Mick Sharp explains how to get the joys of a live music concert in the comfort of your own home with the Naim Uniti Atom married to Q Acoustics 3050i 2-way speakers.
Naim Uniti Atom: 95mm x 245mm x 265mm;Airplay, Spotify and Tidal in-built; 40w RMS.Price: £2,249
Mick Sharp explains how to get the joys of a live music concert in the comfort of your own home with theNaim Uniti Atom married toQ Acoustics 3050i 2-way speakers.
Naim's Uniti Atom is more sci-fi than hi-fi. It's a beautiful black box that acts as a one-stop solution that will satisfy pretty much all of your musical desires. All you need to add is a pair of speakers I chose a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i floorstanders, introduced one to the other with a set of QED Reference XT40 cables, stood back and listened
The sound that emerged from the Q's precision drivers left me speechless. If you're looking for a set-up that has the "wow" factor, look no further. "A compact multi-source music player that will seduce you with its amazing quality and outstanding feature set," is how Naim puts it. Rob Boffard on themasterswitch.com calls it a "wonder box" that "far surpasses streamers that cost more. Nothing can match the dynamism and electricity of the Uniti Atom." I concur.
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What Hi-Fi gave it a five-star review, praising its class-leading sound clarity. The Atom has a coaster-sized volume control on top and a full-colour LCD front panel that displays the album artwork as it plays. Even the remote is unhappy to accept a mere bit part: it has a proximity-sensitive control and springs to life as your hand approaches the controls. "The Atom is a little like that annoyingly good-looking friend who commands all the attention," says What Hi-Fi.
Q Acoustics 3050i speakers: punching above their weight
"They never get flustered," says Jay Garrett on stereonet.co.uk, keeping dynamic signatures in check and "shepherding overlapping instruments into a spacious soundstage". Visually, they play nicely with your furniture, being available in arctic white, carbon black, graphite grey and English walnut.
This set-up makes for an aural marriage made in musical heaven and it may be the only system you will ever need.
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Mick is a former writer and production editor for MoneyWeek and he wrote about art and how to spend your money. He was also a writer for The Week online. Previous to that, Mick was a production editor at MJS Media for 30 years and now he is a production editor at The Open University. Mick is also an experienced website designer.
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