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NAIM UNITIQUTE 2 REVIEW
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The Naim Unitiqute 2 recieves a great review by Ed Selley in AV Forums. Here are just a few snippets from the review:
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What Naim has done is take a unit that was already very good and make it incrementally better. The UnitiQute isn’t cheap but it is a superbly built, very flexible design that- most importantly- sounds superb. The competition is getting tougher- not least from its own bigger brother but the UnitiQute 2 is an excellent bit of kit. If you are looking for a compact system that makes few concessions to true high end performance, you need to look at this.
In some regards, the most important change to the UnitiQute happened halfway through the life of the previous model. The 192 kHz capability was added as an option while the 96 kHz model was given a price reduction. The new model is 192 kHz capable from the outset and there is no 96 kHz version.
The feature set stays the same as the previous models but this isn’t a bad thing. As well as the UPnP section, the Naim has the same excellent internet radio system that the other streamers are fitted with and this includes the ‘Naims’s choice’ section which does include some useful stations. Unlike the other Uniti’s, the Qute 2 is equipped with a DAB/FM tuner board as standard.
Positive aspects of the breeding show through as well though. The build quality is exceptionally good. The standard non magnetic and heavily damped casework feels absolutely excellent and the glowing logo is excellent too. This might be ‘baby Naim’ but it still feels like high end hi-fi. The n-Stream control app is still lovely and adds to the experience.
Naim equipment is defined by a sound that is generally more powerful than the bald figures suggest and has a bass drive and sense of timing that is hard to define in text but leads to a sense of life and excitement. If you like what Naim equipment does, very little else will do.
This means that the Naim is an even handed and generally entertaining performer. The detailed improvements have taken the performance and eeked a few extra percent out of it. This means that although it is small, the Qute 2 sounds convincing with a wide range of music. Even through the tiny Neat Iota, the sound is full bodied and surprisingly powerful. Voices have a weight and texture that is genuinely impressive for a selection of equipment that takes up so little space. Switching to the Audio Note AN-K’s which are rather larger and the sense of scale increases. Pairing a high sensitivity speaker designed for valve amps with an offering from the high priests of solid state might seem like an odd match but it works surprisingly well. The 30w amp is, in the best Naim fashion, powerful beyond the bald numbers and you have to drive the bolts out of it before it shows any signs of hardening up.
ED SELLEY – AV FORUMS
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE NAIM UNITIQUTE 2 CLICK HERE
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