uniti nova stereophile review

The best part of the review was the reply from Naim.

And that was ???

Detailed technical response to the measurements and resulting (mistaken) conclusions drawn by John Atkinson.  The main part of the review was a rave, so no need for a Naim reply there.

I will check if issuu has included the latest issue of Stereophile..

It hadn't last time I checked....

i read quickly the article. The reviewer uses shindo electronics in his system.  He found the nova amp section very natural sounding for a solid state.  He enjoyed the streaming but prefers the sound of his turntable.  At the end he rates highly the all in one integrated nova.

Naim have a link to the review here:

https://www.naimaudio.com/site...ova%20%20Stereophile

There is a comprehensive technical test and analysis. It does say that volume levels over 65 should not be used with digital sources due to clipping. That's about as high as I normally go but I'd like to have the option - does anyone have a view on how valid this conclusion is?

All that is saying is that a digital signal that is as loud as it can be will drive the amplifier to clipping with the volume set to 65. In practice the digital signal may not be that loud - it all depends what the sound engineer who mixed the digital transcription did about that.

So I would take that as meaning that above a volume setting of 65 I might get clipping on very loud passages. Nothing to worry about anyway. When the amplifier clips is about how hard it's driven, whether the source is analogue or digital.

best

David

Hmm not...sure, I do not play above 60, just tried and it’s just too loud and not what I like, if part of that is clipping I do not know. I was also surprised they managed to trip it out due to overheating. 

The clipping they are talking about is in the power amp and nothing to do with it being digital or not. It's simply that with digital you can be deterministic about when clipping will occur whereas with analogue you can't because it all depends.

As I say, it's irrelevant. As with any amplifier in the world, if you turn it up so it's too loud, you aren't going to like the sound of it.

best

David

Great review, congratulations to Naim on what looks like a killer product. 

.sjb

Isn't clipping bad for your speakers?

Yes, hard clipping definitely is.. especially tweeters.

As Simon says, because of the hf energy in those squared off corners. But the Nova doesn't clip more readily than anything else. If you turn it up too loud, any amplifier will clip. A Statement clips at a much higher level than an Atom. The Nova is inbetween.

best

David

It was a very interesting read, he tested a number of different streaming channels.  I can't do much more than lowest as provider   doesn't guarantee more than I have now but want double the price.  It is still a beautiful sound but I'm really interested in the Star for the CD/hard drive also.