Using a Unitilite as a streaming source for Nait XS2

Posted by: Royd Audio on 13 October 2018

I'm in a position where I'm being offered a Unitilite at a very reasonable price. I already have a Nait XS2 and CD5 so don't require amplification or CD replay however I am interested in tapping into the Uniti for streaming. However I'm a bit fuzzy on how to do this and if doing so will use the pre amp in the Uniti or in my XS?

Can anyone shed some light. Naturally an ND5XS would be a great option but this is not on the cards for the time being because of cost.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Richard Dane

The Unitilite is not ideal as a source because it only offers a pre-out rather than a line-out. It can be used but performance suffers and you'll be juggling two volume controls.  The way around this would be to connect into the NAIT XS2 via an input with unity gain enabled.  That way you can then control volume via the Unitilite for that input.  You will need a Naim 4-5 interconnect to do this.  Ultimately though you will have plenty of redundancy and you may be better off waiting and saving for an ND5xs.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Royd Audio

OK thanks for the quick reply Richard. I did suspect that this may be the case, thanks for explaining that for me! I shall start saving the pennies...

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by ChrisSU

A Uniti would be a better bet, as it has a line out (pre volume control) or as Richard says, look out for a good deal on an ND5XS or NDX, as they are also discontinued now, so there will be deals out there.