Introducing Uniti, our revolutionary new streaming platform.

Posted by: NaimAudio on 03 October 2016

Dear Forum members,

Today we announce our most revolutionary streaming platform yet. Inspired by our unfaltering passion for music and enabled by more than 40 years' of tireless innovation, we introduce the new Uniti range. Comprising the Uniti Nova, Uniti Star and Uniti Atom all-in-one players and the Uniti Core hard disk server, Uniti's brand new state-of-the-art technology enables you to experience music like never before. Rip and store entire collections, play or stream music from any source, at the touch of a button, all with the deep, immersive sound only a Naim system delivers.

Our Research and Development team in Salisbury had to fundamentally deconstruct every historic design and technology decision we had ever made to challenge themselves and go further, especially in terms of sound quality. It’s a true ground-up development, all hand-built in Salisbury, with our core principles at its heart. We looked at every single aspect of the product proposition, the electronic architecture, the mechanical enclosure, the user experience and the approach to manufacture and assembly.

The result? A clear step change in every single aspect of the products, a true achievement of excellence. We hope you enjoy this exciting new product range and look forward to hearing what you think.

Discover Uniti: https://www.naimaudio.com/uniti

Best wishes

Naim

[Edited: 13.01.2017]

The new Uniti range is our biggest release in over fifteen years and we are really proud of all the work that has gone into crafting this revolutionary new product range. Due to the technical complexity of Uniti we have faced more challenges than we initially anticipated and we still have some features to refine to ensure the products that reach you are of the highest possible quality.

We are currently processing certifications for AirPlay, GoogleCast, TIDAL, Bluetooth (aptX HD), WiFi, HDMI and Spotify Connect and beta testing our latest software; the team is working extremely hard to ensure that the products stand up to the level of quality you have come to expect from Naim.

As such we have made the difficult decision to delay shipping Uniti Atom until May with Uniti Star and Uniti Nova following in June.

We have been reviewing all customer feedback from the Uniti Core servers shipped in 2016, and made the decision to stop shipping after Christmas, to ensure we have fixed any software issues before shipping en masse. We are expecting a firmware update next week, and an over-the-air update will be available via the app for those who have already received their Uniti Core servers. Shipping will re-commence next week as soon as the firmware is available and tested.

We know the delay is frustrating and sincerely apologise for it. Thank you for your continued support and patience while we put the finishing touches on your Uniti.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by dayjay

They look great to me and the prices seem reasonable. If they sound as good as they look they should do very well.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Ardbeg10y

And many of the wifi / streaming / network problems are addressed:

'New Uniti all-in-one players include the very latest Wi-Fi technology. The superior Wi-Fi processor supports 2.4 and 5 GHz, alongside a much better internal buffer and memory'

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by alan33

Pretty cool to have a complete new generation update...

The review (thanks for link) list a swath of system level upgrades including a nicer display, improved wifi stability and additional connection options. Wonder if the AirPlay connectivity will be available as a software update to the existing range, that would be a nice convenience feature and nod to the history of long term support from Naim.

Regards alan

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Jude2012

Great set of products and well thought through, which seem targeted to non-Naim owners and upgraders from the Muso range in the main.

Just wondering from this info in 'What Hifi' whether there is going to be any trickle effects to existing streamers and DACs?

"A team of 25 engineers has spent the last three years developing a new eight-layer streaming board. The Uniti Atom, Star and Nova also feature a new fourth-generation, 40-bit SHARC DSP processor (the ADSP 21489 for the technical among you). All three Uniti players use Burr Brown DACs",

Jude

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Bruce Woodhouse

So just to get this clear they are all storage based devices. One HDX upgrade, two are more HDX plus streamer and one a storage and streamer alone (a NAS with some fancy bits?)

I think this looks quite complicated from a sales point of view-and clearly some existing kit is going to be phased out-or will they keep those boxes with their options for P/S and DAC upgrade add ons? Maybe we will see Uniti style power supply add ons later as a whole series of additions?

Nothing here for me really, but I do like the aesthetics.

Bruce

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Andrew Everard

rackkit posted:
One more thing…
Oh, and one final thing:
<snip>
rather than the £500+ of the ‘full fat’ Power-Line.

You're welcome

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Eloise

I don't think anyone has commented this ... but I assume to all intents and purposes...

Uniti Atom replaces the UnitiQute
Uniti Star replaces the NaimUniti
Uniti Nova replaces SuperUniti
Uniti Core replaces UnitiServe

Can I clarify too ... the display on the UnitiAtom is the same size as the display on the Uniti Star (just looks bigger in picture due to the unit being smaller)?

From the What HiFi Article, it appears you can use the Units Atom, Star and Nova as ripping devices too - using an external CD reader in the case of Atom and Nova; and connect a HDD via USB. Will they then stream to a second device?

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by hungryhalibut

Bruce Woodhouse posted:
So just to get this clear they are all storage based devices. One HDX upgrade, two are more HDX plus streamer and one a storage and streamer alone (a NAS with some fancy bits?)
I think this looks quite complicated from a sales point of view-and clearly some existing kit is going to be phased out-or will they keep those boxes with their options for P/S and DAC upgrade add ons? Maybe we will see Uniti style power supply add ons later as a whole series of additions?
Nothing here for me really, but I do like the aesthetics.
Bruce

As I see it, the Core is the new UnitiServe. What looks really clever is that the Nova (the new SuperUniti) can have a USB drive installed and play up to 20,000 tracks. So it looks like you can have direct connection without a nas. Maybe they all do this, which would be even better.

The thing that really interests me is whether the new streamer board will be retrofittable to the streamers and the 172 and 272.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Mayor West

Richard Dane posted:
However, for me, it's potentially the Uniti Core that is most interesting. A proper power supply at last and the swappable HDD along with Naim's (improved?) ripping and serving software and a nice BNC s/pdif out for local DAC connection. Could be something special...

A very tasty proposition indeed.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by dayjay

By the way, told you so! I'll get my coat

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Solid Air

Hungryhalibut posted:
What looks really clever is that the Nova (the new SuperUniti) can have a USB drive installed and play up to 20,000 tracks. So it looks like you can have direct connection without a nas. Maybe they all do this, which would be even better.

Yes, I wasn't sure what that meant exactly. It sounds like an external HDD with a USB connection, which would be awesome. but then it says 20k tracks, versus 100k for the Core. That makes me think they might mean a USB stick, rather than an HDD, which would be more like it is now, and less awesome.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Richard Dane

I read that a USB HDD drive is OK.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Emre

i am classic guy no shopping for me

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Music247

Looks to me like all 3 have the potential for a USB flash drive but not USB Hard Drive.

A 1TB USB flash drive should store plenty of FLAC/WAV's. I imagine that over time larger flash drives will be available and make a NAS relatively redundant for music streaming.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Adam Zielinski

I like the Uniti Core idea with a removable hard drive.
Imagine the endless forum threads we will have with merits of different hard drives and their impact on sound quality

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Music247

Thanks Richard i stand corrected on the USB Hard Drive

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Salmon Dave

Eloise posted:
I don't think anyone has commented this ... but I assume to all intents and purposes...
Uniti Atom replaces the UnitiQute
Uniti Star replaces the NaimUniti
Uniti Nova replaces SuperUniti
Uniti Core replaces UnitiServe

But the Star also rips to hard drive - which makes it more like a Uniti/HDX combo.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by jon h

i am hugely *hugely* impressed by what Naim has done here. It takes great courage to move forward on a platform, to have the guts to reexamine every component and rethink things.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Bruce Woodhouse

Eloise posted:
I don't think anyone has commented this ... but I assume to all intents and purposes...
Uniti Atom replaces the UnitiQute
Uniti Star replaces the NaimUniti
Uniti Nova replaces SuperUniti
Uniti Core replaces UnitiServe
Can I clarify too ... the display on the UnitiAtom is the same size as the display on the Uniti Star (just looks bigger in picture due to the unit being smaller)?
From the What HiFi Article, it appears you can use the Units Atom, Star and Nova as ripping devices too - using an external CD reader in the case of Atom and Nova; and connect a HDD via USB. Will they then stream to a second device?

Surely the Atom, Star and Nova are more 'HDX plus' devices, ie with additional features and with two of them incorporating a streamer too. So HDX and Qute combined, HDX and NDX combined maybe?

The Core is Unitiserve 'plus' I'd agree. Not sure I can see why it would replace my exisiting NAS but sure somebody will explain it.

Bruce

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by tonym

The prices seem very reasonable for Naim stuff.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Allan Milne

So now we will have a whole new series of A/B comparisons to talk about ...

My interest is the Uniti Core and whether this + DAC V1 is better than UnitiServ+V1 ...

... or are the built-in DACs in the new all-in-ones better than the existing Naim DAcs

... etc etc etc

interesting times

Allan

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

If USB is not enough, the Atom, Nova and Star also have an SD card reader. SD playback can be pretty amazing...

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

tonym posted:
The prices seem very reasonable for Naim stuff.

What are the UK prices ?

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by hungryhalibut

Four New Uniti models have been announced: the Uniti Core ripper/server/player (£1650); the £1600 Uniti Atom compact network music system; the £2999 Uniti Star, complete with built-in CD ripping and music storage; and the range-topping Uniti Nova, at £3800.

Copied from Andrew's website.

Posted on: 06 October 2016 by Allan Milne

What Hi-Fi are quoting £1,600 for the Uniti Core - I thought the current UnitiServ was over £2k at present

... how does that work?