I am in the midst of an audio buffet of sorts... [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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LeRoy
01-20-2010, 05:54 PM
I know I've mentioned in other posts that my audio buddy is also an audio retailer. Well, yesterday I had the good fortune to listen to the Naim DAC, with my Stello Transport...hooked up to a prototype new Belles Integrated...with the Reference 3A Episodes.

What an incredibly musically synergistic system this is to listen to. Until last night, I thought the best digital device I had ever heard was the Lektor Tubed CDP. I gotta tell you I did not even miss the tube sound at all through this new configuration. The new Belles prototype is a grand slam and as far as I'm concerned the new forthcoming integrated is going to win a whole bunch of awards and set a new benchmark at the price. The Naim DAC is awesome and I won't even try to review it. You gotta go listen for yourself if there is a Naim dealer near you.

My Stello transport looks really cool and is all that has been advertised and written about already. I am quite elated to have this unit and I will have to later this year get the matching Stello DAC as the Naim DAC is out of my price range.

Since my gear is still over at my buddy's home...he lent me the Naim Uniti to try out. Yep, new in the box...I am gonna bust it out here in a few minutes and hook up the Cambridge Audio S-30's that I bought yesterday and find out what that's all about.

I will let you know my thoughts on the Uniti once I think I have a handle on it.

It's been a fun 24 hours....

Mr Peabody
01-20-2010, 06:26 PM
Lucky man to have a friend like that. Green with envy

harley .guy07
01-20-2010, 06:42 PM
you are very lucky, When I sold higher end stuff and managed a shop through the 90's I used to take gear home all the time to get a feel for the piece and get a thorough evaluation of the performance capabilities of the equipment so I could be of better help to customers and I miss the hell out of being able to do that. Well I will look forward to hearing about the new equipment.

Mr Peabody
01-20-2010, 07:05 PM
I miss the employee pricing :)

harley .guy07
01-20-2010, 08:05 PM
yeah I do to that would make it a whole lot easier to go to high end land without having to mortgage it because the markup on audio equipment is huge

IRG
01-20-2010, 08:29 PM
Sounds like a great system, would love to hear that. Wonder if it will rival my new $25 Technics turntable I picked up today :)

LeRoy
01-21-2010, 06:59 PM
Sounds like a great system, would love to hear that. Wonder if it will rival my new $25 Technics turntable I picked up today :)

How's everything coming along?

IRG
01-21-2010, 07:41 PM
How's everything coming along?

Good! The 902i's arrived today, just unboxed them. They look really nice, quite petite compared to my Paradigm Monitor 3s, but a better size for this room. The Yamaha Dvd S1800 also arrived today. Just waiting on the Onkyo receiver, cables, cartridge and speaker stands (all ordered) and I should be good to go. Going to do a little room treatment this weekend.

LeRoy
01-23-2010, 10:53 AM
No question the Naim Uniti is a great product..very resolute at very low volume. With regard to menu options on the unit.. you can select from 3 speaker types...large, large with sub, or small with sub...you can set the Max volume up to the number, 100, then select okay. The uniti has many inputs.. 3 analog, phono, DAB/FM, ipod, 4 digital ( 2 of which are coax), Wifi, and a network socket. Ouputs options...2 subwoofer outputs!!

Speaker connectivity is for one pair of speakers only...removable power cord and the power switch is behind the unit on the upper right side. The remote is nicely laid out and has an excellent transmitter as you just need to point in the general direction of the Uniti to engage it. With regard to the menu's...options to select preferred language, presets for the FM, and a special area of the remote for file selection while using ipod or UPnP (servers).

The sound is classic Naim. PRAT, resolute, utterly enjoyable. The mid's were the first to come in and of course there is much more break in time needed as I've only played it for about 40 hours or so.

Quirks...there is no on/off button on the remote or a standby mode either....the whole dang thing weighs like a slab of granite...man, it's rather heavy for it's size....the unit gets quite warm...like warm - hot to the touch....much attention to proper ventilation is priority one with this unit. ....even the CD's feel like "toast' coming out of the CD drawer. ...the player is very silent in operation but makes noise when spinning up the disk to get started or when the CD is over and it spins down....no big deal...that's just what it does.

That's it for now on the Uniti.

audio amateur
01-23-2010, 02:06 PM
Hi Roy!
Once again, sweet write up. thanks!

LeRoy
01-23-2010, 03:58 PM
Hi Roy!
Once again, sweet write up. thanks!

You're welcome.