Introducing Uniti, our revolutionary new streaming platform.

Crabby posted:

Crabby posted:

Afternoon all 

i need your help to make a big decision.

i am going to part exchange my qute2 for the atom or the star. Box unopened because of an imminent house move. Speaker kef ls50

Questions:

1. Is it worth getting the atom with HDMI? 

2. Star is significantly more expensive. Beside watts and cd part, any other advantage to the star? 

3. Atom is within my means and I can buy a core potentially in 1-2 years (not convinced it is needed if I can use a USB or hardrive)...it just feels right but just having second thoughts on the star !!!!

4. Anyone heard the atom? Or star? . I found some reviews and apparently it was driving focal supra high end speakers...

thank you in advance for any help you can give. Not interested in previous discussion type about focal speakers. Genuinely needing help based on my present configuration 

good we 

 

Morning phil 

nice to have you back. Forum member kindly helped me with my present post. 

I am keen to hear your perspective especially about sound signature difference between atom and star to drive Kef ls50

keep well

 

Hiya... :-)

A little difficult to advise here really - haven't been able to play with a Star for long myself yet, let alone back-to-back with an Atom on the same setup in the same room and haven't heard either on LS50's so I have no basis to make any suggestions for you.

For myself I'd either go Atom or Nova - Star has no purpose for me as I never play CDs but for you I think that all you can do is put them back to back on a demo when the Star comes out and try them - but ultimately expect the Star to be a much more capable performer (think Uniti2 against Qute2).

Phil  

Phil Harris posted:

nbpf posted:

The lack of support for Tidal, Spotify and other internet streaming services on the Core is disappointing and, frankly speaking, mildly unfair. With an high quality BNC connector, the Core could be an ideal source for s/pdif DACs, in particular for Naim DACs. Many Naim DAC owners have been waiting for a Naim source like the Core for years. Now we have it, but with impaired functionalities. Very sad and, for me, hardly understandable.

Hi nbpf,

Core is a ripper / storage / server device - and is not designed as a streamer so it doesn't have streaming service functionality.

...

Phil

Phil, I understand that the Core is designed to be a ripper, a storage solution, a UPnP server and a player. If it was not designed to be a player, what would be the purpose of the BNC connector?

Now, virtually all modern players -- Audirvana and upmpdcli, for instance -- provide some support for internet radio and internet streaming services. Thus, I would expect the Core to also provide support for Tidal, Qobuz, internet radio, etc.

If you consider that implementing support for internet streaming services at the firmware level of end devices is not necessarily trivial (as the still enduring difficulties with support for Tidal in Naim streamers reported in this forum suggest) and that, by contrast, implementing the same support on a server is pretty straightforward (as the many implementations demonstrate), you will concede that my expectations are not quite inplausible.

I am not personally interested in internet streaming services and, for reasons that we do not need to further discuss here, I am unlikely to buy a Core as a replacement for my server. Still, I believe that the lack of support for Tidal, Qobuz, etc. on the Core is a major mistake.

I came to realize that the Core does not support internet streaming services on Friday night when I was thinking what to suggest to a friend who was to come by over the weekend and who is considering "buying a system like mine". I know that he does not like to fiddle with server installations and setup and I thought that I would suggest him to simply buy a Core and a DAC with s/pdif input. This would allow him to rip, play and, if he wishes so, to listen to internet radio and to Qobuz oder Tidal streams, I thought. Then I remembered a post in this thread in which you were pointing out that the Core does actually not support Tidal. I stood up (I was very early in the morning), reached for the laptop, browsed back (to page 14, I believe) and ... it was there. Bad luck and, as I wrote, very disappointing.

I understand that Naim is primarily interested in selling streamers, ideally with ancillary PSUs and perhaps integrated in preamp devices. This is fine. But Naim is also selling DACs. Connecting a DAC to a player is a very common and, indeed, popular use case. The lack of full support for this use case unnecessarily pushes Naim users (and new potential customers) away from all-Naim solutions. Why so? What does Naim expect to achieve by not supporting Tidal, Qobuz, etc. on the Core?

nbpf posted:

Phil, I understand that the Core is designed to be a ripper, a storage solution, a UPnP server and a player. If it was not designed to be a player, what would be the purpose of the BNC connector?

Now, virtually all modern players -- Audirvana and upmpdcli, for instance -- provide some support for internet radio and internet streaming services. Thus, I would expect the Core to also provide support for Tidal, Qobuz, internet radio, etc.

If you consider that implementing support for internet streaming services at the firmware level of end devices is not necessarily trivial (as the still enduring difficulties with support for Tidal in Naim streamers reported in this forum suggest) and that, by contrast, implementing the same support on a server is pretty straightforward (as the many implementations demonstrate), you will concede that my expectations are not quite inplausible.

I am not personally interested in internet streaming services and, for reasons that we do not need to further discuss here, I am unlikely to buy a Core as a replacement for my server. Still, I believe that the lack of support for Tidal, Qobuz, etc. on the Core is a major mistake.

I came to realize that the Core does not support internet streaming services on Friday night when I was thinking what to suggest to a friend who was to come by over the weekend and who is considering "buying a system like mine". I know that he does not like to fiddle with server installations and setup and I thought that I would suggest him to simply buy a Core and a DAC with s/pdif input. This would allow him to rip, play and, if he wishes so, to listen to internet radio and to Qobuz oder Tidal streams, I thought. Then I remembered a post in this thread in which you were pointing out that the Core does actually not support Tidal. I stood up (I was very early in the morning), reached for the laptop, browsed back (to page 14, I believe) and ... it was there. Bad luck and, as I wrote, very disappointing.

I understand that Naim is primarily interested in selling streamers, ideally with ancillary PSUs and perhaps integrated in preamp devices. This is fine. But Naim is also selling DACs. Connecting a DAC to a player is a very common and, indeed, popular use case. The lack of full support for this use case unnecessarily pushes Naim users (and new potential customers) away from all-Naim solutions. Why so? What does Naim expect to achieve by not supporting Tidal, Qobuz, etc. on the Core?

Hi nbpf,

I've clearly stated all along when anyone has asked that the Core does not support streaming services - I understand that it may not fit your specific requirements and I also understand that you want to convince me that your requirements are the right ones for the product but as the functionality of the products is not mine to control then further 'discussion' here is not going to bear fruit.

I've already said that what you are looking for for your friend is not part of the Uniti line...

Best Regards

Phil

Kerchunck....

Kerchunck....

Kerchunck....

Kerchunck....

Kerchunck....

That'll be the sound of the stuck record having reached end of side...

jon honeyball posted:

That'll be the sound of the stuck record having reached end of side...

That seams a badly mixed metaphor!

Any views yet on recommended hard drives for the core?

chris2000 posted:

Any views yet on recommended hard drives for the core?

Naim have said a list of tested drives will be available by the time the Core is available (i.e. not yet). Essentially though any 3.5" SATA drive should be compatible and I think Naim's official line will be "all drives give equal sound quality". I doubt such a pronouncement will stop endless discussions over if a Seagate drive sound better than a WD Red, or if a Crucial SSD is better than a Kingston branded one.

Eloise posted:

Naim have said a list of tested drives will be available by the time the Core is available (i.e. not yet). Essentially though any 3.5" SATA drive should be compatible and I think Naim's official line will be "all drives give equal sound quality". I doubt such a pronouncement will stop endless discussions over if a Seagate drive sound better than a WD Red, or if a Crucial SSD is better than a Kingston branded one.

It is going to be so many posts, so many HiFi Critic reviews, so much fun..

Chag -

Can the naim logo light on the perspex be dimmed as from some facbook photos it looks very bright and reflective.

The atom looks great.

Eloise posted:

chris2000 posted:

Any views yet on recommended hard drives for the core?

Naim have said a list of tested drives will be available by the time the Core is available (i.e. not yet). Essentially though any 3.5" SATA drive should be compatible and I think Naim's official line will be "all drives give equal sound quality". I doubt such a pronouncement will stop endless discussions over if a Seagate drive sound better than a WD Red, or if a Crucial SSD is better than a Kingston branded one.

Perhaps they have implemented serve/replay from memory which would make the device pretty much HDD agnostic. I have tried different drives with my Debian GNU/Linux based server and I didn't had the impression that they would make a difference. In contrast, I have found the USB to s/pdif converter and, to a minor extent, the BNC-BNC cable to the Naim DAC to have an influence on the sound quality. It will be interesting to see how the Core actually performs as a NAS and as a player in comparison to dedicated NAS and players. Best, nbpf

When are we expected to see some hands on reviews on the new Uniti range? Also does anyone know if support for MQA is something that can beadded in the future via a software update?

iliria posted:

When are we expected to see some hands on reviews on the new Uniti range?

I would presume very shortly after we begin shipping the products themselves...

iliria posted:

Also does anyone know if support for MQA is something that can beadded in the future via a software update?

MQA support is something that can be added via a firmware upgrade if it is decided that there is sufficient market inertia in the format to justify it.

Naim has been keeping an eye on what is happening with MQA over the last couple of years and has had several meetings with the guys at MQA here at Naim HQ but at this time we have no schedules as to when / if MQA support is to be added.

Phil

robert- posted:

Can the naim logo light on the perspex be dimmed as from some facbook photos it looks very bright and reflective.

The atom looks great.

Likewise, are those small buttons on the facia backlit and dimmable? 

I saw the Atom at a recent show, nice looking in person (though it was the bigger models I wasn't so sure about the looks of & they didn't have any of those on display) & looks to have a number of "neat" features (though I'm still not convinced they'll age gracefully).  From what I was told buttons on the front are dimmable, actually on the demo unit, the buttons dimmed & then when you put your hand close to the unit, they got brighter.  Was told you could turn the lights off for the volume knob on top & believe could completely turn off the front panel as well.  As for the HDMI, I was told you could order it without & later add it in the future, just a plug in module & think it was something you could do yourself (or maybe at your dealer, but didn't have to go back to the factory/distributor).

daren_p posted:

I saw the Atom at a recent show, nice looking in person (though it was the bigger models I wasn't so sure about the looks of & they didn't have any of those on display) & looks to have a number of "neat" features (though I'm still not convinced they'll age gracefully).  From what I was told buttons on the front are dimmable, actually on the demo unit, the buttons dimmed & then when you put your hand close to the unit, they got brighter.  Was told you could turn the lights off for the volume knob on top & believe could completely turn off the front panel as well.  As for the HDMI, I was told you could order it without & later add it in the future, just a plug in module & think it was something you could do yourself (or maybe at your dealer, but didn't have to go back to the factory/distributor).

Well, I'm glad to hear the HDMI news. A DIY plug in HDMI module option makes sense and is very thoughtful of Naim.

Personally I think that the lit up volume knob adds 'sophistication' to the unit's looks and an option to change the colour of the light would have been quite nice but I do realise that this may not be to everyone's taste and it would probably add to the price. The proximity sensor on the front panel is a nice thought though.

My only concern with the Atom is that only a portion of the market will be able to take full advantage of its capabilities. By that I mean that a lot of people (like myself) whom already own a decent AV receiver will probably connect the Naim to the receiver and thus will not take advantage of the Atom's amplification capabilities. In this case a lighter version of Atom with no amplification capability would have been a more suitable (and cheaper) option. Unless of course I have totally mistaken Atom's purpose?

On the muso Qb you can dim the front light in a couple of stages or turn it off completely. I think you can with the Vol control too, but I find that is fine left like it is, so I haven't really explored that.

best

David

iliria posted:

Well, I'm glad to hear the HDMI news. A DIY plug in HDMI module option makes sense and is very thoughtful of Naim.

At the moment it is an option on Atom specified at time of purchase - like the DAB/FM tuner option on the current ND's - it won't be a "DIY" module that you can add yourself later.

iliria posted:

My only concern with the Atom is that only a portion of the market will be able to take full advantage of its capabilities. By that I mean that a lot of people (like myself) whom already own a decent AV receiver will probably connect the Naim to the receiver and thus will not take advantage of the Atom's amplification capabilities. In this case a lighter version of Atom with no amplification capability would have been a more suitable (and cheaper) option. Unless of course I have totally mistaken Atom's purpose?

The HDMI connection is not an output for connection to an AV receiver - it is an input from an ARC HDMI connection from a TV. You cannot use the HDMI connection to connect the Atom to an AV receiver.

Cheers

Phil

Phil Harris posted:

iliria posted:

Well, I'm glad to hear the HDMI news. A DIY plug in HDMI module option makes sense and is very thoughtful of Naim.

At the moment it is an option on Atom specified at time of purchase - like the DAB/FM tuner option on the current ND's - it won't be a "DIY" module that you can add yourself later.

iliria posted:

My only concern with the Atom is that only a portion of the market will be able to take full advantage of its capabilities. By that I mean that a lot of people (like myself) whom already own a decent AV receiver will probably connect the Naim to the receiver and thus will not take advantage of the Atom's amplification capabilities. In this case a lighter version of Atom with no amplification capability would have been a more suitable (and cheaper) option. Unless of course I have totally mistaken Atom's purpose?

The HDMI connection is not an output for connection to an AV receiver - it is an input from an ARC HDMI connection from a TV. You cannot use the HDMI connection to connect the Atom to an AV receiver.

Cheers

Phil

That's a shame about the HDMI option but nevermind.

In regards to the HDMI I am aware that it can't be used to connect the Atom to an AVR. However the Atom does have the capability to be connected to an AVR through pre-amp ports doesnt it?

[quote]That's a shame about the HDMI option but nevermind.

Most people would connect the pre-outs from their AV to one of the analogue inputs of their Naim.

Eloise posted:

Most people would connect the pre-outs from their AV to one of the analogue inputs of their Naim.

Pardon my ignorance but what would be the purpose of that? In fact why would one need an AVR at all?

iliria posted:

Eloise posted:

Most people would connect the pre-outs from their AV to one of the analogue inputs of their Naim.

Pardon my ignorance but what would be the purpose of that? In fact why would one need an AVR at all?

The AVR gives you multi-channel but tend to be compromised when it comes to 2 channel music performance.  If you use the pre-out from the AVR into your Naim (via a input configured for fixed level) then you can have the best 2 channel performance while sharing the speakers (and likely superior amplification) with the front 2 channels for your multichannel system.

Eloise posted:

The AVR gives you multi-channel but tend to be compromised when it comes to 2 channel music performance.  If you use the pre-out from the AVR into your Naim (via a input configured for fixed level) then you can have the best 2 channel performance while sharing the speakers (and likely superior amplification) with the front 2 channels for your multichannel system.

Ah so that is a possibility. I didn't think it would be but I am glad to hear it is. I have an Anthem MRX300 avr and it looks like I will be able to get the best of both worlds. Thank you very much for the advice

Can the Atom's analogue input be configured for AV bypass? I don't recall reading if t his were capable.

Frank.

Frank Abela posted:

Can the Atom's analogue input be configured for AV bypass? I don't recall reading if t his were capable.

Frank.

Yup ... this can be set as an input option.

Phil