NAIM UNITI NOVA Powerful Music Streaming Player

Description

Overview

The Uniti Nova is the most powerful all-in-one player in Naim‘s Uniti range: a network streamer, digital-to-analogue converter, preamplifier and power amplifier in one chassis. It takes the features of the smaller Uniti Atom and adds greater power and connectivity, so that a single unit and a pair of loudspeakers make a complete, room-filling system.

Design & build

The Nova follows Naim’s understated British design, with the machined casework and considered detailing the company is known for. A dimmable display and the supplied system remote handle day-to-day control, while the unit is built to sit as the centrepiece of a serious listening or living-room system rather than to be hidden away.

Sound & performance

The integrated power amplifier is rated at 80W per channel into 8 ohms in Class AB, which gives the Nova the authority to drive a wide range of loudspeakers and to fill larger rooms comfortably. As a single-box source-to-speaker solution it keeps the signal path short, drawing on engineering from Naim’s higher-end separates.

Key features

Streaming is comprehensive: Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Qobuz, internet radio and UPnP, plus Roon Ready operation, Apple AirPlay 2, Chromecast built-in and Bluetooth. An HDMI ARC input lets it improve television sound, and multiroom “Party Mode” can synchronise up to six Naim streamers around the home through the Focal & Naim app.

Technology

Digital inputs include two optical (to 24-bit/96kHz), RCA and BNC coaxial (to 24-bit/192kHz), USB and Ethernet, with Wi-Fi on board. The Nova decodes high-resolution files up to 32-bit/384kHz WAV and DSD, with gapless playback across formats. Voice control is supported through Google Assistant and Siri, and the unit integrates with Control4, Crestron, Elan, RTI and Savant systems.

Specifications

Type: all-in-one streaming amplifier (streamer, DAC, pre and power). Power: 80W per channel into 8 ohms, Class AB. Digital inputs: 2 × optical, RCA and BNC coaxial, USB, HDMI ARC, Ethernet, Wi-Fi. Streaming: AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Bluetooth, Spotify, TIDAL, Qobuz, Roon Ready, internet radio. Formats: to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD64/128. Multiroom: up to six rooms. Control: Focal & Naim app, remote, voice.

Who it’s for

The Uniti Nova suits the listener who wants genuine high-end sound and the convenience of a single box — ideal for a larger living room or a main system where a rack of separates would be unwelcome. Add a pair of loudspeakers and the system is complete.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

An all-in-one of this class still rewards careful loudspeaker matching and setup. We can demonstrate the Nova, advise on partnering speakers and integrate it with the rest of your home, and arrange delivery and installation across the South. Speak to our team to arrange a listen.

The wider view: Naim Uniti Nova reviews in brief

The Uniti Nova sits above the Uniti Atom and the Uniti Star Lite in Naim’s range of one-box players. It puts a streamer, a DAC and an 80 watt Class AB amplifier in one heavy aluminium case, with Naim’s large illuminated volume dial on top and a colour screen on the front. Add a pair of speakers and the system is complete. A television can feed it over HDMI, and it will play in step with other Naim streamers around the house.

What Hi-Fi? gave it five stars in November 2017 and called it “as complete and convincing an argument for one-box convenience as you’ll hear”. Its reviewers found the bass deep and textured, the treble crisp and the timing entirely natural. It made the most of a wide range of speakers, their large reference pair included. Steven Stone tested it for The Absolute Sound in August 2018 with three pairs of speakers in two rooms. He found it remarkably close to neutral and free of grain, and in his main system it held its own for dynamic drive against a set of separates.

His main reservation was character. He heard it as immediate and matter-of-fact rather than lush, so hard-edged pop recordings could sound a little harder through it than through a valve amplifier. He also notes that 80 watts may run short with insensitive speakers in a large room played loud. Both reviews date from 2017 and 2018, and the Nova is now run from the Focal & Naim app.

It makes most sense in a living room or a main system where a rack of separates would be unwelcome. What it goes with first is a pair of speakers of reasonable sensitivity, and we can suggest pairs to suit the room. There is no phono stage inside, so a turntable needs one of its own. We can demonstrate the Nova, so ask us for a listen.

What the reviewers say, in a nutshell

• What Hi-Fi?, November 2017. Five stars. Assured and detailed with every kind of music, and very solidly built.
• The Absolute Sound, Steven Stone, August 2018. Close to neutral and free of grain, with power to spare for most speakers. Less forgiving of hard-edged recordings than a valve design.

Read what the critics say about more of our streamers in The Hi-Fi Review Bible.