Verdict
Sometimes you do n’t even realise there was a trouble until someone clear it . If you ’ve flummox the speaker system that demand it and the bank balance that allows it , the Naim Uniti Nova PE is as consummate a internet streamer / amplifier as you ’ll listen .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
What do you do if a merchandise you launched years ago shows no signs of ageing ? Do you exit well enough alone ? Or do you create a more potent , more powerful version and give it a more potent terms - tag ?
Well , given that Naim has call off this update to 2017’sUniti Novathe Power Edition , it ’s pretty obvious what the solution to these questions are .
But is the addition of a circumstances of power and a couple of missive ( Naim likes to call this model the PE ) worth the extra outlay ? And who exactly was asking for a more brawny version of the Uniti Nova , anyway ?
Availability
In the United Kingdom the Naim Uniti Nova PE is priced at £ 8599 . This read to $ 9999 in the United States although I ’m still shew the cost in Australian dollar , you could consider it to be equally considerable amount .
So obviously it ’s not a purchase decision to be entered into lightly – specially if you ’re not prepared to spend equally prominent on loudspeakers , partnering electronics and so on …
Design
If you ’re familiar with the original Uniti Nova , nothing about the innovation of this PE version is going to startle you . This is a hefty ( 15.1 kg ) machine , cleanly ramp up and tidily finish in brush aluminium , and at 116 x 432 x 265 ( HxWxD , mm ) is ideally sized to land a mo of front to your outfit - single-foot .
As far as design flourish go , the Uniti Nova PE has a couple . The first is a big ( 5 - in ) , bright LCD display on the fascia – it go on you in touch with what the machine is up to , and exhibit crisp album artwork images when swarm euphony from a reference that sway the relevant metadata .
The second is the large volume dial on the top of the frame – it ’s become one of the more iconic interfaces in all of audio - demesne , and here as everywhere else Naim deploy it , it ’s a tactile , smooth - turning delight .
Features
The original Uniti Nova has had to bravely fight on with a mere 70 watts of Class AB elaboration . So it ’s probably not all that much of a surprisal that the chief difference of this Power Edition is the amount of king it ’s draw . 150 watts is available , and into a 4 - ohm load that figure rise to an even - more - adequate 250 watts . apprehend with the physical , heat - related side - gist of all this extra oomph has mostly been achieved by switching to Class D power .
Otherwise , the PE is very similarly specified to its more low-priced , less strong sibling . forcible input run to a pair of USB - A slot ( one at the back , one at the front ) plus two digital optical sockets , two digital coaxal socket , a digital BNC input and an Ethernet stimulation .
AnHDMI ARCtakes maintenance of any televisual aspect of your system . Analogue equipment is treat by two stereophonic system RCA input and a match of earmark five - pin DIN sockets . As far as outputs go , there ’s a 3.5 millimetre phone socket on the fascia , a four - pin DIN plus a pair of stereo RCAs and connections for a single pair of speaker system on the butt .
Wireless hooey is equally comprehensive . Bluetoothcompatibility now includes the aptX Adaptive codec , and thanks to dual - band Wi - Fi the PE is Roon Ready , has Chromecast build - In , features net radio , and is compatible withApple AirPlay 2,Spotify Connectand TIDAL Connect , Qobuzand UPnP.
Every worthwhile digital audio file type is compatible too , and resolution of 32 - bit/384kHz and DSD128 is available if you ’re using an appropriate physical input . Multiroom functionality can be accessed via UPnP – the Uniti Nova PE can serve up to four web - impound player at a clock time .
As well as that gloriously over - engineered mass ascendency , the Naim has both a outside control French telephone and a restraint app at its disposal . The ZigBee handset is braggy and backlit , is coherent enough in operation and does n’t necessitate line - of – tidy sum so as to do its matter . The Focal & Naim control app , meanwhile , is gratuitous for iOS and Android , and these days is one of the better ascendency apps around .
About the only backward footfall ( if you ’re being uncharitable ) relative to the original Uniti Nova is the deletion of DAB and FM wireless receipt . Naim is certainly on to something when it say its iRadio internet receiving set supply offers superscript sound caliber , but if you ’re the sort of person who relies on the BBC ‘ pips ’ to ensure all the clocks in your house are display the right time then this is not good word . You may need to budget for the optional DAB / FM module …
Performance
The inadequate level is this : the Naim Uniti Nova PE experience so much right where all aspect of music reproductive memory are occupy , I hardly know where to start . The longer story is : I have to start out somewhere , so I may as well start with dynamics .
No matter if you ’re talking about the big dynamic shifting apparent in a man of music such as Stravinsky ’s The Rite of Spring ( which go through huge change in mass and saturation ) or the more small , but no less important , sympathetic , and dynamic variant apparent when listen to a lead cat’s-paw ( The Durutti Column ’s cartoon for Summer , for instance ) , the Uniti Nova PE handles them with all over self-assurance .
It can tease out the finest , most transient details , and it can put the mallet to the floor when the intact orchestra attempts to take the roof off . Adept is too weak a Holy Writ for what the Naim is when discuss dynamical response .
And it ’s just as subject elsewhere . Detail degree are sky - high throughout the frequency range , and the frequency range itself is beautifully balanced – the journeying from top to bottom is fluent and even , with no area understate or ham it up . Its tonality is really well judged – it ’s neutral and natural , and the Naim is more than willing to let recordings dictate term rather than stand by its oar in too readily .
The Uniti Nova PE hits hard in the lowest oftenness , but it ’s far from a blunt instrument . Bass sounds are textured and varied , and have their attack and decay observed with something approaching fanatism – which in turns mean the Naim is able to give rhythms terminated expression , and keeps impulse levels precisely where a feed recording demand them to be .
The soundstage the PE conjures is impressive too . It ’s deep , wide and open , with more than enough space for even the mass ranks of the Stravinsky orchestra to be capable to stretch their wings a footling . The layout is confidently described , and the outer space between instruments that are apparent during the course of the Durutti Column transcription are feed just the right weight and accent .
And no matter how thin or how obtuse the elements of a recording , the Naim is adept at unifying them all into a tangible whole , a curious issue rather than a collection of sovereign occurrences .
In fact , about the only area in which the Uniti Nova PE is anything less than entirely confident and well-heeled is that of low - resolution and/or highly compressed music . Its allowance for the sort of 256kbps MP3 frill routinely served up by the likes of Apple Music is limited – and it ’s surely not afraid to make a sow ’s ear sound less like a silk bag than some alternative designs . But did you really pass this much money to wirelessly stream Spotify ’s innocent grade ? Of course you did n’t .
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Should you buy it?
The Uniti Nova PE is deep - external respiration enough to put even the most troublesome verbalizer in their place . & bsp ;
The Naim will elevate less able elements of your system , sure – but it postulate similarly talented partners to do it real DoJ .
Final Thoughts
It had never really occurred to me during the seven years that it ’s been on sale that the original Naim Uniti Nova was in any way underpowered .
But for those Naim - fancier with bigger loudspeakers , in openhanded rooms , than mine will be proud of to know the PE turn in the sonic good in a style that justifies the expenditure – an outcome that I will readily fink I did n’t see coming either .
Trusted Score
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We prove every organisation we review thoroughly over an prolonged menstruation of time . We utilise industry standard tests to equate features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , bear money to look back a product .
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FAQs
The Uniti Nova PE features an HDMI eARC port .
