Headphone amp: Naim DAC V1 vs Uniti Atom/Star/Nova

The DAC-V1 is current and hasn't been replaced.

Thanks. I don't mean replaced as in out of production. 

I want to know if there's any point in buying one *if* the Atom can offer the same quality through headphones.

I am not familiar with the new uniti product but I had a Unitiqute 1 and DAC-V1 at the same time for a brief period. I found the DAC-V1 headphone amp to be more revealing and I use it when editing music files. The Qute was more fun for casual listening- bouncy and punchy especially with my AKGs! My advice would be to have your friend listen for themselves and determine what suits their purpose.

Is this a headphone only system, or will he use loudspeakers as well? What source?

Thanks for the reply.

No loudspeakers. Source will be laptop or an alternative solution like Nvidia Shield. Connection will be USB. Music files will be FLAC.

Dare I say Hugo 2,I recently had one for a month,and never experienced better sound from my headphones.

I’d get mojo. Or the meridian explorer 2 if you want mqa 

I have V1 and Hugo.... For SQ the Hugo kills the V1 with my HD800's. For convenience the V1 smashes the Hugo due to the handy remote control (Does the Hugo2 have a remote?) and connectivity. At the current List price the V1 is not a great value.

Yes Kevin ,the Hugo 2 has a remote,I was very close to buying it,but the only thing I did not like was the 3.5 mm coax input.At least Hugo 1 was a full size input,it made me decide to save up for the Dave.

I prefer the V1 to the Hugo.

Odd that almost no-one seems to have done the V1-Atom comparison, including several other hifi store owners I've spoken to.

Will compare in the new year and post my findings.

The Mytek Brooklyn and the Schiit DAC/Amp ranges are worth an audition, the Dac V1 can be a bit up front with some music. But which phones are used is important as well....... I worship at the temples of Audeze, Meze and Sennheiser.

Evening all. I spent some time over Christmas demoing the aforementioned gear and thought I'd share my findings.

Set-up: Sennheiser HD800S headphones > (Naim product) > USB input playing FLAC files

Conclusions:

The headphone amp appears to be the same across the new Naim Uniti series (Atom/Star/Nova). If there is a difference, I could not hear it.

The Uniti series' headphone amp sounds *slightly* better than the Naim DAC-V1.

My ideal set-up would therefore be a headphones + Naim Uniti Atom combo.

I think that the Atom's integrated features (network streaming, powering speakers etc.) are worth the £600 premium over the DAC V-1. However, to sell my V-1 at a loss would effectively take this premium to over £1,000, which I've decided not to do.

I was genuinely surprised at how good the Atom is -- I hated the MuSo and dismissed this as another all-in-one gimmick. (Not trying to be controversial.) However, the Atom is the real deal. For anyone who prefers the sound of the Chord Hugo over Naim, the alternative set-up I would consider for the same budget is Nvidia Shield (media streamer via TV & Android phone) > Chord Hugo > headphones. Hope this is helpful.

The V1 via USB allows DSP which makes headphone listening 1000% more enjoyable. 

I have no idea what that means