new streamer/network player sought

The Atom is a great sounding bit of kit, and although I haven't heard it in direct comparison to a Unitiqute, I'm pretty sure it's a better sounding unit. Weather it can beat your current setup is another matter, though. I think you'd be better off adding a streamer to your current amp. An ND5XS would be the natural choice if your budget can stand it, but another option I would consider would be to replace your preamp with a 172 to add streaming functionality. This would replace your V1 and 152, which might even cover the cost of the purchase. You could aim higher, of course, but it all depends on your budget.

Any Naim streamer will work with your QB in multiroom mode - in fact, better than your current V1 setup does, as the whole thing would be controlled through the Naim app. If you go for on one the new Unitis such as the Atom, there are teething issues with multiroom integration with the current range of streamers, but these will hopefully be sorted out in a firmware update. 

You could purchase a Qute2 and use it as a streamer only. It has a digital output that could feed the DAC V1. 

I don't believe that the new uniti line has a digital out. 

A preowned ND5XS or Nac N 172 are also excellent ideas. 

For tidy and simple, the 172 would be hard to beat. Ditch the 152 and the DAC. Perfect integration with a Qb. You'd probably need to copy the music onto a nas, unless you can load a upnp server on the Mac, of which I'm unsure. 

thanks to all for the advice.  I'll keep a look out for a 172, and put the V1 and 152 up for sale.

Hungryhalibut posted:

For tidy and simple, the 172 would be hard to beat. Ditch the 152 and the DAC. Perfect integration with a Qb. You'd probably need to copy the music onto a nas, unless you can load a upnp server on the Mac, of which I'm unsure. 

There is a Mac (OS X) version of Asset.  The only 'trick' is to get the Mac Mini to wake up when you want to play music after it's been idle for hours or days.  It takes my QNAP nas a few seconds to wake up . . . a much better choice for this use than a Mac I think.

There is no trick, you just need to set your Mac Mini to never go to sleep in the System Preferences.

What is Asset? I

Asset is a UPnP server i.e. software which can be installed on a computer or on a NAS drive to serve music to your music player. It organises your music library using metadata (tags) contained within the audio files to allow you to browse the library by different categories e.g. by artist or by album title etc. 

Asset is available from the Illustrate website (the same people who developed dBpoweramp)

wruds69 posted:

My current setup is: NAIM NAP 150x, NAIM NAC 152xs, Rega RS5 speakers, NAIM DAC V1, Mac mini. Muso Qb

I have recently been considering the new Uniti Atom or a Unitiqute 2.  Would love to know if the increase in cost for the new Atom over the Unitiqute 2 is a worthy investment.  I am looking for a tidier/simpler setup.  What are peoples experiences with the UQ2?

edit: want to be able to continue to multi room with my Qb

You could replace your Mac mini with a Raspberry Pi and run Minimserver + upmpdcli on it. This would give you a UPnP server for multi room music replay and a local renderer (upmpdcli, see http://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/index.html) for your DAC V1. It is a very simple, stable and flexible solution that you can test for less than 50 EUR plus the cost of an external HDD. As a bonus, you get a MPD running in the background. Thus, you can control playback not only from UPnP control points but also from MPD clients if you fancy to do so. 

wruds69 posted:

thanks to all for the advice.  I'll keep a look out for a 172, and put the V1 and 152 up for sale.

pls. let me know any difference in sq  , respect the V1 

Following a further night spent reading up on the Atom and deep in thought.  I am now very tempted to do a total streamline and offload my separates for the atom.  Welcome your thoughts.  Good move, or not, would it be a major downgrade for SQ.  Not too fussed about versatility.  Besides the Atom can take separates if req'd

Is a £1700 all in one going to be as good  as a £3,000 172/155? Err..... Or a £3,500 V1/152/155? 

a new Atom is nice and shiny though 

Joking aside, with the all new insides and modern interface.  Would that not equal things out ??

wruds69 posted:

Joking aside, with the all new insides and modern interface.  Would that not equal things out ??

Surely you're still joking.

ok, Atom aside.  Unitiqute2 vs N-172.  Anybody had the chance to compare the 2 sbs??

Here's a radical idea. Go to your dealer and listen to the two options. The difference may, or may not, matter to you.