Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition Review

Materials & Quality

The sides of the amplifier are large heat sinks, which dissipate the heat well, but the star of the show is the top and front of the Uniti Atom. The front of the chassis has a smooth glass finish which features a beautiful 5-inch color TFT display. The display is sharp and although minimalist in design, is incredibly intuitive and simple to navigate. Much like a smartphone, the Uniti Atom utilizes application icons for navigation, and it makes for a great experience. The display integrates well with the included remote also. The minimalist design is carried over there too, being a mostly unassuming black rectangle with backlit buttons in much the same way the app icons are designed. The remote also automatically lights up when picked up or moved - a delightful but subtle premium touch.

Expertly crafted and built to last :

Uniti is crafted, inside and out, from aluminium – chosen for its looks, durability, and to prevent the magnetic distortion other materials can suffer from. Its casework is first machined with computer-controlled liquid-cooled cutting equipment, for absolute dimensional precision. It’s then brushed and anodised to offer a beautiful yet robust appearance, with a tough, scratchand-dent resistant design ready for many years of musical enjoyment.

-Naim

The tactile experience is fully realized on the top of the amp, with the large, oversized volume knob. The smooth scrolling of the large wheel is extremely pleasant and lends to the notion that you have precise control over the volume of your music. The wheel has integrated led lighting to give you a visual of the volume level of your music, along with coordinating the numerical value on the front screen. It's an overstated design combined with an understated aesthetic, and it works beautifully.

Overall The Naim Uniti Atom Amplifier will feel at home in any system. Its black aluminum design is sleek and will compliment any shelf it's placed on. The user experience is satisfying and it's just a pleasure to look at.

Sound Quality

The nice thing about the Uniti Atom amplifier is that is has so many inputs and outputs, you can literally listen to it however you want. For my testing purposes, I paired the Uniti Atom amplifier with the Focal Utopia headphones and a Black Dragon Premium Cable. Something with the black color scheme really made this a sexy setup, and needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Amplifier: check. Headphones: check. Power: on. Volume: up.

I feel like this is the biggest decision when testing out a new product: what is the first song I play to really get a feel for the performance of the device? It really depends from product to product, but for the Atom, I picked Thank You by Alanis Morissette. I felt that the first song really had to push some dynamic range. Right from the start, the opening chimes had a clarity that was exciting. Drums kicking in a few bars later emphasized that low end was present - not overwhelming, but balanced. The overall growth and power of the song was surprisingly expressive.

To really test the imaging I selected Wah-Wah by George Harrison. It's a rather chaotic tune, with lots of instrumentation and rhythms, but still one of my favorite George tunes to this day. The story goes that after a writing session on Let it Be, George left the studio early after John and Paul were fighting and came up with the idea of this song (don't quote me on the accuracy of this story). The guitars are nasty and raucous, but the separation among instruments really helps to tighten the song in some ways; the individual performances being able to become less competitive with each other in the frequency spectrum. The Atom really flexes its muscles on this track, and you can hear the imaging like layers of an onion. It's Impressive.

The DAC used is the Burr Brown (TI) PCM-1791A, but that has little to do with the sound quality delivered. Naim’s engineers use a SHARC chip for digital signal processing and digital filtering which bypasses the filter built into the DAC. The proprietary algorithms do sample rate conversion of all signals to 24/768 before they are sent to the DAC, then after conversion there is an outstanding analog (ue) filter and an excellent analog volume circuit. These all contribute to the sound of all the Naim Uniti models.

I would say that outside of using the Focal Utopia and Black Dragon cable, I would likely want slightly more bass presence coming from the Atom. The Black Dragon adds a surprising amount of warmth to the sound, so I would certainly pair the amplifier with a warmer and more musical headphone. That would be the sweet spot for me. Regardless, the Uniti Atom amplifier sounds just as good as it looks. I easily put this in my top 10 all-in-one music players.

Test Tracks:

Thank You by Alanis Morissette

The Pines of Rome by Respighi

Please Forgive Me by David Gray

Wah-Wah by George Harrison

Features

Where to begin. After all, it is an all-in-one box.

The Uniti Atom is able to stream from all your favorite music streaming services. Spotify, Tidal, and Qobuz are directly integrated into the amplifier, as well as internet radio and a curated collection of HD stations and podcasts. AirPlay 2 support, Chromecast built-in, and Roon Ready status add even more streaming options, while analog and digital inputs mean you can connect many other sources too - including turntables. USB input supports playback from storage and flash drives. Bluetooth connectivity also allows you to connect to even more devices to stream your favorite music. Utilizing the apt HD codec, the Uniti Atom is able to stream high-resolution music files effortlessly via Bluetooth (more information on wireless sample and bit rates below). It's an incredible amount of options for one device.

You can also explore and curate your audio choices via the Naim App, with further control options offered by the excellent volume dial and display. The display can be turned off as well for discrete music listening in the dark. The Naim app integrates with other Naim streaming devices in your home. The application also makes it easier to navigate your music collection by source and to select favorites and presets for your device.

The Naim App is available for both Android and iOS. Click the links below to download:

You can set up your Uniti Atom amplifier as a multi-room streamer, allowing you to be able to stream your music from different locations within your home. Using the Naim Application, you can sync up to five Naim streaming devices in your home and use the app to control all your products with the push of a button.

The Naim Uniti Atom is also easily customizable and personalized. Naim has included a collection of curated radio stations and applications. However, in the case of Internet Radio, you can set your own radio stations to your favorites and more.

What’s a Favorite? A Favorite is any type of music (e.g. Album, track playlist) from almost any source (Tidal, Core, Local music, etc) that you want to see on the Home Screen of the Naim product you’re listening to.

Can anything be a Favorite? Nearly. You can Favorite all items found on: Naim server (Core), Naim Server (Atom/Star/Nova/ND5XS, NDX2, ND555), TIDAL, Qobuz, and some Spotify content (but not on: Naim Server (HDX, Uniti Serve), third party UPnP Servers).

What’s a Preset? A Preset is a shortcut to play any Favorite that you want to access quickly from the app or your product.

• Naim App (all Naim streaming products): first tab of the Home Screen / Presets section in the Favourites browser
• Uniti Atom, Star, and Nova (with Firmware 3.5+): front panel star button / remote control star button

Can anything be a Preset? It depends on your product.

• Uniti Atom, Star and Nova (with Firmware 3.5+): Radio stations, Spotify, Tidal/Qobuz Albums, Tracks, and Playlists

Tapping the 'star' Favorites icon opens a browser to give you greater control over all your Favorites. Selecting any category allows you to explore your collection via detailed sorting and filtering. Naim gives the user quick access to all their favorite music at the touch of a button.

For more information about setting up favorites and presets and accessing them via the Naim Uniti Atom or Naim App, please check out the following guide HERE.

How Does the Uniti Atom Compare with the Element X?

The Element X by Matric Audio is another great streamer, DAC, amp, all-in-one box. Stylistically, it's not a statement piece like the Uniti Atom, but functionally, it's one of the best streamers on the market. The Element X has a great reference sound, very neutral and accurate in imaging. Like the Naim Uniti Atom, the Element X can drive just about any headphone you plug into it. Build-wise, both chassis are like tanks: incredibly robust and premium. The Element X takes up more room horizontally, but the Naim is about twice as tall. Keep in mind too that the functionality of the Naim Uniti Atom resides on the front AND the top of the device, whereas all the controls on the Element X are on the front of the machine.

Concerning functionality, the Element X has some phenomenal flagship-grade features, including AirPlay, DLNA, Roon Ready, a full balanced headphone amplifier, an isolated power supply, and much more. Notable differences from the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition are as follows:

This might be simplifying some details, but even though these two devices are somewhat in the same category and price range, the Naim Uniti Atom offers a surprising amount of features that the Element X just doesn't have. I would describe the Element X to be a streamer for the purist - someone who is wanting clean and reference sound above all with added streaming integration and features. The Naim Uniti Atom is aiming for that audiophile who wants all the bells and whistles, functionality, and style. The Element X could be considered a phenomenal tool, whereas the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition is an excellent experience.

Verdict

The Uniti Atom Amplifier, DAC, and Music Streamer is one of the most feature-packed do-it-all desktop units I've had the pleasure of listening to. The design is absolutely stunning and the box sounds just as good as it looks. The volume dial and the gorgeous display on the front of the unit help this device stand apart from the crowd and make for one of the best user experiences I've ever had. With more connectivity options and features than you can shake a stick at, you'll be hard-pressed to find a desktop unit that compares for the price.

If you want a box that can literally do it all, then we can't recommend the Naim Uniti Atom enough.

Oh, and it plays music too. I think date #2 is in order. ;)

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