Gramophone Dreams

Naim Audio
One summer afternoon in Brooklyn, after a sweaty too-long day doing construction, I stumbled upon a hi-fi shop I'd never noticed before. I thought, hmmm, I bet they have air conditioning.

Inside, the air was only marginally cooler, but before I could leave, an excessively happy salesman introduced himself. After a bit of low-level chit-chat, he asked me if I was into British audio. I told him I "Never heard of it."

After flashing a condescending smile, he directed me to a stark, nearly empty demonstration room (that I hoped had working AC) and showed me an unusual-looking stereo that consisted of a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable (on a funny metal wall shelf), an unusually proportioned "chrome bumper" Naim NAIT integrated amplifier, and these 12"-tall Linn Audio Kan bookshelf speakers sitting on 24" steel stands situated tight against the wall. The only other object in this airless, windowless, beige-painted room was one stingy, uncomfortable chair. I remember thinking geez, what have I got myself into?

With a serious look, the salesman asked me what kind of music I liked, and I said reggae, blues, punk. He responded by playing UB40's cover of "Red Red Wine" from their album Labour of Love, a disc I played often at home.

At the time, my home system consisted of a Kenwood KD-500 direct-drive turntable, with an SME 3009 arm and a Shure V15 III cartridge, feeding some Hafler-kit amplification driving my DIY approximation of Jon Dahlquist's DQ-10 loudspeakers using woofers salvaged from my Large Advents.

In that beige, airless room, through this now-classic Linn-Naim system, Labour of Love sounded simpler, punchier, and a bit harder than it did at my place. When one side of the album finished, the salesman pointed out how much I was rocking my body and nodding my head while it was playing. He explained how this system specialized in "toe-tapping musical qualities that even non-audiophiles could appreciate." He went on to explain the whole Linn-Naim keeping-the-beat PRaT thing (footnote 1).

This was the first time I ever heard anyone talk like that about hi-fi gear. What about distortion and frequency response? Those were terms I was accustomed to hearing.

When I asked why the speakers were so small, he said "Speakers are the least important part of a hi-fi." When I asked "What component is more important than speakers?" he said, "The turntable dominates how we experience recordings." When I asked how many watts the amp was, he became totally dismissive, declaring knowingly, "Watts are irrelevant!" When I pressed him on the how-many-watts question, he mumbled, "Naim doesn't publish that number." Of course I didn't believe him.

When I asked about harmonic distortion, he nearly shouted: "That's irrelevant, too!" When I asked if I could hear some other speakers, he began sounding like one of those fanatical street-corner preachers, so I headed for the door.

As I made my way out, the salesman flashed his confident "you'll be back" smile and handed me a free copy of Hi-Fi News & Record Review (with an article about the NAIT integrated) and a stapled-together magazine called The Flat Response that explained the Linn-Naim "flat-earth" viewpoint at some length.

That first encounter with Brit-fi and a Naim Audio product rattled my brain. The engineering viewpoints of Naim's founder, the late Julian Vereker (1945–2000), as expressed by that salesman, challenged everything I thought I knew about the reproduction of audio recordings in the home. And guess what:

Within weeks, I found myself believing that salesman's crazy talk. Those flat-earth fanatics, though, seemed annoyingly blinkered, so I drank the Kool-Aid, but I didn't join the cult.

That was almost 40 years ago. The Naim worldview continued to evolve after Julian Vereker died. Today, some flat-earth clingers think Naim has become less serious—more of a luxury lifestyle brand. This is a viewpoint I do not share.

I've been watching Naim from the sidelines as it has evolved, steadily and purposefully, while staying true to its music-first, toe-tapping roots. After years of wondering if I'd like Naim gear in my own system, I decided to review Naim's Uniti Atom HE streamer/DAC/preamp/headphone amp. I had a feeling it might charm me, and now seemed like the perfect time to engage with another of England's most esteemed brands.

The Uniti Atom HE
The Uniti Atom HE is the new "Headphone Edition" of Naim's already-popular Uniti Atom streaming DAC integrated amplifier, which powers loudspeakers with 40Wpc into 8 ohms. The HE, which powers only headphones, is the same price ($3290) as the other Atom.

The most distinctive aspect of this attractively proportioned (9.6" × 3.74" × 10.4") 15.4lb mini-monolith is how it occupies the space where it sits, how dramatically it reflects my listening room light, and how beautifully and intelligently it lights itself up. Looking at the Uniti Atom obliquely from above, the top, side, and front faces show dramatically different forms and textures: the top's deep-brushed aluminum panel features Naim's exquisitely backlit fun-to-spin 5" volume dial. The Atom HE's sides are rutted with tight rows of ¼"-wide, ½"-deep aluminum heatsink fins, suggesting an amplifier capable of more power than the Headphone Edition's rated 1.5W into 16 ohms. The 5/8"-thick polished-glass front panel showcases a full-color, high-resolution 5" LCD display that, to my delight, displays the album art for every musical selection.

Stacked unobtrusively on the front panel's left side (above the backlit logo) are a Headphone/Preamp selector switch, a 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced headphone connection, a ¼" headphone jack, and a USB (Type A) input.

On the right side of the front panel is a stacked row of white-lit buttons that "back up" the functions of Naim's iOS or Android app: one button for Power On, another for Play/Pause, selecting Inputs, and accessing preselected Favorites. The buttons on Naim's highly polished black remote are backlit. Coolest of all, relative volume levels are indicated by a circle of thin lit dashes surrounding the touchpad. Very elegant.

On the Atom's back is a second balanced (4-pin XLR) headphone output, followed by a balanced three-pin XLR preamp output, a ground switch, an unbalanced (RCA) preamp output, and a single line-level (RCA) analog input. Stationed above all this are an Ethernet connector and a USB connector. To its right are three S/PDIF inputs: two TosLink (up to 24/96) and one coaxial (up to 24/192, and DoP at 64Fs). The Atom is, as they say, Roon Ready. Chromecast is built in, as is AirPlay 2. Naim's extensive iRadio and podcasts are there, too, waiting to distract users from their regular music streaming services.

Speaking of those: The Naim app supports Apple Music (via AirPlay 2, footnote 3), Qobuz, Spotify Connect, and Tidal. The Atom's Bluetooth employs the aptX HD codec. Users with music libraries on a PC can use the Atom's UPnP "server" function.

This is all fine and streaming dandy, but the main reasons I'm reviewing this product are to audition the Uniti Atom HE's headphone amplifier which, according to Naim Technical Director Steve Sells, is derived from the loudspeaker Atom's power amplifier (without the final power stage), and the Atom DAC, which features a Burr-Brown PCM1791A converter chip.

Setup: The Uniti Atom HE took only minutes to install. To my grinning delight, Naim's Quick Start Guide folds and unfolds like a road map (remember those?) and reads like a recipe for chocolate milk. I simply set the Uniti on my desk, attached an Ethernet cable and a power cable, downloaded the Naim app from the Apple App Store, installed the latest firmware, and, after a few seconds of pairing the remote to the Atom's operating system, I was playing tunes from my Tidal and Qobuz playlists.

As I played the first track, I decided to increase the volume but couldn't decide how: Should I use the slider on the Naim app, the buttons on the Naim remote, or the UFO disc on the Atom's top plate? I smirked and thought, so this is the future of digital? Naim's app was a no-glitch, full-service absolute pleasure to use. I especially enjoyed exploring Naim's superextensive internet radio.

The Atom's DAC: With the Atom HE used as a DAC-preamp, sending music to the First Watt F8, which in turn powered a pair of Falcon Acoustics Gold Badge LS3/5a's, the Atom reproduced the body and reverberant character of a piano as graphically and completely as my Rogue RP-7 preamp sourced by the dCS Bartók DAC. That, folks, is saying a lot. Playing Reflections Pt. 2/Debussy: Canope (24/96 FLAC Deutsche Grammophon/Qobuz), the Atom's DAC and line stage seemed forceful and clean-glass transparent, but it put a faint, aurora-like glow around the soundfield of Vikingur Ólafsson's piano. It wasn't much, but this subtle, almost-tubelike infusion of burnished vibrancy elevated this V recording into a memorable experience of piano sound.

I played scores of albums through Naim's DAC, and they all sounded solid, satisfyingly full, and flat-out beautiful. The Atom made music seem prettier and bouncier than it does through my reference dCS Bartók and brighter and more spirited than it does with the whole-truth-and-nothing-but HoloAudio May DAC. Grainless in the extreme, the Atom DAC spoke with radiant, captivating vigor.

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Footnote 1: Most of our readers will know what this means, but for those who are new to hi-fi, PRaT stands for pace, rhythm, and timing, a Naim specialty.—Jim Austin

Footnote 2: Focal Naim Americas, 313 Rue Marion Repentigny, QC J5Z 4W8 Canada Tel: (USA): (800) 663-9352 (Canada): (866) 271-5689 Web: focalnaimamerica.com

Footnote 3: This means that for the moment, the Atom cannot take advantage of some of the new Apple Music features, neither high-rez audio nor Dolby Atmos. I asked for clarification on the Uniti Atom's Apple Music support and received a detailed response from Steve Harris, Naim's technical director for software. The gist: The limitations are on Apple's side, and Naim stands ready to adopt any improvements that Apple makes possible.—Jim Austin