: can I still use my Naim din cable to connect the  SUB to SU output pre amp or is better to buy a new quality RCA cable for to exploit the SU RCA sub dedicated outputs?

You can use the existing lead by enabling the output for an external power amp. I would expect that it would sound the same as using the RCA sub out, but you could ask your dealer to check with Naim to be certain, or email them directly. 

I've used both the DIN pre-out and the RCA sub-out to run a sub on my Superuniti, and they both work fine.