Naim Uniti Atom and Roon

Audio Gear Talk Naim
41

The Arcam SA30 is going to give the Atom a run for its money. Looking forward to seeing and hearing it in Autumn.

42

It does not even look half as good as the Atom. :blush:

43

When has looks got to do with how it sounds? It might not have the looks but It has all the same features and more of the Atom and wonā€™t suffer from Naims bad software and constant change in sq for no reason which seems to effect most of the new Uniti range. I love my Atom but itā€™s a moody bugger that never sounds consistantly good and changes with each firmware update or it would seem the weather. SA20 gets rave reviews so I would expect the same here.

44

My Atom doesnā€™t sound any different day to day that I can tell and I never use the Naim software so donā€™t suffer from that!

45

Iā€™m referring to their firmware but the app is buggy as well. Iā€™ve struggled with it sounding up and down for a while and getting a bit exasperated by it. Others have had similar issues with Atom and Nova. The last two firmware upgrades have both changed the sound of the unit from what it orginallly was. There is already a bunch of us getting this with last weekā€™s update.

46

Ah, I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever updated the firmware.

47

None of these issues over here. I have experienced sound differences depending on the time of day in the past when I lived in an apartment building. The sound quality was best around 3am. :unamused:

Since we live in a detached new build house, non of these problems appeared anymore.

WRT the firmware updates: I did experience a slight change in sound, but it still sounds awesome.

48

So, are you stuck on a ā€˜goodā€™ sounding version or a ā€˜badā€™ sounding version? Could drive a man crazy just thinking about it. :grinning:

49

Sounds good to meā€¦ :grin:

50

You will get to a point when you will need to update. Naim wonā€™t support it on the older versions for long and you will be stuck on a very old RAAT sdk. Infect they say this to all the users how want to roll back. I take it your still on the older 2.3 firmware?

51

Can I just ask, to clarify: Is there an option to always show the cover art when I use the device? That is, during the whole song or a whole album? Or is it just something that can be shown on the display for a few seconds and then vanish? If itā€˜s always on, Iā€˜m sold. Thanks in advance.

52

The album art is always on.

1 Like
53

The album art is displayed the whole time, unless you get close to the unit, and then it shrinks and the artist and title show. I used to get a condition where the display would be blank and Iā€™d have to stop and restart playbac for the album art to re-show. But the latest firmware update seems to have fixed that.

What Iā€™d really like is a setting where the clock stays visible all the time instead.

Sheldon

1 Like
54

I tend to set mine so that the screen turns itself off, as itā€™s near the TV and I find it can be a little distracting, but if you set it to stay on you should see artwork for the track thatā€™s playing.
A few people have recently found a firmware bug that apparently affects the screenā€™s artwork display, which Naim are aware of and apparently working on a fix. This hasnā€™t affected me though.

1 Like
55

Its configurable in the Atoms settings from the Naim control app to have the screen on or off during playback. Roon will send cover art all the time, but the Naim app controls if its on or off.

1 Like
56

I just want to mention during this Roon Ready dust-up how happy I am with my Naim Uniti Atom. Sounds good, looks good, is a pleasure to touch, and is fully Roon Ready.

Sheldon

6 Likes
57

Agreed. I see a lot of angst regarding Arcam sa30. This is an option I had considered amongst others, however it was the solid Roon compatibility of the Atom that drew me in. It works seamlessly. Always.

58

The giant buttery smooth totally sexy volume knob was a big draw for me as well. :smiley:

The small size also was appealing, and that my entire system is one box and a pair of speakers.

2 Likes
59

Totally. A Nucleus, an Atom and a pair of ProAc Tablette 10s for me. My system has slimmed down a heck of a lot to get to this stage but I genuinely believe my ears have never heard better :upside_down_face:

1 Like
60

Just got one of theseā€¦ couldnā€™t be happier.

3 Likes