Atom plus speakers - my experiences to date. What are others using ?

Posted by: Cato on 13 December 2017

I've had an Atom now for 4 months or so and pairing it with some Neat Iotas. First of all, despite some market griping about functionality, software etc I must say mine has been performing flawlessly from day one - no glitches or hitches and does exactly what I want it to do -  this said, my set-up is very simple and I can imagine there will be users who demand more and who also are infinitely more tech savvy than me and have other requirements . My room is about 30X12 feet and the speakers are placed near the rear wall and fire across - hence I sit probably around 9-10 feet from speakers. 

But, this is not about functionality but speaker pairing -  When I bought the Atom I listened to a handful of speakers:

Elac 310 - was in a large room and the tiny speakers struggled a bit to fill the space - this said, superb tweeter and high frequency extension and may well have worked better in a smaller room

Neat Motive 2 and 3 - liked the 3 better than the 2s (better definition, slightly crisper and easier to follow individual instruments) but in both cases the sound came across as a bit warm and muffled and didn't really engage me

Neat Iota - bough these; very quick, crisp and engaging sound but ultimately, and obviously given the size of the speaker, rather limited in bass extension. When cranking up the volume they do come alive and give a pretty good facsimile of much bigger speakers. But they do need some welly to get there

Sf Chameleon B - non-descript, pleasant, slightly warm, not particularly detailed or engaging

ATC SC7 - wonderful in many ways but require current and whilst the result was quite decent with the Atom, a Nova would probably deliver the current that these speakers need.

Proac Tablette 10s - I really wanted to like these; I have owned the original Tabs, the 1 SCs, the Response 1.5s etc in the past and always a proac fan. however, I must confess to being somewhat disappointed in the result; could have been the room and probably many other factors but I found the result a bit shut in, imaging strictly between the speakers with restricted soundstage, lack of immediacy and presence - all opposite of what many think the Tab 10s do well... maybe I have simply mislaid my hearing faculties...but end result was that they didn't grab me and I didn't buy

Hence, I have the Iotas but wonder what else is worth listening to - I like the ribbon tweeter and the out of the box sound and disappearing act and last but not least, ability to place close to a rear wall - but sometimes wish for more bottom end, more presence and weight at lower sound levels.

I am keen, but not necessairly dead set, to stick with monitor speakers rather than bulky floorstanders, my budget is very flexible, don't really mind if more expensive than the Atom (mullet approach), say even up to £3k or so, just want to get it right -

What have other Atom owners ended up with ? What else is worth exploring for me ?

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 02 January 2018 by Freedomsounds

I see what you mean now. Thanks  do you guys notice a difference in the sound. I have only bi-wire on my speakers in the past. Thanks

Posted on: 02 January 2018 by ChrisSU
Freedomsounds posted:

On a mac they don't show up because apple does not support flac. You have to go dig into your files to find them and they don't drag and drop. At least not for me. I'm not that techie. When pono first launched j-river ran there program, but when pono went under a couple of years later j-river started charging for ther program, the problem I have with there program is I don't feel it's that good and needs to be updated & simplified. 

Apple doesn’t support FLAC playback but that doesn’t stop third party apps from playing FLAC, and it certainly doesn’t stop them from being stored and transferred via the Mac OS. Maybe the Pono player imposes this limitation?

Posted on: 02 January 2018 by Freedomsounds

Ok thank you !

Posted on: 18 January 2018 by peterks

Sorry, a bit late.

I am using Spendor A2s with my Atom. Fabulous sounding combination, I think. Floorstanders, yes, but they have a small footprint, so not really intrusive in our living room. 

Posted on: 18 January 2018 by Donkeyhaute

Hello. Congratulations on the Nova. I've had the original Uniti and now an SU with a CB NAP 250. I find that Guru Qm10s go very well with these. I'm sure you can google reviews.  They are now both back in production and updated. http://guruaudio.com/?post_type=product

 

Posted on: 18 January 2018 by Mercky
peterks posted:

Sorry, a bit late.

I am using Spendor A2s with my Atom. Fabulous sounding combination, I think. Floorstanders, yes, but they have a small footprint, so not really intrusive in our living room. 

I'm using Spendor A4's with my Atom - yes lovely but took quite a while to settle in which is to be expected I guess. I find the Atom can be a bit 'shrill' sometimes but is mellowing out with time. I've heard the A2's and they're very similar sounding to the 4's 

Posted on: 19 January 2018 by Stover

I used Neat Iota with a Qute2 and was very happy with the sound/ music from it. Due it`s size, when playing they have some limitations. Now sold and I`m waiting in an Atom, to replace a Muso in the living room. Based on the Harbeths in my main system, I wonder if Harbeth P3ESR could be an alternative with Atom. Anyone with experience?

S

 

Posted on: 19 January 2018 by Mercky
Stover posted:

I used Neat Iota with a Qute2 and was very happy with the sound/ music from it. Due it`s size, when playing they have some limitations. Now sold and I`m waiting in an Atom, to replace a Muso in the living room. Based on the Harbeths in my main system, I wonder if Harbeth P3ESR could be an alternative with Atom. Anyone with experience?

S

 

No but would be a great combo I'd imagine if you want to keep things compact as a second system and particularly as you're accustomed to the Harbeth sound

Posted on: 19 January 2018 by Tastiehastie77

I use CM10's s2 with my atom....

I have bi-amped them with a nap100...The Atom is on the mids and highs, and the nap 100 is on the lows.

It's very effective