As an owner of an Atom, I have a few points: I don’t challenge any of Amir’s findings or measurements, but at the outset of the review he clearly dislikes the ‘sharp edges’ every time he moves it as he says. But… once you have it in place it doesn’t get moved at all by the user. The aesthetics of the device are surely one of the strong points; the wifi antenna is hidden, the blue tooth antenna is hidden, so well in fact that I believe there is a patent on this. Some of the comments talk about how this could be replaced with a PC connected to an outboard DAC, connected to something else… Each to their own of course, but I don’t want my living room looking like an electronics workshop. YVMV.
I wish the Atom had tested better, but I do get excellent results in use with mine. It is in use every day, for radio, streaming from Tidal or my NAS (a Uniti Core). It is very intuitive to use, and works reliably every time, every day. I like the integrated functionality, and it does everything I need just right. If Apple were into hi-fi this is what they would make (I probably need to run for cover about now
). It is hooked up to B&W bookshelf speakers – CM1, and a B&W subwoofer. The speakers are only about 83db sensitivity, but in my medium sized room (about 14ft x 25ft) I get very good volume with no trouble, and that includes the transients. I listen to jazz and classical mostly, and at moderately high levels. It actually sounds very good indeed, and better than anything I have had in the past using more powerful amps.
Like everyone here, I am always looking for an upgrade, and I will no doubt replace my speakers in the coming months. (There are lots of good reviews of speakers right here for me to go on.) However, my user experience being somewhat counter to the test results leaves me wondering a little, just how much credence to place in testing; If I can’t actually hear the distortion or noise, but do hear good music, are the tests perhaps too onerous?