Naim UnitiLite - too loud on 1 volume level

Music should be inaudible on 0 and 1 thru 10 should be really quiet! With those speakers a volume of about 30 for background listening (it's been a while since I owned a ULite). Have a chat with your dealer asap!

As hafler says, 0 should be silent, with the volume increasing to a normal listening level around 30 to 40 or so, and then it starts to get very loud. 

Are you saying that it can still be heard with the volume on zero? If so, and assuming you bought it new, ask for a replacement.

Hi, 

thanks for your replies. 

When set on zero - it is silent - no sound. The step change between zero and one is however quite high. Yesterday I was reading some book, sitting 2-3 meters from my speakers. Naim was set on 1 - chillout music from iRadio. I could hardly focus my attention on book, it was just too loud... 

30-40 is a loud listening level. So far the loudest I was setting has been ~45... 

I have a SuperUniti, which has a different volume control, but still has the 0 to 100 range. I'm currently sitting 1m from the right speaker (not my usual listening position, I hasten to add) listening to the radio, with the volume set on 22, and it's fairly quiet.

If you are saying that with the volume on 1, it is too loud to have as background music, then the UnitiLite is faulty. The 1 setting should be whisper quiet.

Is the UL new?

Hi Hungryhalibut,

Yes, my UnitiLite is brand new - two weeks of use. 

Can I get your advice about claiming it to the dealer... The sound volume at 1 is a bit subjective issue. What is too loud for me could be completly normal for others. I am far from saying that the dealer will make any problems with this issue, however I am wondering if there are any objectives methods to decide - normal-not normal when it comes to this setting. 

one more. According to this forum recommendations, I keep the Uniti on, activating mute when not used. If I mute it on iRadio, then apart from hiss, I hear a very silent (on the level of the hiss) radio signal from the speakers. To get a plain hiss, I need to choose on of the not used inputs (like Analog 1)

You are being too nice! If it is too loud on 1, the UnitiLite is faulty. I guarantee it. Explain to the dealer, and ask for a replacement. 

I'm not sure where you live, but comsumer law should mean that you are entitled to a replacement, as it does here in the UK. Don't be fobbed off with it being sent for investigation at Naim. 

Do it right now!

Checked units in production today they are all really really low at 1

Best get one ready for shipping then!

If you have an iPad get a sound level meter app. You should be able to then post objective db readings.

Here are some guides: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...ing-level---how-loud 

For me is the same, a lot depends from background noise. In the evening 1 is slightly loud, but in the morning I listen almost nothing.

Have you lot got ears like bats? I've just put my ear right up to the bass unit on my speakers and on 1 I hear nothing at all. On 2 it's just audible. The bloody thing is broken. Send it back.

Hope not. 

Draszor, please let us know if is broken or not. Thanks.

Eh?

Hi, I will share with you how the story ended. I am waiting for fresk delivery of Naim's to my dealer premises, to compare my device. Yestarday I loaded dbVolumeMeter app to my iPhone and did some tests. Maybe someone finds it helpful, so I share results:

silence has been assessed by this app for 44.6 dB average, 45 dB max

hiss from the speakers - 45.2 aver, 45.2 max

volume set to 10 - 51.8 aver, 55.3 max

volume set to 5 - 49.7 aver 54.6 max

volume set to 1 - 49.4 aver, 52.1 max

I was playing Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Flac (around 20-30 sec) and keeping my iPhone at the tweeter. 

Hi Draszor,

Ive just done the same exercise using dB Volume Meter, WAV 'Never Mind' CD rip streamed through my SuperUniti.

I guess that dB's measured are dB's, regardless of what equipment.

Putting the microphone right at the tweeter is I would suggest not the place to measure, as we do not listen with our ear at the speaker.

But I did it anyway.

At silence I get 33dB, at volume 10 I get 53dB, at volume 5 I get 48dB, and at volume 1 I get 42dB.

But I have to say, at volume 1 and 5, at these dB's measured, I can hardly hear the track - maybe Im hard of hearing.

If I sit at my normal listening position, approximately 2.5m from the speakers, my normal lower level listening volume would be 25, and at 2.5m it measures only 50dB.

At volume 1 from that distance I measure 28dB, and I dont hear the track!

Just out of interest, how close to your speakers do you sit when listening?

On my SuperUniti volume setting 1 - can only just hear some higher pitch sounds.

On my UnitiLite volume setting 1 - can easily hear all music and could be used for quiet background listening but definitely not overpowering or loud.

Not scientific and based on my pretty poor hearing but a definite and very noticeable difference between the two units. This is an observation and not a concern.

Sitting on the sofa opposite the speakers, playing Teen Spirit at 31, the sound peaks at 54dB.

At at 10, it peaks at 45, and is very, very quiet.

Now I've spent 69p, I'll say again - your UnitiLite is broken. Insist on a replacement.

That's interesting: I was naively thinking the volume control would work the same on both. But even if they are different, it cannot be right that the UL on 10 is as loud as the SU on 30.

Im not sure that is correct HH.

I measured pretty much the same using the same method at 10 as Draszor did, despite the volume differences between the SU and Unitilite that Forester mentions.

Surely dB is dB and has the same effect on 'loudness' doesn't it?

Ill leave it to those that understand these things, and ultimately to Draszor and his dealer to check it out!

I've had another go. With the iPad up against the speaker, it's peaking at 74.9. I wonder how loud it was when I was playing Deep Purple at 60 the other day? I give up.

 I dont think Ive quite managed to crank my Superuniti up that loud yet!

For day to day listening I would say that  the used listening levels are broadly the same between the two. They both vary with input (e.g. Radio Paradise needs less volume than BBC Radio 3) in the same way. It seems that the UnitiLite 1-10 probably shows less variation than the SuperUniti over the same range.  It is difficult to be too precise as different speakers in very different rooms.

I was really impressed with the way it kept in total control, despite being very, very loud. You could really feel the bass, but there was no boom whatsoever.

Must try it when the neighbours are out...purely for testing purposes you understand!

Hi,

so, we have quite a discussion here... Very valuable for an amateur like me.

some answers:

my couch is at least 2,5-3 meters from the speakers.

When measured from it, at the same song I get:

volume 10 - 47.8/49.3 aver/max

vol 5 - 47.0/47.3

vol1 - 46.5/47

my TV hanging between speakers generator at

vol 10 - 45.5/46

vol 1 - it is basically silence...

one, could be silly question from my side - comparing the naim, is it better to take my source-speaker cables or it really does not matter?