We switche on to Naim Audio’s new
‘budget’ streaming all-in-one system…
Towards the end of last year Naim was
touting its range of network player hardware as ‘the future of Hi-Fi’, with
some justification. There are a number of ways to approach ripping and
streaming, and Naim has had most of them covered for a few years now, with its
Uniti family of products including CD ripping machines and attractive mini
servers. In parallel they have been making digital all-in-one systems for some
time, and thus it makes sense that at the lower end of the range they should
offer an entry-level stereo streaming all-in-one.
Naim
Unitilite One Box System
The UnitiLite is that baby of the range, and
it definitely ticks all the boxes for digital operation. The only area of
functionality which is optional is FM/DAB (which takes the price to the best
part of $2,850). Base users get inbuilt UPnP up to the increasingly desirable
24-bit/192kHz level, the ever more important Internet radio, an inbuilt CD
player (arguably less important by the day), and a wide variety of front and
rear accessible analogue and digital inputs, including a preamp output on Naim
DIN sockets should you wish to extend the system. The internal amplifier is
rated at 50 watts per channel into 8 ohms.
At its launch at the Milan show last year,
a number of hi-fi hacks were keen to ask Naim supremo Paul Stephenson why on
earth the company has launching something with a CD player in it. After all,
they’re not exactly the cutting edge of technology these days, are they? Naim.
Paul conceded this, and said that this system is aimed at precisely these sort
of users. Essentially it’s a crossover product, something that works out of the
box for those of a non-streaming inclination, but which offers serious
streaming functionality for those to whom CD is about as relevant as a Filofax
or a telex machine. Fair enough, then!
As you might expect with an all-in-one,
there is little but the unit itself in the box – the remote shell differs from
the CD5-type and is a satisfyingly chunky little affair. The customary
white-plugged Naim mains cable is included, later proving itself to be
essential, and there is the usual hinged stub, antenna for wireless operation/
the manual takes the form of a quick start guide and it is all that is needed
(if at all) as set-up is self-explanatory and simple.
I attempted to do the initial set-up using
the inbuilt wireless and found that for some reason it did not want to see my
Apple Extreme/Express based 802.11n and g network, despite the Wi-Fi support
being claimed to be b/g/n compatible. I reverted to my common practice of
feeding the machine Ethernet from one of the Airport Extremes themselves, but
as that could not manage the 24/192 streaming, I moved to a location where I
could have direct Ethernet connection.
As is my wont, I also used my usual Power
Chord IEC lead as well, an action I was later to regret…
Sound quality
As with the installation, it was possible
to get started with music listening on a fairly intuitive basis. The multiple
servers in my house were instantly picked up in the UPnP section, and it was
easy to start playing. It takes a little while to get used to the remote
operation, there is a slight ergonomic conflict with iPod menu operation to
overcome. To play something and then continue to navigate menus one does not;
menu back’ (that results in the track playing again), but you use the central
‘OK/List’ button.
It was probably my slight frustration with
this which leads me to seek out the inevitable tablet operation software almost
immediately, and what a joy it was to discover Naim’s N-stream for iPad! Much
like equivalent offerings from the likes of Onkyo this is more than just an
UPnP controller but a maximum featured, full system controller, meaning you
need never rise from your sofa again!
What
a joy it was to discover Naim’s N-stream for iPad!
The best part is that Naim has taken the
care to integrate the Rovi service (All Music Guide reviews and links) into the
playback experience. No longer are you just staring at JPEGs of varying quality
representing solely the cover – you can flip it open with your finger to see a
multi-page representation of a CD booklet, containing album specific reviews
and general biographies, band lineups, and similar artists. You may not agree
with some of the reviews or artist comparisons, but the links will have you
firing off to the Internet or listening immediately to those similar items in
your collection. It is this as much as the audible qualities of the hardware
which back up that ‘future of hi-fi’ claim.
Sonically though I was initially
unconvinced that the tonal balance was correct, it feeling a little over-egged
in the bass direction, and so I reverted to the supplied Naim IEC lead. The
difference was astounding, everything snapped back into balance, lending
credence to Naim’s assertion that its systems are tuned together right down to
the lead that is in the box.
One of the great benefits of the UnitiLite
is the step up to 24/192 capability from the Squeeze world of 24/96 limits.
Many would say this is a waste of time, but with old top rate stereo DVD-Audio
rips and HDTracks increasingly offering analogue masters transferred at the
higher sampling rate, the results can be stunning. In the former category,
Grover Washington Jr’s Winelight finally has the crystal-clear Latin percussion
and thudding Marcus Miller bass to match the original. In the latter category
the robotic backing track to Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down fizzes with great
timing and Rod Stewart’s seventies solo albums have a marvelous organic
analogue warmth to them.
Moving on to 16/44.1 FLAC material, I used
the initial segue from Emergency Contraception Blues into Lamplight from Bombay
Bicycle Clubs’s debut album to check for correct gapless playback from a Twonky
server, a test which was passed with flying color. Musically those compressed
washes and the overflowing bass sound of the latter track were marshaled and
contained, when it can sometimes just sound like a mess. A similar ability to
resolve a musical picture out of a very busy and compressed signal was noted
with the 24/96 version of BU2B from Rush’s latest. CD playback was a slight
disappointment. Essaying The Proclaimers’ Sunshine on Leith the sound seemed a
lot flatter than the same experience via network playback. It was smooth enough
alright, but it’s not the core competency of the UnitiLite.
