Naim Atom

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Pete Shields

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Sep 23, 2008
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Seeing great reviews for this and considering as a complete swap out of my M-Dac/M-pwr/Rasp Pi - waited too long for Audiolab to bring out their M-net and 8300N players (displayed in 2015 at various shows?) to slot into my system.

Going to book a test drive of the Atom, but has anybody on the forum had a play with it yet or maybe paired a Bluesound Node 2 with an M-Dac, something else I'm looking at?
 
I have had a play and listen.

It was much better than I thought it was going to be.

https://youtu.be/GHaeXNgZH4Q
 
CnoEvil said:
Hi Pat

I haven't heard the Atom, but have heard various Naim components, be it Streamers or Amps, both at the expensive and cheaper end of the range...and imo. the Naim sound is a bit Marmite.

So my advice would be to go to the dealer and demo (as you have suggested), but also to come at this from a slightly different angle ie. That you have about 1800 Quid to put towards an upgrade that could be anywhere in your system. So while you are there, throw yourself on the dealer's mercy and ask to hear different alternatives....where nothing is off the table, be it Streamer/Amp/Speakers. Just for example, there is the Bel Canto C5i (includes DAC); or Linn Sneaky DSM (sounds more powerful than the specs suggest).

It's just that I think its all to easy to get tunnel vision on a product, which can stop you looking left or right and thinking outside the box.
Click to expand...

I'd agree regards demo
But I just want to give you a sideways upgrade alert also
 
I had a look at ellis's hands on quick play with the atom and he does look a bit dumbfounded as to how impressed he was with it.

Pete,I myself recently swapped all my stuff..project xperience tt,trichord stage and psu,nait xs,arcam ir dac,rega hp amp and streamlined to the superuniti ...I thought it would be a compromise having it all in one box but it's actually better than what I had...all be it the turntable part of the setup had a different texture to it.The single box units from naim really are quite impressive and I'd love to get my hands on the new uniti nova at some point.

I reckon if you have speakers that aren't to difficult to drive then that wee atom might be all you ever need and if it's anything like the unitiqute the atom replaces the ability to add a power amp such as the nap100 should be present......if you do ever want to go down this route it's nice to have the option.
 
I was expecting it to be a bit naff but its not its very good.
Factoring in everything is in a tiny box and it is tiny.

I think thats a huge part of the appeal what you get from what it is.
 
ellisdj said:
I was expecting it to be a bit naff but its not its very good. Factoring in everything is in a tiny box and it is tiny.

I think thats a huge part of the appeal what you get from what it is.
Click to expand...

I think that Naim works well with Kef R Series....and the R700 are excellent imo and have a way of working with a big variety of Amps (provided the Source is good and the amp can drive them adequately).
 
Pete Shields said:
Seeing great reviews for this and considering as a complete swap out of my M-Dac/M-pwr/Rasp Pi - waited too long for Audiolab to bring out their M-net and 8300N players (displayed in 2015 at various shows?) to slot into my system.

Going to book a test drive of the Atom, but has anybody on the forum had a play with it yet or maybe paired a Bluesound Node 2 with an M-Dac, something else I'm looking at?

 

 
Click to expand...
Atom is supposed to be based on Nait 5i series. I'm currently using 5i-2 and it's super sounding amp. It would no doubt pair well with your Tannoys. Maybe a second hand 5i is the solution. They go for circa £500 depending on age.
 
Hi Pat

I haven't heard the Atom, but have heard various Naim components, be it Streamers or Amps, both at the expensive and cheaper end of the range...and imo. the Naim sound is a bit Marmite.

So my advice would be to go to the dealer and demo (as you have suggested), but also to come at this from a slightly different angle ie. That you have about 1800 Quid to put towards an upgrade that could be anywhere in your system. So while you are there, throw yourself on the dealer's mercy and ask to hear different alternatives....where nothing is off the table, be it Streamer/Amp/Speakers. Just for example, there is the Bel Canto C5i (includes DAC); or Linn Sneaky DSM (sounds more powerful than the specs suggest), or ex-dem Majik DSM.

It's just that I think it's all to easy to get tunnel vision on a product, which can stop you looking left or right and thinking outside the box.
 
I agree Naim stuff works well with R Series, but R700s need an XS as a bare minimum (unless you like soft, woolly bass). As mentioned, the amplification of the new stuff is based on the Nait, so best suited to very amp friendly speakers. There are more amplifier capable one box systems around that will do a much better job with the likes of R700s.
 
I don't think you'd get much for your money with the atom. I've heard naim stuff in demoing my speakers and I didn't like it. And that was in January and about £5k worth of naim amps. Don't ask me which but a pre and power combo with a naim CD player. A bit bland, lacking detail, not dynamically brilliant compared to what I have, a bit too smooth but not very lifelike and real. I'd concentrate on the audiolabs if I were you, or if you've gone off audiolab go down the seperates route and use you m dac with another amplifier or try a totally different seperates brand.

I haven't heard the node 2 with an m dac,but I have heard it instead of my cyrus streamer at home and I thought it's a fantastic streamer for the money. My cyrus was better and a more fuller sound, in my system, and the node 2 a bit thinner and less full, but the node2 is definitely better value for what it does at £500.
 
I would like to see it a little differently. Do you consider hifi a hobby or are you in pursuit of musical bliss. Both are slightly different in my opinion. The Naim is very well regarded and should sound spectacular no doubt. But could you live with it forever, without the urge to tweak something here and there. If you know the answer, you know what to buy.

I personally started with a bluesound powernode. A very good all in one. But iam getting into component systems now, as I can't hold back the urge to tweak. I consider hifi my hobby, and good music is my reward 🙂
 
I am (and always have been) curious about Naim stuff and dabbled with a Superuniti at one point. I had to concede it was very very impressive but I had a number of issues with it jumping on and off my network that resulted in my sending it back and returning to Linn.

I understand that they have made leaps and bounds with the current incarnation of products and would be curious enough to have a listen at some point. As a one box solution, on paper at least, they look pretty hard to beat.
 
Good points from newlash. I wondered about your change from a Pi to an Atom, which to me are polar opposites.

Re Naims, I've only heard the latest models as background, but they look great. The older uniti series often sounded rather good to my ears, with smaller PMCs, Neat and Guru speakers. Made me tempted to ditch all the components but decided I like my various legacy items too much.
 
Its just that naim is not very good at that type of price, but it's my opinion. If you brought your pmc's to mine (or could do so) I'd show you what I mean Mark.You'd see how much more you'd hear in detail retrieval and dynamics which is hugely important in music, probably the most important. pmc twenty are smooth already and they need a kick in the teeth of some detail imho. Otherwise way too laid back. I'm not talking in your face treble but just nice balanced treble with bass.

If I were the original poster I'd look at speakers to improve things, if he isn't satisfied, and I'm qualified to comment as I used to own tannoy dc6t se's. I think he likes a smoother presentation than tannoy remembering a previous post, so keeping the audiolab stuff and changing speakers at the same or similar price of the atom (£1750) would yield more an improvement than the atom and get the balance just right. A speaker that is smoother is needed. I'd think the atom would change the presentation too much in the opposite direction for those tannoys and it might not be to preference, and will make the tannoys more bland beyond hisn tastes, where they need a bit of sparkle to perform really well.

Thats essentially what you are trying to achieve as you upgrade, get things like dynamics and detail and bass responsiveness, which is basically what the really best hi fis do that are up there in the £25k plus range like when you put pmcs like 25-26 or fact 8/12 with really top naim stuff. There is a concern for me too, when you have a brand like naim producing really quality stuff at the top of the range, the lesser stuff doesn't see much trickle down from the top stuff, so it's like the designers have given up a bit or know they are seriously compromising. With a brand that is better value like audiolab or Cyrus etc, with prices between the high specced stuff and lower specked stuff more similar, you are getting the best efforts of the ideology and design of the designers, which I think means better sound quality at the price. It's a bit like buying a Volkswagen up! You can buy a Ford Fiesta which drives a lot better, if analagous to sound quality we agree driving pleasure is what the car is mainly for. But the up doesn't drive as well, doesn't have the same features and is more expensive. It's the naim versus the Cyrus or audiolab.

The tannoys are a £1000 ish speaker and going up near to £2000 like the atom price, but in speakers, would get the best returns if sq is the aim here. Especially trading in the tannoys.
 
I'd think like this. Hi fi is not a hobby but a means to get great sound quality (or improving sound quality) for the aim of making music real. If you paid extra money to majic improving sound quality from an invisible hi fi, the boxes and speakers mean nothing. The adding functions and sound quality do. Actually most speakers and amps are pretty ugly as a whole, compared to rooms which don't have them.

a bit long, so doesn't really go on a t shirt. Lol. Have to be 'hi fi brings music alive'
 
Thanks for the responses, so many differnt options and opinions and a bit of Cyrus V Naim fan boy stuff thrown in to boot.

My local Audio -T employ a good system where you borrow (but pay) for the demo system for a couple of nights, then if you like it they order you a new one and you return the demo one. It's worked for me in the past. I'll have to wait until the Atom is a little older to do this though a sthere has been tremendous interest in the shop, maybe a couple of months to wait. A home test has got to be the best way.

I am tempted to give the Bluesound a go though in the interim. Just curious how much better it would be to my Pi or Sonos Connect though. Again, need a user friendly shop in case the gain isn't much and I could then return.

I've also thrown an email into Audiolab asking where they are up to with their streamers and when/ or if they are coming out in the near future.

I'll have one of those t-shirts too.
 
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