As the British hi-fi specialist details, the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition is a fully re-engineered discrete headphone amplifier, sharing technology from its flagship Statement amplifier. Designed for personal listening, the system is capable of powering even the most premium headphones – such as Focal Utopia – with ease. And the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition was also optimized to deliver an exceptional streaming pre-amp performance into an external power amp or active speaker.
Providing more details into the headphone pre-amplifier, this a class-A design that runs into class-AB as the impedance of the headphones drops, but will remain in pure Class-A domain when it’s being used as a line output amplifier. When driving 600 to 300 ohms at full volume, the headphone amplifier will remain in class-A. The power output is 1.5W per channel into 16Ω on all headphone outputs.
The new discrete transistor circuit design enables the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition to accept balanced headphone outputs on both 4 pin XLR and Pentaconn, maximizing the performance of high-end headphones with those connections. There is also a standard 1/4" (6.3mm) output. When using the front-facing 1/4" and Pentaconn headphone outputs, the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition will automatically mute the pre-amp outputs and turn on the headphone sockets - the Headphone button’s symbol illuminates to show they are live.
To activate the rear-panel 4-pin XLR output, users simply need to press and illuminate the Headphone button. To switch to using the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition as a streaming pre-amp, the user simply toggles the headphone button off (the Headphone symbol will no longer be illuminated). In this way, users can keep any set of headphones plugged in – great for convenience, but also saving unnecessary wear and tear on the headphone jacks
Essentially, the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition uses the same streaming system as the Uniti Atom, which is the same Naim streaming platform that runs from the Mu-so 2nd Generation family, through the Uniti range and right up to the brand’s flagship ND 555 player. The system features Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Qobuz, plus Chromecast built-in (giving access to other services, including Deezer), supports Apple AirPlay 2 (including Apple Music streaming) and is Roon Ready. The Naim streaming platform is also designed to be updated as new technologies and services arise – for example, TIDAL Connect support will be added in a few months’ time, the company explains.
As a music-streaming platform, the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition also offers analog and digital inputs for other audio sources, including turntables, while a USB input supports playback from sticks/drives. The system can double-up as a streaming pre-amplifier, feeding active loudspeakers or a power amplifier driving passive speakers. As it should be expected, it supports a huge range of music file formats, in resolutions up to 32-bit/384kHz.
“We have designed this special edition of the mighty Uniti Atom to be the premium music streaming system for solo listening – just add headphones to escape into your own world of high-quality sound,” says Paul Neville, Naim Research & Development Director.
The Uniti Atom Headphone Edition is priced at $3290, matching the price of the standard Uniti Atom. All things considered, for those who already invested in high-end headphones, this is a much better deal than many dedicated headphone preamps in the same price range or higher. It joins the following members of the Naim Uniti range, including the Uniti Star, the CD-playing and music streaming player ($4990), the Uniti Nova music streaming player ($5990), and the Uniti Core music hub and CD ripper ($2790).
Focal Naim America: www.focalnaimamerica.com
www.naimaudio.com
