I hope you will find what I am about to write useful, when buying new equipment I always try to read between the lines of reviews and I hope my words could help somebody, at least to put a bit more effort to make the most of it than just place it on the shelf and expect miracles, it is worth it. I can't write a review, English is not my first language and I can only share how I felt using it in the last months, so please bare with me.
How did I get here? I have always been a fan of Naim and the Naim sound. Never had any of their equipment because I had to have a million boxes with a million PSUs to get what I was getting from two boxes of Mark Levinson, 360s being my favourite resident DAC for quite some time but I always liked what I have heard from Naim equipment. I was hoping the Uniti Nova will be a Swiss A(udio)rmy Knife with Naim sound. It was not... To be honest I thought all reviewers saying that the sound is more detailed, more spacious and clear were mistaken, I thought they were saying that it is a Naim with better sound and hm,it IS different. Not the expected Naim house sound
Different means this is a much more detailed, 3D and at the same time warm sounding device. I haven't heard the 555 series components which I believe are world class by the words of a friend who has them but honestly I am not interested in more of anything now. I have had dozens of top level amps, DACs, speakers and I was tired of changing something all the time, new cables, new devices, especially USB conditioners. And I decided to sell it all and just buy the Naim.
The first 100 hours were horrible. Lots of detail, no bass. Then it warmed up and started sounding great. Great 3D, nuanced but not the thin detail I hate so much, I prefer the thick but detailed Mark Levinson sound. To give you an idea of what I mean - there are certain recordings that sound awful on the wrong equipment like the Muddy Waters Falk Singer album and the Nils Lofgren's Keith Don't Go, even Louis and Ella's Stars fell on Alabama. Quite irritating, at least for me, if there is just detail and no "meat".
Well, the UnitiNova plays those magnificently!!! Full, weighty, enjoyable! I have a lot of well recorded music and with it it just shines but poor recordings are easily recognized. The idea in my head quite different - a device that can do it all with decent sound that makes it all sound good, now I have a have a device with top level sound(read something at least 3-4times more expensive in separates) and does it all.
Something I should warn you about? Well, my speakers(Suesskind Progress) are 88dB sensitive and I was hoping that I could sometimes listen not very loud but the Nova starts to sing only above the 40 mark, then it breathes and comes alive. Below that it is probably loosing some definition or something and for me it is not easy to like. With the Suesskind Progress 40 and above is a ok during the day but not good for late evening as I live in an apartment building. I have the feeling that with lower sensitivity speakers it would be perfect.
Androind app is awful. iOS works every time, as expect. The interface is ugly though, I don't like it at all. The volume thing on the top is magnificent, a very beautiful device the Nova is even though I miss the green... And it is smaller than I had imagined, my wife instantly liked it(gooood).
The worst part - it needs a good power cord(speaker cables did not make such a difference). I have a friend who is a power cord manufacturer(no, I am not selling cords nor promoting his) but he gave me three power cords to try without telling me how much they each cost so I was not hypnotized by the price. Lucky for me the cheapest of the three fit in a way that many would not believe - it was so much better than the Cardas power cord that I had been using that somehow everything just snapped into focus. It is worth experimenting with power cords on the Nova, just borrow and test, it is easy and not that expensive, totally worth it.
Would be happy if even a word was helpful.