Uniti Atom/Nova/Star - New firmware - March/April 2018 Comments

It is a change, which some like or dislike.

Pretty happy with 2.6 on my Atom now although I had few wobblies initially it seems fine for the past 10 days since I reverted to 2.3 and back again twice, whether that actually had anything to do with it I’m not entirely sure but I’m no longer getting the intermittent coarseness I was getting. I like the detail and precision in to my Spendor A4’s, it’s almost added a delicacy to the sound and the bass is fine too although a bit more refined and controlled over 2.3. I was playing London Grammar Hey Now last night and it still rattles the glassware! Overall I’m happy as long as it sticks, I particularly like the improvement it’s brought to low rez stuff such as iradio at 128k. The Cisco 2960 also adds a layer of subtle improvement too and if anything it highlights the positives of 2.6????

I’m happy with 2.6 on my Nova. More detail and more redined bass are good for me. 

After several switches between 2.3 and 2.6, I’m on 2.6 for the last week and it sounds OK for me now. The magic touch, the mojo of the firmware out of the box is not there and I can’t get it back by reverting to 2.3, strange enough.

It seems to me that several switches between firmware didn’t give consistent results: initially 2.6 gave the sound a harsh and fatiguing character in my case but right now I can live with it. 

Hopefully, the announced 2.6.1 update and further future upgrades will cause less discussion. 

I went back to 2.3 and have now gone back to 2.6, are our ears being tricked as whilst initially I thought 2.6 had a harshness with some female vocals, now I think it’s ok.

I spoke to a local Naim dealer about the upgrade and they hadn’t had any complaints about sound quality from customers after applying the upgrade

I'm confused a little bit about all this.

Some people install 2.6 - and they get some new sound characteristics. They downgrade to 2.3 and also get new sound characteristics (different then 2.6 and 2.3 they had before). Then they install again 2.6 and again - they get different characteristics of the sound. And after several upgrades and downgrades the sound stabilizes - they are finally happy with 2.6 .

So how can I say if I'm happy with 2.6 if I don't know if it is sounds right - maybe I have to downgrade to 2.3 and upgrade again to 2.6 ten times in a row to get sound sounding right. And yes, I forgot - to restart several times Uniti Atom.

Can this all be true? I'm really not sure. If it is true, then Uniti Atom is really fragile and nobody can’t be sure if it sounds right (like designed) or not.

I thought that I’m not happy with 2.6. But how can I be sure if it sounds like 2.6. Maybe I'm getting something not sounding like 2.6, and I have to do several restarts, or maybe several downgrades/upgrades in a row, o maybe I have to pull the cable from the mains socket and pull it back 5 times in a row, or do something even more strange .

For the people who seem happy with the 2.6 sound, are you not upset about losing so much power output?

dave-mac posted:

For the people who seem happy with the 2.6 sound, are you not upset about losing so much power output?

I didn't lose power output after 2.6 update. Maybe it is somehow related to specs of the speakers.

Ditto, the bass presentation is different which could give the impression of less power I guess but can’t say I’m noticing anything now. May be different with a Nova and subject to speakers as noted above

No issue with power output on my Nova. All good here.

By the way, does anybody know whether DSP version affects only digital sources, like mp3, flac, wma etc., or the sound is altered also via analogue connection?

I mean if I connect something via analogue white/red input on the Uniti Atom, does the sound will change depending on firmware version?

As the new Uniti digitises analogue inputs, I think a firmware update will potentially affect all inputs.

best

David

dave-mac posted:

For the people who seem happy with the 2.6 sound, are you not upset about losing so much power output?

I didn’t do a direct comparison on the same album, but had a vague feeling I might be listening at 42/3 rather than 39/40. But as the maximum is 100 and I found >50 pinned me back in my seat I don't think even if that minor change happened I’ve lost anything.

David Hendon posted:

As the new Uniti digitises analogue inputs, I think a firmware update will potentially affect all inputs.

best

David

To be honest, I don't understand the philosophy of why sound characteristics are changed.

I always thought that NAIM makes amplifiers, which sound characteristics are 100% dependent on the circuit, but NOT digital intervention.

And also NAIM amplifiers do NOT have tone controls. As I understand this phenomena makes signal as short as possible, and music becomes as close as possible to recording source. But now we all see that original signal is changed for unknown reason in digital way. To put it simply, 2.6 firmware update increases treble - seems like raised equalizer settings in 10K+ Hz range. So this is something like adjusting treble control.

And this is really big contradiction: no treble/bass controls in NAIM amplifiers, but the adjustments of bass and treble are made in factory. If next update gives choice of 2 DSP versions (for example choosing one of 2 or 3), then this would become the same as making bass/treble knobs, or digital equalizer settings like in home cinema receivers.

Doesn’t this contradict with NAIM philosophy and high quality sound systems in general? NAIM always did amplifiers without tone controls. And now we all see that tone (especially treble) is change by new firmware.

Can somebody explain that?

Well i am listening more to my 2nd system at the moment. Funny the whole setup was a fraction of the cost of just the Atom and it sounds so much more alive than it does at the moment. Something not right with that, 

Pev posted:

No issue with power output on my Nova. All good here.

No problem with Nova here. 36 on the dial. No need to change the volume settings.

fred47 posted:

Pev posted:

No issue with power output on my Nova. All good here.

No problem with Nova here. 36 on the dial. No need to change the volume settings.

No problem with my Nova either. Have to say that i did need a factory reset after the update to make the lovely sound come back.

Now this amp keeps surprising me every day. 

Back on 2.3, do not like the change in character.

The 2.6 update sounds great on my Nova.

Just a random thought, on a different thread 3 of us commented that we loved our Novas, all three of us were ex or current high end olive Naim owners. I wonder if there is a correlation between the people who love the old olive presentation and enjoying 2.6.

Have A Nova Love it (2.6) comming from XS Series and never owned  an Olive Naim.

fred47 posted:

Have A Nova Love it (2.6) comming from XS Series and never owned  an Olive Naim.

Another theory bites the dust, thanks Fred.

Eoink posted:

Just a random thought, on a different thread 3 of us commented that we loved our Novas, all three of us were ex or current high end olive Naim owners. I wonder if there is a correlation between the people who love the old olive presentation and enjoying 2.6.

From my understanding reading the comments in the threads, Nova owners are generally happier with the results compared to Atom owners.

Is it fair to speculate that given the price difference between the units, the control boards and signal boards are of a higher quality also, or is the difference just in the amplification?.

I would suspect if different control/sound boards, the firmware would have specific code for the relevant model and revision and may very well also be "tuned" differently.

Regardless, I'm sure the sound was tuned anyway to the more powerful amplifier given this is a product in a higher tier than the lowly Atom.

Therin may very well be the reason of increased satisfaction on 2.6 from Nova owners.

EoinKav posted:

SNIP

From my understanding reading the comments in the threads, Nova owners are generally happier with the results compared to Atom owners.

Is it fair to speculate that given the price difference between the units, the control boards and signal boards are of a higher quality also, or is the difference just in the amplification?.

SNIP

 

My feeling based on the audition I did was that the Atom was a lovely box, I could easily have lived with it, but the Nova gave both sweeter female vocals and greater grip and pace at the lower end. So it is possible that the strengths of the Nova mask, or are even enhanced by, the changes people are hearing.

As I understand it the Nova has a higher spec digital section as well as the amplification.

Liked my Nova a lot before 2.6, like it less and listen to it less now. Waiting for next update for a return to the sound approximating why I bought it in the first place. I don't know where this puts me statistically but I'm still amazed Naim could change the sound without prior warning.