Introducing Uniti, our revolutionary new streaming platform.

Dear Forum members,

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.

Best wishes

Naim

If my experience of listening to the new Uniti series whilst visiting Naim recently is anything to go by, the wait will be well worth it.

Thank you Tony, your support is very much appreciated!

Fingers crossed the new uniti range has been delayed because of the hardware MQA DAC implementation process. Without the proper MQA support, this new revolutionary  range would be already obsolete for me..

Amen to that. 

Let's hope they use this delay to properly decode mqa via tidal or whatever. Very interested by this now going forward 

i am still upset but trying to understand. Hopefully for the best. 

Gggabo posted:

Fingers crossed the new uniti range has been delayed because of the hardware MQA DAC implementation process. Without the proper MQA support, this new revolutionary  range would be already obsolete for me..

Naim has no plans to implement MQA support at this time and at this time MQA on TIDAL is only available through their Desktop app - they haven't yet released the MQA libraries for use by client devices.

Phil

According to the MQA press release, devices by Techniques, NAD and audioquest will have MQA support.

I really can't see th  fuss about mqa. I have been listening on hd650 and hd800 headphone son the meridian explorer 2 box since yesterday. And it's pretty ho hum on the fairly miserable selection of albums on tidal

ive asking for over two years for a dev kit whereby I can encode my own material. But they won't release it. One wonders why...

I dont see the fuss about MQA either.

I just hope that when the products do come out May onwards they will be bug free and at the same price. I also hope that they will be equipped with hardware which would be able to cope with future developments (as far as reasonably practicable)

iliria posted:

I dont see the fuss about MQA either.

I just hope that when the products do come out May onwards they will be bug free and at the same price. I also hope that they will be equipped with hardware which would be able to cope with future developments (as far as reasonably practicable)

Myself I OK with the delay, just hoping the final Nova sounds as good what I heard at CES 2017.

Made 2 separate trips on 2 different days to the Nova room and the Naim separates room across the hall. The Nova sounds better to me, the separates have a somewhat slower softer rhythm that is not to my taste.  With Tidal streaming it was clearly evident the DAC in the separate stack is long in the tooth and needs upgrading. While the soundstage improved when they switched over to the hard drive/server I couldn't shake that soft relaxed nature. I really really hope the Naim engineer's don't push the sound of the Nova in that direction. 

As far as MQA, I don't see the fuss with the naysayers.  The 96/24 Master recordings via the Tidal desktop app already sound much better to my ears than the HiFi streaming on the Naim/Tidal app. It's almost silly for Naim not to include Master streaming within their Tidal app. I could care less if they don't want to include the DAC chip optimization feature, which probably amounts to nothing more than an EQ feature knowing B.S. of Meridian.

Perhaps it's high time for Naim to lift the rock and offer owner selectable digital output filters on the Uniti products like Chord does. 

Bill Allen posted:

iliria posted:

I dont see the fuss about MQA either.

I just hope that when the products do come out May onwards they will be bug free and at the same price. I also hope that they will be equipped with hardware which would be able to cope with future developments (as far as reasonably practicable)

Myself I OK with the delay, just hoping the final Nova sounds as good what I heard at CES 2017.

Made 2 separate trips on 2 different days to the Nova room and the Naim separates room across the hall. The Nova sounds better to me, the separates have a somewhat slower softer rhythm that is not to my taste.  With Tidal streaming it was clearly evident the DAC in the separate stack is long in the tooth and needs upgrading. While the soundstage improved when they switched over to the hard drive/server I couldn't shake that soft relaxed nature. I really really hope the Naim engineer's don't push the sound of the Nova in that direction. 

As far as MQA, I don't see the fuss with the naysayers.  The 96/24 Master recordings via the Tidal desktop app already sound much better to my ears than the HiFi streaming on the Naim/Tidal app. It's almost silly for Naim not to include Master streaming within their Tidal app. I could care less if they don't want to include the DAC chip optimization feature, which probably amounts to nothing more than an EQ feature knowing B.S. of Meridian.

Perhaps it's high time for Naim to lift the rock and offer owner selectable digital output filters on the Uniti products like Chord does. 

Did you hear the Atom or star by any chance 

nova out of my league but hope same sound signature trickle down to small brothers 

What are the benefits of buying the Uniti Star versus buying Core+Atom?

Has anyone had a chance to compare any of the new range to the SuperUniti?  

I've not caught up with DSD yet so MQA doesn't much interest me at the moment,

Crabby posted:

Bill Allen posted:

iliria posted:

I dont see the fuss about MQA either.

I just hope that when the products do come out May onwards they will be bug free and at the same price. I also hope that they will be equipped with hardware which would be able to cope with future developments (as far as reasonably practicable)

Myself I OK with the delay, just hoping the final Nova sounds as good what I heard at CES 2017.

Made 2 separate trips on 2 different days to the Nova room and the Naim separates room across the hall. The Nova sounds better to me, the separates have a somewhat slower softer rhythm that is not to my taste.  With Tidal streaming it was clearly evident the DAC in the separate stack is long in the tooth and needs upgrading. While the soundstage improved when they switched over to the hard drive/server I couldn't shake that soft relaxed nature. I really really hope the Naim engineer's don't push the sound of the Nova in that direction. 

As far as MQA, I don't see the fuss with the naysayers.  The 96/24 Master recordings via the Tidal desktop app already sound much better to my ears than the HiFi streaming on the Naim/Tidal app. It's almost silly for Naim not to include Master streaming within their Tidal app. I could care less if they don't want to include the DAC chip optimization feature, which probably amounts to nothing more than an EQ feature knowing B.S. of Meridian.

Perhaps it's high time for Naim to lift the rock and offer owner selectable digital output filters on the Uniti products like Chord does. 

Did you hear the Atom or star by any chance 

nova out of my league but hope same sound signature trickle down to small brothers Yes I had an extensive listen of the Atom at the 2016 RMAF, it sounded fantastic. 

Yes I had two extended listens to the Atom at the 2016 RMAF, it also sounded fantastic. The Nova has a more relaxed and refined sound, but understand at CES 2017 Naim used the highly upgraded Focal Sopra Speakers. However I could clearly hear the new Uniti family of sound. No worries as we all have at least 5 months to think about it now. Funny, not one word was spoken at CES about a delay in shipping of the Uniti line.

Something big must have happened .. the only "big" announcement at CES ... the launch of MQA.

For the desktop Tidal app you don't need a MQA decoding app, as there's a direct mode in the app whereby it does the decoding itself (or on Tidal's end). There's a pass through or equivalent mode if you want to do the decoding yourself. So the current omission of MQA by Naim is really no big deal.

iliria posted:

What are the benefits of buying the Uniti Star versus buying Core+Atom?

Extra power, extra connectivity and hdmi as standard for Star. All this on top of cd ripping capability of course. 

Tried to copy a very good comparison pic I have but didn't work. Anyone knows how I add a simple pic ? 

crabby, there are instruction for posting a picture in the FAQ.  You just need to ensure it's hosted somewhere online.

So the Core is really shipping before Hugo 2. I knew Naim could do it. Let's see if Salisbury can beat Farleigh again with the Atom.  

Chag -

Maybe a noob question (my Naim experience so far is just with the Muso range) - but how would the Uniti range compare to the separates streamers / can it be upgraded well?

I was thinking for example: Nova + NAP 250 or 300 DR + Focals Electra 1038

How would that compare to having a NAP-272 streamer/pre-amp or one of the separates streamers like NDX or ND5 XS instead of the Nova as source..

Btw, could you connect the Nova to a pre-amp and then to a power amp..?

The reason for asking is that I really like the Nova design and would love to use it as a source, but do not want to compromise on sound quality compared to the separates streamers.

Thanks a lot for any opinions and sorry if the questions do not make full sense.

Petko posted:

Maybe a noob question (my Naim experience so far is just with the Muso range) - but how would the Uniti range compare to the separates streamers / can it be upgraded well?

I was thinking for example: Nova + NAP 250 or 300 DR + Focals Electra 1038

How would that compare to having a NAP-272 streamer/pre-amp or one of the separates streamers like NDX or ND5 XS instead of the Nova as source..

Btw, could you connect the Nova to a pre-amp and then to a power amp..?

The reason for asking is that I really like the Nova design and would love to use it as a source, but do not want to compromise on sound quality compared to the separates streamers.

Thanks a lot for any opinions and sorry if the questions do not make full sense.

 

I think you would be wasting your money if you buy a Nova with the intention of quickly adding a 250 or 300 power amplifier.

None of us can really say yet how the Nova as a source compares with the 272 or an NDX because the Nova isn't released yet. As a general statement though, the 272 and 250DR is pretty universally agreed to be much better than the SuperUniti and I would expect the Nova to be higher sound quality than the SuperUniti, but not that much better.

Ultimately you will have to listen and decide for yourself.

best

David

Will the Nova incorporate any DR  power amy technology?

Harry Bennett posted:

Will the Nova incorporate any DR  power amy technology?

Hi,

No, the Uniti platform does not incorporate the same "DR" circuitry as the separate amps and power supplies.

Phil  

Since we are at it Phil, may I ask why Naim has not designed the Core, which we know will serve as a universal ripping & storing server across the board, above and beyond the new Uniti range, with an external PSU for all enhanced SQ purposes? 

Chag -

Maybe because the design is such that the PS has no impact on the sound, and somthere is no upgrading to be obtained by changingbthe PS? It may be significant that the Core works only in the digital domain, where  the critical factors are more to do with things like preventing RF contamination of the digital stream, and nothing to do with factors such as audio frequency filtration and speed of transient delivery.

Chag... posted:

Since we are at it Phil, may I ask why Naim has not designed the Core, which we know will serve as a universal ripping & storing server across the board, above and beyond the new Uniti range, with an external PSU for all enhanced SQ purposes? 

Chag -

The clue is in the name!