Naim Atom

[davidf]

I hadn't listened to Dire Straits for God knows how long, but had another listen to Brothers In Arms when I bought the SACD. I'd forgottten how good that album actually is. Ok, there's some tracks you never want to hear again (Walk Of Life), but there's some great tracks on there, and it was nowhere near as bad an experience as I was expecting. I've revisited their albums and have played them more over the past six months than I have during the preceding ten years.

If the live album being referred to is Alchemy, it's a brilliant live album, and one that made me want to see them live, which I did on their following tour, and they were brilliant.

 

[Pedro]

Also the nac172xs becomes a option for you Dave....pre amp and streamer with Spotify connect and tidal on board....quite a upgrade from the unitiqute and maybe all you ever need....a bit more expensive than the unitiqute on the used market but it will be performing the required duties needed...I believe rainsoothe has one with a nap 200.....they do come up on the well known auction site quite often, for some reason they haven't quite got that nod of approval from the naimee fraternity.lol.

You're opening a can of worms

I own a 172xs, got an ex demo unit at a very good price some months before it was discontinued. I think it's very good, but if I was planning on buying a streamer to feed my Adam speakers I'd just get the UQ2. It's cheaper, smaller and easier to get hold of in the 2nd hand market I reckon.

To be honest I feel the difference between both models isn't that great (apart from the built amp that the UQ2 has). It's certainly not night and day and I even wonder if I should have sold the UQ2 at the time. Probably if I was starting a system today I'd just get an used Benchmark DAC1 and a cheap streamer (Pi, Raumfeld Connector)...

Anyway I think aloud.

 

[davedotco]

Also the nac172xs becomes a option for you Dave....pre amp and streamer with Spotify connect and tidal on board....quite a upgrade from the unitiqute and maybe all you ever need....a bit more expensive than the unitiqute on the used market but it will be performing the required duties needed...I believe rainsoothe has one with a nap 200.....they do come up on the well known auction site quite often, for some reason they haven't quite got that nod of approval from the naimee fraternity.lol.

You're opening a can of worms

I own a 172xs, got an ex demo unit at a very good price some months before it was discontinued. I think it's very good, but if I was planning on buying a streamer to feed my Adam speakers I'd just get the UQ2. It's cheaper, smaller and easier to get hold of in the 2nd hand market I reckon.

To be honest I feel the difference between both models isn't that great (apart from the built amp that the UQ2 has). It's certainly not night and day and I even wonder if I should have sold the UQ2 at the time. Probably if I was starting a system today I'd just get an used Benchmark DAC1 and a cheap streamer (Pi, Raumfeld Connector)...

Anyway I think aloud.

Another can of worms right there!

I could add a dac to my Connector but there may well be control issues. Right now I can adjust the volume of Spotify connect on any of my devices, laptop usually, and it is mimiced in the Connector app, a degree of functionality and ease of use I would not want to lose.

Hence the attraction of an all in one like the WXC50 or the Unitiqute.

 

[Pedro]

There's one listed in a famous auction site, they're asking for £850, but the seller accepts offers. In case you haven't spotted the listing, Dave...

 

[steve_1979]

There's one listed in a famous auction site, they're asking for £850, but the seller accepts offers. In case you haven't spotted the listing, Dave...

Why does everyone always call it "a famous auction site" instead of just saying eBay?

 

[grimharry]

I didn't think we were allowed to say eBay for some reason

 

[steve_1979]

I didn't think we were allowed to say eBay for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0

 

[grimharry]

Mentioned it once but I don't think I got away with it

 

[Pedro]

I didn't think we were allowed to say eBay for some reason

That's what I thought. :/

 

[Leif]

Mentioned it once but I don't think I got away with it

*biggrin*

 

[davedotco]

There's one listed in a famous auction site, they're asking for £850, but the seller accepts offers. In case you haven't spotted the listing, Dave...

I saw that, but when buying used I like to check it out in person before buying. That's just a little too far for me, though I don't mind a bit of a drive.

 

[CnoEvil]

Spending more will, as I said, require me to look at my setup and optimise performance to justify the extra expendature, a merrygoround I think I really want to avoid.

FFS Man....embrace your (lapsed} inner audiophile. *dirol*

On a serious note....getting the Linn/Naim gives you options down the road, as higher bit rate streaming becomes the norm....and lower bit rate stuff does also sound better to these ears using them.

I think you are (rightly) worried, that you will think - if spotify sounds this good.....as you fall off the wagon! *diablo*

 

[steve_1979]

I sometimes wonder how many thousands o pound of other people money you've spent over the years Cno.

You seem to single-handedly keeping the hifi industry alive.

 

[CnoEvil]

I sometimes wonder how many thousands o pound of other people money you've spent over the years Cno.

You seem to single-handedly keeping the hifi industry alive.

Vicarious spending is all that's left, when you've run out of your own money....and TBF. I've spent my fair share!! *angel*

 

[davedotco]

Spending more will, as I said, require me to look at my setup and optimise performance to justify the extra expendature, a merrygoround I think I really want to avoid.

FFS Man....embrace your (lapsed} inner audiophile. *dirol*

On a serious note....getting the Linn/Naim gives you options down the road, as higher bit rate streaming becomes the norm....and lower bit rate stuff does also sound better to these ears using them.

I think you are (rightly) worried, that you will think - if spotify sounds this good.....as you fall off the wagon! *diablo*

As I said, this is a road I really don't want to go down.

If a 'qute turns up for sensible money that is near enough for me to check out, I might well grab it.

As I said earlier, minimal risk of getting another dose of audiophilia nervosa.

 

[CnoEvil]

As I said, this is a road I really don't want to go down.

If a 'qute turns up for sensible money that is near enough for me to check out, I might well grab it.

As I said earlier, minimal risk of getting another dose of audiophilia nervosa.

In the spirit of good forum etiquette, I'm trying to ignore what YOU want, in order to tell you what you actually need! *biggrin*

 

[davedotco]

As I said, this is a road I really don't want to go down.

If a 'qute turns up for sensible money that is near enough for me to check out, I might well grab it.

As I said earlier, minimal risk of getting another dose of audiophilia nervosa.

In the spirit of good forum etiquette, I'm trying to ignore what YOU want, in order to tell you what you actually need! *biggrin*

You should have been a hi-fi dealer!

 

[CnoEvil]

You should have been a hi-fi dealer!

Judging by my success with you, I wouldn't have made much money! *unknw*

 

[Pete Shields]

Thanks for the comments folks.

Still in a bit of a quandry about what to do next other than demoing.

As a background, my system is one that I pieced to together from ex demo/sale kit with the M-Dac and Sonos ZP90 (now 9 years old) being the only bits of kit I paid around full price for.

The Cyrus 6s CD played was ex demo - £400 but I've had it now for10 years.

My Tannoy Revolution DC6t Se's were £400 in the Richer Sound sale a few years ago

My Audiolab M-Pwr was £180, end of line, ex demo, bought last year, replacing a Cyrus 6vs amp.

And the Raspberry Pi streaming device - my current main source - was obviously hand built and cost less than a ton all in. It's fed off a USB3 drive with a lot of hires albums on it (most albums I listen too in reality). I do also have the option to move those files to my NAS drive if needed.

So all in all a cheap system for what I've got. Maybe not balanced.

In reality i listen through Sennheiser HD650's /M-Dac for half of my time. My total listening time is 5 hours a week, spread over 2 to 3 sessions.

So part of me thinks that there is better out there that my pieced together system and maybe I'm just due a change as some of the bits of kit are quite old!

Altertaively, I also question whether I do need to upgrade given the time I listen to my system.

I hear what your saying Questforthe13thnote about how the speakers should be the first thing I look at, but given my listening time per week through speakers, I'm not sure it's worth it. Ditto with replacing the amplifier - I have also been so tempted to take a punt on the Roksan Oxygene amp from Richer's, but even at £800, I'm not sure it's worth it.

The PI is good but sometimes flakey/jitters when playing 24/192 files through Coaxial (i'm assuming it's the fault of the PI and not the M-DAC). It's also not that functional. As it's my main source I have often felt that it is the first port of call for upgrade. But again I want something that takes in the latest streaming technology, etc, hence my interest in the Naim Atom as a one stop fix or something like the node2 as a streamer. Given that I don't need additional DAC facilities from my streamer, I'm basically after something with a Sonos like interface (which is brilliant) but with Hires Audio. Maybe I should be looking to see what the next generation of streamers brings? I too would love to have hires Spotify. Also considered sticking with Audiolab, when I emailed them about streamers, they suggested I waited for their 8300n network player to land, but when I asked when it's out, they never emailed me back.........

So in summary, I'm not 100% sure I need to upgrade, although I probably do need a new source for streaming (that can be used also as a CD replacement). However if something blows me away when demo'd, I'll go for the whole hog. The worry is (as somebody said earlier) a new different sound won't necessarily mean a better sound!

Decisions, decisions........

 

[Pete Shields]

So I eventually swapped a few major components out. I trialed a Cambridge CXN streamer and loved it.

As I thought the system was a little bright and clinical, I swapped the Mpwr power amp for a bargain Roksan Oxygene Amp.

A different sound, but they make my speakers sing at higher volumes.

I've a lot of hi res tracks and the CXN plays them flawlessly. I hardly used the cd player now, preferring to rip to lossless files. Can't notice any difference between CD or rip when I play through the M-Dac. Cambridge do need to sort out tidal upgrade though...............

Speakers next