Intro
Contents
150 watts per channel does not seem very powerful, but do not be fooled by figures. The Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition can handle large, somewhat difficult to drive speakers with ease.
We usually end a review by asking who the product is for. You cannot write this review properly without having the target audience clearly in mind, otherwise it becomes a difficult story to understand. The target group is a different one from the traditional Naim customer who likes to think in separate components, or the Dutch consumer considering a Uniti Atom.
The target group is a customer group that values ease of use and all-in-one more than spending hours scouring audio review sites to put together a hifi set to their own liking. In addition, it is a target group that does not exactly live in a tiny house and needs the power of the amplifier to make the speakers sound great in a spacious living room.
Let us also be clear that a package sale with Focal’s more expensive range in one of the Focal & Naim stores is the obvious sales channel. The stores are the place to attract this target group. Summing it up, the target group is probably to be found outside our European territory.
Is it then a ‘lifestyle product’? At Alpha Audio, we look past such platitudes and want to know what a pricey streaming amplifier has to offer on its own merits.
Class D? Will that do any good?
The Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition is built around Purify class D technology, unlike the ‘regular’ Nova. Does that matter? It certainly matters what amplifier technology is used, but far more important is how a manufacturer fits the technology into the design.
For the Nova Power Edition, Naim has built its own circuit around Purify’s amplifier technology. The Naim DNA is crystal clear, the focus highlights the rhythmic aspects of the music, with a lot of musical drive.
This amplifier’s grip on the speakers is best described as an iron grip. Your reviewer is hearing for the first time, after 24(!) years, how the Audio Physic Spark ii speakers can sound when an amplifier has this much control. Very different and much firmer than other Class D amplifiers that drove these speakers. The Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition is made to deliver enough power to let speakers sound well in large rooms and with enough grip to do so effortlessly, without distortion.