Atom review

I've now received my answers from Naim support regarding the issues and missing functions on the Atom.

This was in confidentiality, so I will not disclose anything, but I believe I was mis-sold this new product. Many useful features have been removed from the new range and not mentioned, or changed so they are no longer accessible with the remote control, and some features have been advertised and now removed completely. Some of these are still being shown on the site.

To some these might not matter and you'll still enjoy your new Uniti. I however am very dissapointed and will just say that the Atom will be packed and returned.

I am absolutely amazed there is no manual in the box, and to be honest the online one isn't brilliant. I'm on the fence if just to sell mine. By comparison my Denon DM40 is just so easy to use and control.

Oh go on sell it and stop moaning! I have a Core and it couldn't be better. You know what , I'm going to stop reading this silly forum. Grow up and if you don't like it go elsewhere! The whining minority in action again.

Who pulled your chain fighter??

Ravenswood10 posted:

Oh go on sell it and stop moaning! I have a Core and it couldn't be better. You know what , I'm going to stop reading this silly forum. Grow up and if you don't like it go elsewhere! The whining minority in action again.

I rather like the silly forums, they just seem to lift my day a little.  Most of us were born with a sense of humour (OK, most of us Brits were born with a sense of humour) and I'm sure it does us good to exercise it once in a while.  

Nobody - just fed up of endless silly sniping. I bought into this brand over 30 years ago and what teeny tiny issues I've suffered from in all that time have been fixed by an excellent customer services team. I've seen shiny screens, dimensions critiqued from all angles imaginable and what's this - a shiny remote?

Please if you don't like it go buy something from a mass produced brand in Curry's and lave the rest of us to enjoy this incredible brand. 

I have a wonderful sense of humour 

I have been reading this forum with great attention. Most feedback are useful but some are seriously...well I am lost for words.

the new uniti range needs more work, we are all in agreement of that. My concern number one was the sound and frankly, all I am reading is anything but that.

you negative guys managed to put doubt in my mind. I don't Blame you one second as you have the right to get the best for your money. However, ask yourselves if this product and naim deserve such onslaught...word is strong indeed

When I see how naim guys respond in person in this forum and their genuine concern, I will keep looking forward to it...

i will let you know if I give up or not buying the atom but hopefully not. I still have 2 weeks to make my mind 

meanwhile, anyone putting sound first and practicing the glass half fool, please step forward as you are needed 

DomTomLondon posted:

I've now received my answers from Naim support regarding the issues and missing functions on the Atom.

This was in confidentiality, so I will not disclose anything, but I believe I was mis-sold this new product. Many useful features have been removed from the new range and not mentioned, or changed so they are no longer accessible with the remote control, and some features have been advertised and now removed completely. Some of these are still being shown on the site.

To some these might not matter and you'll still enjoy your new Uniti. I however am very dissapointed and will just say that the Atom will be packed and returned.

Naim seem an open honest company, I'm sure they won't mind if you reveal what the issue is. I own the old and new uniti range and am struggling to find much difference other than better sound, chromecast and Airplay. The Atom has a fancy screen and that seems to work, but can take it or leave it, the sound is the main thing. You've got me really curious that I have missed something, especially the mis-sold part.

Ravenswood10 posted:

Nobody - just fed up of endless silly sniping. I bought into this brand over 30 years ago and what teeny tiny issues I've suffered from in all that time have been fixed by an excellent customer services team. I've seen shiny screens, dimensions critiqued from all angles imaginable and what's this - a shiny remote?

Please if you don't like it go buy something from a mass produced brand in Curry's and lave the rest of us to enjoy this incredible brand. 

I appreciate people like to read positive posts as opposed to those of a negative (moaning?) nature. I am genuinely pleased you are enjoying your Core, but this is a thread regarding Atom, as per the heading. Human nature, is that expectations go up when a product is delayed and those who have placed an order very early on, understandably start feeling a tad frustrated. I appreciate it is not the end of world, but it does provoke high expectations and with it, a critical approach. My comment regarding the high gloss Remote was perhaps nit picking, but it genuinely seems a daft design which will lead to a scratched and dull appearance very quickly, for what benefit? I accept it is not a great reading thread, but those of us who have waited and waited, and might now be a little disappointed, have a right to be able to express our thoughts. I hope you can take that into account if you keep following this thread. 

Crabby posted:

I have been reading this forum with great attention. Most feedback are useful but some are seriously...well I am lost for words.

the new uniti range needs more work, we are all in agreement of that. My concern number one was the sound and frankly, all I am reading is anything but that.

you negative guys managed to put doubt in my mind. I don't Blame you one second as you have the right to get the best for your money. However, ask yourselves if this product and naim deserve such onslaught...word is strong indeed

When I see how naim guys respond in person in this forum and their genuine concern, I will keep looking forward to it...

i will let you know if I give up or not buying the atom but hopefully not. I still have 2 weeks to make my mind 

meanwhile, anyone putting sound first and practicing the glass half fool, please step forward as you are needed 

I like to think I am a positive sort of a chap and love the sound of my Naim system, but not sure I am quite ready to pronounce myself as a glass half fool sort of a bloke!

I don't believe mentioning the gloss remote is nitpicking. The Atom is intended to be a high quality, aspirational product. If the gloss remote prevents the Atom achieving its goal, even if it is simply in your opinion, then your opinion is valid.

it maybe easier and less costly for Naim to produce marketable non-glossy remotes. If enough people mention their dislike of glossy remotes Naim may be pleased.

s.

Crabby, I have dliberatly not posted re some yet as due to work commitments it is only tonight that I have had the opportunity to sit and listen (via speakers) for an hour. As a positive, yes it is sounding good, however I am also aware that it hasn't got to a stable condition, last night I thought it sounded flat, however I didn't post negative comments, due to feeling it unfair. When I demo/buy a product, irrespective of the sound it has to be a nice experience to interact with, I gave the original Hugo a slating, due to it being a pain in the backside to use. Up until last night my experience of the Atom was that on initial switch on I had to sit and look at it for nearly an hour while it did a software update, and had since lost wi fi connection, so no it wasn't very impressive. Since last night, however, things seem to have settled down. It has a more relaxed sound compared to the usual Naim up front sound, which suits me. The music has more body with good detail. Listening to Katie Melua, and her vocals are airy and unforced, I prefer it to the Qute2 that I last had, which I preferred to a previous SuperUniti I had, which just threw detail in a forced way at me.

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

I thought the cd rip was coming at a later firmware update. Is the screen now not going to show the cd track info and search functionality? If so that's not what was expected.

DomTomLondon posted:

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

If it's not what you want then it sounds best you get a refund. For me personally I am surprised they bothered with the remote, I thought after I got a QB(doesnt have one)they were moving away from them. I would rather have a cheaper unit due to remote not being included. What product will you move on to?

Kermit posted:

Crabby, I have dliberatly not posted re some yet as due to work commitments it is only tonight that I have had the opportunity to sit and listen (via speakers) for an hour. As a positive, yes it is sounding good, however I am also aware that it hasn't got to a stable condition, last night I thought it sounded flat, however I didn't post negative comments, due to feeling it unfair. When I demo/buy a product, irrespective of the sound it has to be a nice experience to interact with, I gave the original Hugo a slating, due to it being a pain in the backside to use. Up until last night my experience of the Atom was that on initial switch on I had to sit and look at it for nearly an hour while it did a software update, and had since lost wi fi connection, so no it wasn't very impressive. Since last night, however, things seem to have settled down. It has a more relaxed sound compared to the usual Naim up front sound, which suits me. The music has more body with good detail. Listening to Katie Melua, and her vocals are airy and unforced, I prefer it to the Qute2 that I last had, which I preferred to a previous SuperUniti I had, which just threw detail in a forced way at me.

Appreciate the feedback. 

Looks like we have a good product with lots of issues still. 

Last post from domtomlondon is worrying and we all need an immediate clarification from naim. 

I don't understand fully what is missing but mis-selling is a word i don't want to hear with naim or any other brand. Thanks for domtomlondon to share it with us 

as for my half full glass comment, my main point is that feedback is better if has a balance of good and not so good...same as when I do my team reviews...if you just focus on one side, you lost your point and create an automatic reaction. :-) 

ssmith posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

If it's not what you want then it sounds best you get a refund. For me personally I am surprised they bothered with the remote, I thought after I got a QB(doesnt have one)they were moving away from them. I would rather have a cheaper unit due to remote not being included. What product will you move on to?

I know a lot of people might not need a remote. But to put one in the box and limit it's functionality is just strange.

Still, listening to the Atom tonight almost makes me forget all the compromises I would need to make.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting the SuperUniti. I had it for almost a year and it did everything I wanted it to do.

DomTomLondon posted:

ssmith posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

If it's not what you want then it sounds best you get a refund. For me personally I am surprised they bothered with the remote, I thought after I got a QB(doesnt have one)they were moving away from them. I would rather have a cheaper unit due to remote not being included. What product will you move on to?

I know a lot of people might not need a remote. But to put one in the box and limit it's functionality is just strange.

Still, listening to the Atom tonight almost makes me forget all the compromises I would need to make.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting the SuperUniti. I had it for almost a year and it did everything I wanted it to do.

Good to hear sound is good especially for you after the su, big plus for me 

can you please clarify the cd ripping to local storage comment please, I am no expert and want to know what I am not getting potentially...

i could never afford the su otherwise I am not sure I will be looking at the atom. The star will be minimum after an su bit depends on your speakers and space 

DomTomLondon posted:

ssmith posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

If it's not what you want then it sounds best you get a refund. For me personally I am surprised they bothered with the remote, I thought after I got a QB(doesnt have one)they were moving away from them. I would rather have a cheaper unit due to remote not being included. What product will you move on to?

I know a lot of people might not need a remote. But to put one in the box and limit it's functionality is just strange.

Still, listening to the Atom tonight almost makes me forget all the compromises I would need to make.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting the SuperUniti. I had it for almost a year and it did everything I wanted it to do.

This confuses me. You want to go to a legacy product that won't have CD ripping functionality ever, limited resolution screen, from a product that you say sounds good that is still being updated and may well have the features you want in due course. Having said this I imagine the SU should sound better?

Ravenswood10 posted:

Nobody - just fed up of endless silly sniping. I bought into this brand over 30 years ago and what teeny tiny issues I've suffered from in all that time have been fixed by an excellent customer services team. I've seen shiny screens, dimensions critiqued from all angles imaginable and what's this - a shiny remote?

Please if you don't like it go buy something from a mass produced brand in Curry's and lave the rest of us to enjoy this incredible brand. 

If you buy a Raspberry Pi for $35 you're not allowed to complain. If you buy something else for 100 times that amount I suppose you can complain a bit if it doesn't deliver as expected.

More feedbacks:

- Powering up and getting to play the first track is very slow. (please don't tell me I should only have to do it once and leave the unit on perpetually)

- Connecting to wireless network is slow. Should it get disconnected, I realised that have to manually reconnect again. (please do not tell me I should be using wired).

Kermit posted:

I am absolutely amazed there is no manual in the box, and to be honest the online one isn't brilliant. I'm on the fence if just to sell mine. By comparison my Denon DM40 is just so easy to use and control.

at a time when having a paper manual is important lots now only offer that digital which sucks 

Crabby posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

ssmith posted:

DomTomLondon posted:

I don't like to moan and complain. And I'm not here on the forum to do that. I posted my concers here because I wanted to hear from other Atom owners what I was doing wrong. But it seems that what I was looking for no longer exists on the new units. Fair enough.

I will just say that not being able to use the remote control to access UPnp is my biggest gripe and I can't understand how this was not implemened. Maybe others have moved on to tidal or whatevee. Being able to access my music library from my NAS without having to first find my smartphone to open an app, and it allowed the rest of my family to pick up the remote and play something. It's the reason why I choose my first Uniti product five years ago.

Being promised a feature like for ripping CDs to local storage, just to find out now that it's no longer going to be available. Why should that bother me?

And that lovely screen. The information displayed looks nothing like it is advertised on the naim site. It's such a waste in it's current design. At least let me turn it off and have the time displayed, oh can't do that either.

I'll stop there, because I'm going to get flamed for being childish, for wanting a product to work like it was advertised to do.

If it's not what you want then it sounds best you get a refund. For me personally I am surprised they bothered with the remote, I thought after I got a QB(doesnt have one)they were moving away from them. I would rather have a cheaper unit due to remote not being included. What product will you move on to?

I know a lot of people might not need a remote. But to put one in the box and limit it's functionality is just strange.

Still, listening to the Atom tonight almost makes me forget all the compromises I would need to make.

Otherwise, I'm thinking of getting the SuperUniti. I had it for almost a year and it did everything I wanted it to do.

Good to hear sound is good especially for you after the su, big plus for me 

can you please clarify the cd ripping to local storage comment please, I am no expert and want to know what I am not getting potentially...

i could never afford the su otherwise I am not sure I will be looking at the atom. The star will be minimum after an su bit depends on your speakers and space 

One of the features of the Atom that was originally advertised was the ability to plug in an external USB optical drive and accurately rip a CD onto a USB storage device plugged to the second USB on the back. While it's not a deal breaker for me that the function is missing. It was a deciding factor when I ordered the Atom back in December, so I'm a bit disappointed. If it was just the CD ripping issue I wouldn't care. But when you ask Naim support at least a half dozen questions and every one of them come back with a 'that's no longer available' or 'just use the App' answer... well.

Maybe if enough people complain it will come at a later date, but I suspect they are pushed on resources and think people will buy a Star instead, which makes business sense. Does not help you though.......