Uniti 2 as AV Amp

Posted by: MartinCA on 09 November 2015

I thought I’d share some notes on trying out a Uniti 2 in place of an AV amp – I’d be interested in any similar experiences.

I have being using a Pioneer SC-75 AV amp for Blu-Ray and Sky. I really like the sound. It handles all aspects of surround sound with ease and clarity. No complaints on that score. The trouble is its’ set-up has proved very temperamental. I seem to spend the first 10 minutes of each film fiddling with the connections on the back, and getting Sky to work is more trouble than its worth. And it is huge, which may have a bearing on my troubles, because the wiring is pressed up against the back of the stand.

My wife decided that she’d prefer a sound bar, and I thought about the Muso, but it only has one optical input. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the Uniti 2 might work in this role with just two of the speakers plus the sub.

I had a nagging doubt that I’d lose the clarity of speech without a centre speaker, which was why I’d switched from the stereo amp to an AV amp in the first place, but I decided it was worth trying out – so I got a Uniti on loan – and thought I’d share my impressions.

Set-up

Remarkably easy. I plugged in the Sky box and Blu-ray by Toslink, connected up a couple of small AudioEngine speakers and a Mission sub, connected to the internet (wired), and switched on. Straight away was able to use the remote to listen to TV from Sky, then iRadio, then the UnitiServe, which it found with no input from me, and my Tidal account, and of course. All this was immediate.

It took me a little while to get it to work with the BluRay and Sky HD, but that was down to tracking down the settings in those boxes to change the output to PCM. I also needed to put a 40ms delay on the Sky sound to sync the sound from the Uniti and from the TV.

Ease of Use

A doddle. The remote is good, with the small screen on the Uniti clear enough. I downloaded the Naim client App, which makes using it even easier. Much much simpler than the Pioneer in every way. Tidal is a really neat implementation – this should be a winner.

Sound

TV via Sky box You’d expect the Uniti to be better than the TV sound, and it was in every way. Particularly noticeable on HD. Also better than the Pioneer, which never worked satisfactorily with the Sky box.

Blu-Ray Film I am now listening to films in stereo rather than 5.1. It did a decent job, particularly handling any music, and also handled the usual array of special effects, explosions and so on crisply and it had presence. I watched the starts of Gladiator and Blade Runner and really didn’t feel as if I was missing much. The dialogue does recede a little into the soundtrack. You'd want to use speakers with forward voicing. And you lose the surround sound. But this is not so as to be a problem though. Ultimately though, it’s not a good as the Pioneer as a cinema amp

LAN Music Music played over the LAN (from my UnitiServe and NAS) is much better than the Pioneer managed.

Tidal Sounds as good as CDs to me on this set-up – though I can hear the difference between Tidal and CD rips on my main system.

CD Roughly comparable to my old CD5/112/150 set-up, if used without power supply upgrades – the Uniti has slightly less detail and weight, but is well-balanced and easier to listen to. That’s good enough for this set-up

With Big Speakers

I hooked it on to my big old Rogers LS7ts to see how it did, and it drove them comfortably. It is not quite up there in terms of detail and presence compared to a set of externally powered separates (specifically my old CD5/112/150/Caps). But it is enjoyable and easy to listen to, probably more so than those separates before I got the external power supplies.

Overall

Overall I love the ease of use and the versatility of the Uniti. But the acid test is my wife’s reaction as her inability to get on with the Pioneer was the trigger for this exercise. She prefers the Uniti for three reasons:

Easier to use
Prefers the stereo sound to the 5.1 sound (which was “too overwhelming&rdquo
She likes the what she considers to be the warm sound of the Uniti

Posted on: 09 November 2015 by feeling_zen

Excellent write up.

And confirms what I have known for years. Even just for movies, excellent stereo beats average surround by a very large margin (though valid seating positions are reduced). If you have a decent hifi, then a far cheaper surround setup will greatly diminish your movie enjoyment. I would advise people with a decent hifi wanting to do AV that it cannot be done well on the cheap. It doesn't have to on par with the main system but if it is an after thought, you're better putting the money towards the stereo.

I held off doing surround for years until I could do it right. In the meantime, my stereo at that time (a Linn system) blew away every friend's AV system and left them in a ditch. When I took the AV plunge, I did it right.

Posted on: 09 November 2015 by tonym

I do agree, if you want to hear proper surround sound you've got to invest the necessary to make it up to the standard of your stereo. If I had a pound for everyone who's posted they prefer stereo, but think they can get away with some cheap speakers and processor...

If you're not prepared to make the investment, and also not able to position the surround speakers properly, you're better off with stereo for sure.

Posted on: 09 November 2015 by mudwolf

I have a vacation place and bought a Samsung sound bar with the sub. Very disappointed with the muddled sound, I'll go back and try to lower the bass or up the higher levels. I had thought of getting a Uniti of some sort and a couple decent small speakers.

In my apartment I rarely use the Samsung TV sound unless it's just news, I always port entertainment thru my system.

Posted on: 09 November 2015 by Penarth Blues

I've had this setup for a few years now but I take the audio directly out of the TV via Toslink into the Uniti2 and my Focal 926's. It sounds superb to my ears and also plays Bluray correctly this way too, using HDMI into the TV and the optical out.

With sound this good I don't see the point in full surround sound and all the hassle of positioning speakers and cables but appreciate others will wish to go that route. I think if I hung a Sub out of the dedicated port on the Uniti2 then it would do 98% of anything I could ever want from a full AV system, as it is I don't want any more bass than I already have as I prefer to hear the dialogue more clearly.

Posted on: 10 November 2015 by MartinCA

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

I've had this setup for a few years now but I take the audio directly out of the TV via Toslink into the Uniti2 and my Focal 926's.

I must try that - I guess you then don't need to mess with the PCM output settings on the Blu-ray or Sky-box - just let the TV do the conversion. I did wonder whether there might be a drop-off in sound quality, but it doesn't sound like you feel that way.

I'll give it a go.

The other thought I had was that I could use the Blu-ray player as a CD transport, taking the digital stream into the Uniti 2. I tried it, and it worked fine. The significance of that is that the CD section of the Uniti would be redundant - and maybe the SuperUniti, which is not so much more expensive, might be an even better option.

Posted on: 10 November 2015 by tonym

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

Well, if you used a full surround system, you'd hear the dialogue clearly because the centre speaker is generally dedicated it, that's why it's often called the dialogue speaker.

You're missing the point here; the surround sound on BluRay/DVD/Satellite transmission is encoded with 5.1 or 7.1 discrete channels & with a proper decoder you get the sound you're supposed to experience. Once you go to stereo you need to mix these channels together into the two speakers, with variable results.

I guess it depends if you really like movies and watch them a lot - I do. Good surround adds considerably to my enjoyment when watching them. Also, many music discs have surround encoding and some of these are quite excellent - Steven Wilson is particularly adept at mixing these to great effect.

Posted on: 10 November 2015 by Penarth Blues

Originally Posted by tonym:

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

Well, if you used a full surround system, you'd hear the dialogue clearly because the centre speaker is generally dedicated it, that's why it's often called the dialogue speaker.

I was trying to point out that it met 98% of my needs - I wasn't trying to imply you couldn't do better with surround as you clearly can with a good system - and it sounds like yours is a great system.

However, I've watched loads of Blu-ray films in this fashion and for me my auditory faculties are a supplement to my visual appreciation of the film so I never feel I'm missing anything as the full stereo range is there albeit missing the sub 35Hz stuff.

As I noted above the Uniti2 specifically has connections for adding a Sub, which I will try at some stage out of interest, but I guess it's an indication that I don't consider anything is missing as I haven't felt the need to add it yet.

However, at some stage I will have a listen to a good surround system to see what I'm missing...

Posted on: 13 November 2015 by Innocent Bystander

Originally Posted by tonym:

If you're not prepared to make the investment, and also not able to position the surround speakers properly, you're better off with stereo for sure.

I disagree - I've recently set up a fairly basic surround sound system (Sony STR-DN1040 amp, Tannoy FX 5.1 speakers + a pair of Wharfedale PPS1 nxt flat panel speakers to make up to 7.1), total cost under £500 secondhand. Not a patch on my HiFi SQ-wise, but I really do not notice any deficiencies when watching feature films (except for occasional films that have irritating LF rumbles even when there's nothing going on to warrant it, which I've always assumed is just a poor recording or bad soundtrack) - and the ambience of the surround is definitely beneficial with some films. The only time I've been tempted to change to HiFi (and stereo) is when watching videos of live concerts, which do usually sound better that way, if the source audio is good.

I don't know if the quality/immersibility of the video side has something to do with it, engrossing the viewer in the film -I suspect it probably does. (My screen is 3.5 x 1.5m, and I watch from about 3.6m away, so the effect is very much like a full size CinemaScope screen from a seat in the middle perhaps a third of the way back - just where I like to sit in a cinema.)

Posted on: 15 November 2015 by MartinCA

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

I take the audio directly out of the TV via Toslink into the Uniti2 and my Focal 926's. It sounds superb to my ears and also plays Bluray correctly this way too, using HDMI into the TV and the optical out.

I've now tried this.

I get a sound delay on the Uniti, compared to the TV when I do this. It's not a big problem because I can mute the TV, but the TV doesn't have the option of a delay, like the Sky box does.

Did you get this too? Do you live with it or have you found a way around it?

Posted on: 15 November 2015 by MartinCA

On the debate of Stereo sound vs 5.1 (or more) .... I think it is self-evidently true that you get what you pay for.

When I started trying to run surround sound of my old mediocre stereo amp, with rear speakers powered off an Akai VHS the surround sound was a dogs dinner, forever having to turn up the volume to hear the dialogue before turning it back down again as the sound effects took over.

That was cured by a straightforward Sony 5.1 amp, which made watching films bearable, although music playing quality was the other side of the Bose system my wife inflicts upon the rest of us when in the kitchen.

The Pioneer amp next to the top of the range and it is very good on surround sound, and quite acceptable musically - a big step up from the Sony. The Uniti is very good on music and quite acceptable for films. So I guess we pays our money and makes our choice.

I've decided to go with the Uniti (although sad to decommission the Pioneer). The key factor is just how easy the Uniti is to use. It's very versatile and I no longer spend the first 10 minutes of each film tweaking sound settings and swapping output plugs on the Pioneer, which used to drive the rest of the family bonkers.

Posted on: 15 November 2015 by Penarth Blues

Originally Posted by MartinCA:

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

I've now tried this.

I get a sound delay on the Uniti, compared to the TV when I do this. It's not a big problem because I can mute the TV, but the TV doesn't have the option of a delay, like the Sky box does.

Did you get this too? Do you live with it or have you found a way around it?

I use the Stereo sound exclusively as there is then no need to have the TV sound on as well - at least for my tastes and hearing. On my TV there is a menu option to just have sound from the optical output.

Posted on: 15 November 2015 by MartinCA

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

Originally Posted by MartinCA:

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

I've now tried this.

I get a sound delay on the Uniti, compared to the TV when I do this. It's not a big problem because I can mute the TV, but the TV doesn't have the option of a delay, like the Sky box does.

Did you get this too? Do you live with it or have you found a way around it?

Makes sense. At low volumes, I have to admit to sometimes (when on Sky) leaving the TV sound on to boost the midrange that voices sit in. But if/when I position the speakers properly, it isn't necessary. Still, I'm thinking I need to find slightly better speakers - maybe Neat Motive SX3s or Iotas

Posted on: 15 November 2015 by Penarth Blues

Originally Posted by MartinCA:

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

Originally Posted by MartinCA:

Originally Posted by Penarth Blues:

I've now tried this.

I get a sound delay on the Uniti, compared to the TV when I do this. It's not a big problem because I can mute the TV, but the TV doesn't have the option of a delay, like the Sky box does.

Did you get this too? Do you live with it or have you found a way around it?

I'd be surprised if the midrange and treble of your TV speakers was better than that from your speakers? Unless the bass is muddying everything perhaps? I find it far easier to hear speech through the Naim and 926's than through the TV speakers, so you have this to look forward to once you sort your system out