UnitiQute 3

This is exciting!

How would the rumor mill have heard it to know it is a huge upgrade?

Considering the dealers themselves only get advanced notification of a new product a couple days in advance with a publicity embargo, I would reserve judgement. But Naim are in the business of making things so whether they bring out nothing or a whole bunch of stuff, neither would surprise me either way.

All to happen in Denver, Colorado, RMAF starting 7th October. There were indications as early as 12 months ago for a revolution in sound. Naim, we are listening!

Ah yes, another rumour.  I guess it was inevitable that another one would be along sooner or later... 

I'm looking forward to the Aro2. Everybody who hasn't heard it says it will be a revolution in sound quality from vinyl. Let's hope that gets announced at the RMAF.

I suggest listening to music as a better alternative to rumours from un-named sources.

Richard Dane posted:

I'm looking forward to the Aro2. Let's hope that gets announced at the RMAF.

Is that to go on the (also to be announced at RMAF) Naim turntable ?

I will be attending RMAF and will report back on this thread...

We are doing the final touch to RMAF, the stock is already in Denver, sorry no Aro 2, no Qute3, but many other things.

See you all in Denver.

We will have a Statement playing and a multiroom demo.

Manu posted:

We are doing the final touch to RMAF, the stock is already in Denver, sorry no Aro 2, no Qute3, but many other things.

Many NEW other things ?

Chag -

Chag... posted:

Manu posted:

We are doing the final touch to RMAF, the stock is already in Denver, sorry no Aro 2, no Qute3, but many other things.

Many NEW other things ?

Chag -

you mean you haven't heard? They're dumping the Classics in favor of a line of iPod docks, a nWatch, a nPhone (it weighs 2kg apparently) and a range of steam irons and vacuum cleaners. But they all sound good.

See you all at RMAF!

Wouldn't surprise me after UL, mu-so and other Qb likes..

Chag -

As expected I got my hands & ears on the new Uniti "Atom" today at RMAF.  

Steve S took me through the paces and I left seriously impressed with the full capibilities of the Atom. The color screen & Mu-So like touch control on top was very slick. An upgraded App will be released with the new Uniti product line. I like that I can hook my turntable phono amp to rca input and it will digitally stream my analog sound to my Mu-So(s) ... very clever.  Also they will be adding multi device control capability. This will allow  my wife to control her room separately or pick Tidal songs at the same time as me on my device.

The highlight of coarse was the sound coming out of the Focal floorstanders. This simple Atom/Focal combo sounded better then a large majority of the mega thousand dollar rooms I visited on Friday. No cables, no fuss, no audiophile nonsense. A pair of speakers and wires. Done!

The Atom is supposed to hit the street by Christmas ... it's safe to say Santa will have one with my name on it.

What focal floorstanders were in use?

Congratulations to Naim on the new Uniti line of products. I had been hoping to see a UQ3 at some point as an upgrade to my UQ2, so was quite interested to hear of this new line.

There's lots to love, including the new gen, 40-bit SHARC DSP, improved internal buffer and memory (I assume this is beneficial to hardwired ethernet, not just to Wifi), the connectivity improvements, the new display and app improvements including playlists, etc.

I'm admittedly a niche customer, but I use my UQ2 as both (1) a desktop system with speakers/headphones, and (2) as a digital source system for my main system (via coax spdif to my nDAC/282/HCDR/250-2). The UQ2 is excellent as a front end, and eliminates the need to duplicate the streamer and various sources between my desktop and main systems. For example my Sonos Connect (digital output to Remedy Reclocker to UQ via spdif).

So I read up on the details of the Atom, which is effectively the UQ3 I assume, but am quite disappointed to realize that it won't be a viable UQ2 replacement for me. The lack of spdif output is the show stopper. Less critical but still disappointing is the 1 less coax spdif input, and that FM(/DAB) is no longer an option (latter is an option on the Star and Nova only).

Never mind the other upgrade that I was hoping for - din line level output for my Headline.

I already have lots of boxes, Naim and otherwise, and do not want to add more to my desktop system. Or even change from a shoebox to a full size box there.

By the way, I see that the current Uniti products have remained in the line (minus the UnitiServe). Will they be dropped once the new units become available?

Brubacca posted:

What focal floorstanders were in use?

Focal Aria 926.   $3000

Focal 1000F Sub.  $1200

Naim speaker cables.

Tamarin do you find the Remedy Reclocker a worthwhile improvement over the bare Sonos connect into the Qute?

Chris 

Most definitely, Chris. It's transformative on the Qute, as the Qute 1 and 2 do not include the RAM buffer and master-clock dejitter implementation that's built into the nDAC, NDS, NDX and ND5XS. The latter feature is apparently included in the new Unitis too.

I have my RR on a linear psu for whatever that's worth. I also favor Deezer Elite streams when using my Sonos Connect.

By the way, the RR always upsamples to 96k, and to my ears, that appears to work fine with the Sonos Connect 44.1KHz digital output.

I also like the flexibility of the RR inputs/outputs:
Inputs: Toslink, Coaxial
Outputs: Toslink, Coaxial, BNC.

The input is specified by a switch. You can experiment with toslink vs coax spdif from the Sonos Connect to the RR for additional isolation of the Sonos. But then use the BNC for connection to the Qute  (too bad the Qute doesn't have BNC inputs. I use a BNC to Cardas-RCA cable).

The outputs can be used simultaneously, which could be handy if you want to pipe your Sonos to multiple systems.

I haven't tried it, but iFi has recently come out with a non-upsampling, inline SPDIF reclocker that looks quite interesting. It does requires a 5V psu.

http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio...ory-spdif-ipurifier/

Many thanks Tamarin, I've just set up my desk top system using a Qute 2 with Neat Iota speakers connected with TQ ultra Blue speaker cable and I like the Sonos Connect as I can listen along in my office when all the other Sonos zones are playing. Certainly food for thought regarding the RR. Not sure about the TQ speaker cable and I'm about to try out some 3.5 metre lengths of Naim A4 that I had laying around from an old system. So do most DAC's have a master clock dejitter feature , I ask as I have a spare Rega Dac sitting here and wonder if it might be worth a try using tha through the analog inputs on the Qute 2?

Chris

Higher end DACS are more likely to include a a proper fifo memory buffer / reclocking implementation (and perhaps galvanic isolation for noise immunity too), and hence there would be no call for a RR or equivalent.

However, I don't know about the Rega DAC. It's worth a try since you have one lying about.

Congrats on the UQ2 and Neat Iotas. With near field, desktop speakers, I've found the positioning to be critical (including separation, height and angle). At least that's the case with my Audience Ones on my UQ2. Once I dialed in the positions of the Ones, I've found the immediacy, imaging and depth of the Qute plus Ones to be quite magical. I'm sure that you can get the same with the highly regarding Iotas.