Naim adds to its Uniti line with £1650 UnitiLite
Launched today at the Milan Top Audio Show is the Naim UnitiLite, the latest addition to the company's all-in-one network music system range.
Selling for £1650, or £1895 with the addition of a FM/DAB module, the system will go on sale in the middle of next month, and uses a conventional drawer-type CD loading mechanism in place of the swing-out 'player within a tray' of the more expensive NaimUniti2.
It offers wired or wireless music streaming up to 192kHz/32-bit, internet radio, five digital inputs and three analogue – including a front panel combination 3.5mm analogue/MiniTOSLink socket – and an Apple-authenticated USB input able to take a digital signal from iOS devices, as well as allowing the system to control and charge them.
USB memory devices can also be connected to that input, and the UnitiLite uses high-quality digital conversion from Burr-Brown as well as offering gapless playback from all lossless file formats and most lossy ones, too.
It can stream and play WAV, FLAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, AAC, Windows-Media-formatted content, Ogg Vorbis and MP3 files, and is controlled using the front panel buttons, the remote provided or Naim's n-Stream app on iOS devices.
The onboard power amplifier delivers 50W per channel into 8ohms, and alongside its speaker outputs the UnitiLite has a 4-pin DIN socket for an external power amplifier or subwoofer, and a headphone output. There's also a USB mini-B socket on the rear panel for future updates.
Comments
And it's had one: standard 24/96-capable UnitiQute is now £995, 24/192 version £1395.
Sorry djh1697 your post is nonsense.
Trying to play a CD (incorrectly) without use of a puck, on a mechanism designed to use one, cannot be sensibly compared with playing a CD on a conventionally loaded transport with built-in hub clamp. It will just fail (with the potential for damage to CD and/or mechanism).
However, in two years of owning a CD5i, the puck (and swing out transport) was a PITA compared to just dropping a CD onto a drawer. My wife (the more prolific CD user out of the two of us) never got on with it and I'm glad the UnitiLite isn't going to use it.
Try listening to any Naim CD player that uses a puck, without the puck. Then you will realise the importance of it! If you still play CD's that is!
I'm not sure Simon is directly involved in reviewing products anymore – and anyway, given the location of the show on what seems to be the Milan ringroad surrounded by abandoned and derelict office blocks, the W&D opportunities are somewhat limited.
Well the UnitiQute has a built-in DAB/FM radio, which is an extra-cost option on the UnitiLite. And the 192kHz/24-bit version of the Qute is the same price as the 192kHz/32-bit-capable UnitiLite, so I guess it's a matter of choosing between the compact UQ without CD but with conventional radio tuner, or the UL with CD, but with radio as an extra-cost option.
Agree. The Qute needs a cut.
I'm sure that once Lucas has been wined and dined in Milan we can expect a good write up!
It does seem incredibly cheap though. It is just £225 more than UniyiQute and packs a CD player to boot. It's even got 5 watts more for those of us going deaf in our old age. Other than those short of space, why would anyone want a Qute?
Another day, another Naim product! Seriously, they know their market & good luck.
I'm sure, given that Naim took Mr Dep Ed Lucas to Milan to witness this launch for himself, that a review sample has already been requested.
Test please asap....I am in the market...thought I had made my mind up and then they bring out the LITE
Finally, no #####y puck!
Oooooooooh!