C'mon guys (and gals), what does the atom sound like?

quick question to lucky atom owner. I apologies in advance if it appears basic 

i am waiting for my atom hdmi to hit my dealer. I am thinking to rip all my music to mac using dppoweramp and then transfer to a USB or hard drive. The latter will plug via USB to atom.

questions:

1. Is this the right sequence ?  Approach ?

2. Can't afford a nas right now and not sure I want one. Let me know if you disagree and why 

3. Will point 1 give me same experience as a nas via naim app or not? Possibly better ? Worse? 

4. Rip in flac will be enough or higher resolution? 

5. Any advice you can give me to start will be helpful 

thank you in advance 

I'm open to correction but I  thank you can do a direct USB hard drive connection to the atom. 

Ripping to flac with dBPoweramp is the correct approach, for Naim it is best to use the lowest compression available. 

The best option is perhaps to have the USB drive connected to your Mac and use a program such as asset to allow streaming to the atom. 

.sjb

Crabby posted:

quick question to lucky atom owner. I apologies in advance if it appears basic 

i am waiting for my atom hdmi to hit my dealer. I am thinking to rip all my music to mac using dppoweramp and then transfer to a USB or hard drive. The latter will plug via USB to atom.

questions:

1. Is this the right sequence ?  Approach ?

2. Can't afford a nas right now and not sure I want

one. Let me know if you disagree and why

You need a upnp server unless you want to be limitted in the way you browse your collection. It will probably work with a disk plugged into the unit technically but I think you will be disappointed with the user interface. 

3. Will point 1 give me same experience as a nas via naim app or not? Possibly better ? Worse? 

4. Rip in flac will be enough or higher resolution? 

A cd has the resolution it is born with, so unless you rip to a compressed format like mp3 there is nothing you can do to enhance the 16 bit 44.1 kHz on the disk. Flac just makes it easier to tag the files and the files are smaller than the wav files.

5. Any advice you can give me to start will be helpful 

thank you in advance 

Sloop John B posted:

I'm open to correction but I  thank you can do a direct USB hard drive connection to the atom. 

Ripping to flac with dBPoweramp is the correct approach, for Naim it is best to use the lowest compression available. 

---

The best option is perhaps to have the USB drive connected to your Mac and use a program such as asset to allow streaming to the atom. 

.sjb

I agree - I faced a similar set up to Crabby and have a hard drive hooked up to a PC.  I installed Asset UpNp. Then using the Naim app on my iPhone, I select 'Servers', then 'Asset' and there's my music.  Hit play and you're off!  

Phuggies posted:

Sloop John B posted:

I'm open to correction but I  thank you can do a direct USB hard drive connection to the atom. 

Ripping to flac with dBPoweramp is the correct approach, for Naim it is best to use the lowest compression available. 

---

The best option is perhaps to have the USB drive connected to your Mac and use a program such as asset to allow streaming to the atom. 

.sjb

I agree - I faced a similar set up to Crabby and have a hard drive hooked up to a PC.  I installed Asset UpNp. Then using the Naim app on my iPhone, I select 'Servers', then 'Asset' and there's my music.  Hit play and you're off!  

Can't thank you enough guys 

your validation helps me a lot 

I just don't get why hooking a hard drive to my mac is better? Doesn't make sense to me especially if I can join same hardrive direct to atom via USB. In my mind, it also means a mac always on (unless it works if it is on standby) 

i am however listening and will investigate how asset works (and where to get it) and what are the benefits...this part is hard for me but I assume asset is like a software allowing me to "see" my music on my hardrive/mac as a "server" as opposed to an USB "extension"...

i have a headache working this out but that's quite clever if I understood right.i see my music as a server without having to buy a nas...

i am considering buying the 4k Apple TV and wonder if i can do exactly the same by plugging a USB hardrive to it. 

if the only limitation of hooking hardrive direct to atom is that I sometimes have to unhook the hardrive or USB drive from the atom to refresh, no big issue with that but not very friendly for sure..

thank you again very much 

Since i learned something today, Dbpoweramp asset

It looks free to me despite the 30 days trial. Is it part of dbpoweramp or additional software/buy?

moderated post: please do not post unauthorised links in the hifi corner. Thanks.

Crabby posted:

Since i learned something today,

It looks free to me despite the 30 days trial. Is it part of dbpoweramp or additional software/buy?

 

That's the one. As I only recently downloaded it myself, I'm not sure how the subscription process works, but it's not particularly expensive. 

USB hardrive to it. 

if the only limitation of hooking hardrive direct to atom is that I sometimes have to unhook the hardrive or USB drive from the atom to refresh, no big issue with that but not very friendly for sure..

I suppose you have to unplug the drive to copy the ripped cds to the drive. And if you can live with the  limitted way you go about selecting music the usb drive may be an option you can live with. If not you can try out the pc, mac or nas options.

 

Claus

Claus-Thoegersen posted:

USB hardrive to it. 

if the only limitation of hooking hardrive direct to atom is that I sometimes have to unhook the hardrive or USB drive from the atom to refresh, no big issue with that but not very friendly for sure..

I suppose you have to unplug the drive to copy the ripped cds to the drive. And if you can live with the  limitted way you go about selecting music the usb drive may be an option you can live with. If not you can try out the pc, mac or nas options.

 

Claus

 

Thank you Claus 

i like the solution with "asset" and I will probably use it 

however, when starting, I see myself ripping top cd I like and then just listen. I will focus more on streaming which will become 80 percent of my listening probably as I want to stop buying cd. 

Problem will arise when I will buy or listen to hi res.then I will need more the "asset" type solution.  I don't believe you can stream hi res right now, just buy it unless the atom will handle mqa in the future via tidal or spotify and the likes...

i know it is a delicate subject but if streaming improves beyond cd quality (which is already very good) then i will not need anything else...aside some exceptions.

all new for me so will see how it goes. 

Crabby posted:

 

...

questions:

2. Can't afford a nas right now and not sure I want one. Let me know if you disagree and why 

3. Will point 1 give me same experience as a nas via naim app or not? Possibly better ? Worse?

I might disagree on #2. The options to browse your library from USB are limited compared to UPNP (metadata and album art). You need a NAS for UPNP and the cost is rather marginal compared to the rest of a typical system 

Is the Atom meant to be supplied with a paper instruction manual?  All I have is a Quick Start Guide.

That is correct, they want you to refer to the support page on the Naim website, personally I do not think the website is good enough. I had a problem playing my Core over SPDIF to my Nova. I was doing it wrong, not surprising with no instructions in a manual or online?

Gazza posted:

That is correct, they want you to refer to the support page on the Naim website, personally I do not think the website is good enough. I had a problem playing my Core over SPDIF to my Nova. I was doing it wrong, not surprising with no instructions in a manual or online?

I agree, a PDF manual would be better. The online support thing is a car crash.

Happy owner of an atom as of yesterday. Will have to wait for unboxing my gift due to work in my flat. I took the non hdmi version as tired of waiting 

all I can tell you is that it is powerful plenty and works well with focal and kef ls50. I will need to break my speakers a bit more and find right cable (tq black probably) 

more feedback to come. If you hesitate with star, I suggest you don’t under estimate the atom :-) you will be very surprised...Move fast as another price rise is on the table apparently...

DomTomLondon posted:

I'm still waiting on my Atom. My dealer will be coming around with it in two weeks time, so that I can audition it against the SU I have on load. However I'm interested to hear what others think of it so far? Has anyone tried playing  DSD material? How does it sound?

Not sure if the new Unit range now plays DSD natively or still needs to convert it to PCM like the SU, 272 and NDX do.

I have some stereo DSD 128 material and have done some comparative listening of the same track on my Nova, comparing against CD ripped Flac 44.1/16 and to me DSD playback sounds much better. I prefer that softer, warmer, almost analogue sound DSD is seeming to present. DSD format sounds WIDE open, allowing each individual sound its place to sit with space around. The flac files in comparison sound sharp, ice picky, less pleasing on the ear overall, the whole stage seems squashed in, stacked, closed in? by comparison. The detail is there but not nearly as obvious, you have to listen in carefully where as DSD you just notice the detail without needing a critical ear. So much better in my opinion. I could listen to it all day. I hope DSD format becomes more mainstream i'd be all over it! How have you found it (assuming your atom is home)?

Worth saying no issues streaming over WiFi either! Not one hiccup..

Leon Wadsworth posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I'm still waiting on my Atom. My dealer will be coming around with it in two weeks time, so that I can audition it against the SU I have on load. However I'm interested to hear what others think of it so far? Has anyone tried playing  DSD material? How does it sound?

Not sure if the new Unit range now plays DSD natively or still needs to convert it to PCM like the SU, 272 and NDX do.

I have some stereo DSD 128 material and have done some comparative listening of the same track on my Nova, comparing against CD ripped Flac 44.1/16 and to me DSD playback sounds much better. I prefer that softer, warmer, almost analogue sound DSD is seeming to present. DSD format sounds WIDE open, allowing each individual sound its place to sit with space around. The flac files in comparison sound sharp, ice picky, less pleasing on the ear overall, the whole stage seems squashed in, stacked, closed in? by comparison. The detail is there but not nearly as obvious, you have to listen in carefully where as DSD you just notice the detail without needing a critical ear. So much better in my opinion. I could listen to it all day. I hope DSD format becomes more mainstream i'd be all over it! How have you found it (assuming your atom is home)?

Worth saying no issues streaming over WiFi either! Not one hiccup..

Unfortunately I did not get on with the Atom. There were too many little things that irritated me about it. I could not get DSD to play on my Atom when I had it. Not sure if it was the Atom or the naim app on Android. But it just would not play any of my DSD files. The SuperUniti doesn't have this problem and play them just fine.

I also like the sound of DSD. It's more apperant how good it is once you go back to 16bit and realise how much more open DSD can sound.

I never found out if the new uniti range plays DSD natively now or it too transcodes it to 32bit PCM before sending it to the DAC. O would imagine it has a new DAC, but naim are quite about exact specs.

Enjoy your Nova and DSD playback!

DomTomLondon posted:

Leon Wadsworth posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I'm still waiting on my Atom. My dealer will be coming around with it in two weeks time, so that I can audition it against the SU I have on load. However I'm interested to hear what others think of it so far? Has anyone tried playing  DSD material? How does it sound?

Not sure if the new Unit range now plays DSD natively or still needs to convert it to PCM like the SU, 272 and NDX do.

I have some stereo DSD 128 material and have done some comparative listening of the same track on my Nova, comparing against CD ripped Flac 44.1/16 and to me DSD playback sounds much better. I prefer that softer, warmer, almost analogue sound DSD is seeming to present. DSD format sounds WIDE open, allowing each individual sound its place to sit with space around. The flac files in comparison sound sharp, ice picky, less pleasing on the ear overall, the whole stage seems squashed in, stacked, closed in? by comparison. The detail is there but not nearly as obvious, you have to listen in carefully where as DSD you just notice the detail without needing a critical ear. So much better in my opinion. I could listen to it all day. I hope DSD format becomes more mainstream i'd be all over it! How have you found it (assuming your atom is home)?

Worth saying no issues streaming over WiFi either! Not one hiccup..

Unfortunately I did not get on with the Atom. There were too many little things that irritated me about it. I could not get DSD to play on my Atom when I had it. Not sure if it was the Atom or the naim app on Android. But it just would not play any of my DSD files. The SuperUniti doesn't have this problem and play them just fine.

I also like the sound of DSD. It's more apperant how good it is once you go back to 16bit and realise how much more open DSD can sound.

I never found out if the new uniti range plays DSD natively now or it too transcodes it to 32bit PCM before sending it to the DAC. O would imagine it has a new DAC, but naim are quite about exact specs.

Enjoy your Nova and DSD playback!

 

Really sorry to hear that buddy. Were the files DSD 256? I believe the Uniti series play up to 128 and no higher could that have been the reason? Otherwise it could be they updated the firmware recently..

What setup have you got now?

Regards

Leon

Leon Wadsworth posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

Leon Wadsworth posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I'm still waiting on my Atom. My dealer will be coming around with it in two weeks time, so that I can audition it against the SU I have on load. However I'm interested to hear what others think of it so far? Has anyone tried playing  DSD material? How does it sound?

Not sure if the new Unit range now plays DSD natively or still needs to convert it to PCM like the SU, 272 and NDX do.

I have some stereo DSD 128 material and have done some comparative listening of the same track on my Nova, comparing against CD ripped Flac 44.1/16 and to me DSD playback sounds much better. I prefer that softer, warmer, almost analogue sound DSD is seeming to present. DSD format sounds WIDE open, allowing each individual sound its place to sit with space around. The flac files in comparison sound sharp, ice picky, less pleasing on the ear overall, the whole stage seems squashed in, stacked, closed in? by comparison. The detail is there but not nearly as obvious, you have to listen in carefully where as DSD you just notice the detail without needing a critical ear. So much better in my opinion. I could listen to it all day. I hope DSD format becomes more mainstream i'd be all over it! How have you found it (assuming your atom is home)?

Worth saying no issues streaming over WiFi either! Not one hiccup..

Unfortunately I did not get on with the Atom. There were too many little things that irritated me about it. I could not get DSD to play on my Atom when I had it. Not sure if it was the Atom or the naim app on Android. But it just would not play any of my DSD files. The SuperUniti doesn't have this problem and play them just fine.

I also like the sound of DSD. It's more apperant how good it is once you go back to 16bit and realise how much more open DSD can sound.

I never found out if the new uniti range plays DSD natively now or it too transcodes it to 32bit PCM before sending it to the DAC. O would imagine it has a new DAC, but naim are quite about exact specs.

Enjoy your Nova and DSD playback!

 

Really sorry to hear that buddy. Were the files DSD 256? I believe the Uniti series play up to 128 and no higher could that have been the reason? Otherwise it could be they updated the firmware recently..

What setup have you got now?

Regards

Leon

 

 

All the DSD albums I have are in 64 .dsf file format.

In the end I've decided to buy the SuperUniti instead of the Atom. It's still a great all in one and I actually prefer the design of the original Uniti range. But that's a discussion for a whole new thread ;-)