Hi there,
My dealer was kind enough to lend me a Naim Uniti Nova as I'm thinking about swapping with my current Linn Majik DSM & 4100 Amp. So I'm sitting here listening to both systems and liking the forward and muscular of the Naim more and more. Here's my thoughts so far:
- Naim:
My partner loves how the Naim brings artists closer to us, and makes the performance sound more intimate if that makes any sense. Although not ideal for sound, Spotify integration is appreciated and sounds surprisingly good.
On the downside, the Naim doesn't seem to be able to do "relaxed" and all sound feel more intense - Probably due to the artist feeling closer to us. Also, the app really need more work - It crashed on me few times, intermittently doesn't recognises my NAS, queues the whole album when I just want to play a song, doesn't allow me to change the order of the tracks in the queue, integration with Spotify really is clunky, and favourite selection just feels odd - Sonos really is my reference in terms of how a Music App should be done. Finally, I heard bad things about ARC which apparently only works intemittently..
Linn:
The Linn is more relaxed but somewhat colder. I think it excels at atmospheric songs (Lana Del Rey, Massive Attack) and female vocals. The App is good - Not amazing but it just works. It also remembers the last queue which is a great - I can build a queue, go away, come back later and resume to whatever I was listening to - The Naim forces me to create a playlist of that which is a bit meh. Overall, the App feels like a finished product. The HDMI port switching also works very well, and somwhow improves image quality on my TV.
On the downside, rock & dance tracks don't feel as impactful (Now that I heard the Naim). Also, Spotify sounds flat and dreadful - Is it because of Linn is more transparent or the Naim is able to mask the lower bit rate?
Would anyone have listened to both and have any thought? Did I miss anything that could change the balance for either system? I like the Naim sound, but the software makes it feel like an unfinished product.
Thanks in adavance for any input!
My dealer was kind enough to lend me a Naim Uniti Nova as I'm thinking about swapping with my current Linn Majik DSM & 4100 Amp. So I'm sitting here listening to both systems and liking the forward and muscular of the Naim more and more. Here's my thoughts so far:
- Naim:
My partner loves how the Naim brings artists closer to us, and makes the performance sound more intimate if that makes any sense. Although not ideal for sound, Spotify integration is appreciated and sounds surprisingly good.
On the downside, the Naim doesn't seem to be able to do "relaxed" and all sound feel more intense - Probably due to the artist feeling closer to us. Also, the app really need more work - It crashed on me few times, intermittently doesn't recognises my NAS, queues the whole album when I just want to play a song, doesn't allow me to change the order of the tracks in the queue, integration with Spotify really is clunky, and favourite selection just feels odd - Sonos really is my reference in terms of how a Music App should be done. Finally, I heard bad things about ARC which apparently only works intemittently..
Linn:
The Linn is more relaxed but somewhat colder. I think it excels at atmospheric songs (Lana Del Rey, Massive Attack) and female vocals. The App is good - Not amazing but it just works. It also remembers the last queue which is a great - I can build a queue, go away, come back later and resume to whatever I was listening to - The Naim forces me to create a playlist of that which is a bit meh. Overall, the App feels like a finished product. The HDMI port switching also works very well, and somwhow improves image quality on my TV.
On the downside, rock & dance tracks don't feel as impactful (Now that I heard the Naim). Also, Spotify sounds flat and dreadful - Is it because of Linn is more transparent or the Naim is able to mask the lower bit rate?
Would anyone have listened to both and have any thought? Did I miss anything that could change the balance for either system? I like the Naim sound, but the software makes it feel like an unfinished product.
Thanks in adavance for any input!