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Not a very scientific comparison between the EverSolo A6 Master and Naim Uniti Atom

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Jun 27, 2022
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I have both of the streamers in the title, and decided to see if I could detect any difference between them in my system. I was only really checking the streamer/DAC in each. I had the Atom and A6 streaming from internet radio to start. The Atom was connected into the RCA inputs of my Topping A90 Discrete, while the A6 was connected to the balanced inputs. (The A90D was connected to a Moon 330A power amp and was driving B&W 702S3 speakers). I simply adjusted the volume on each to sound about the same (as I said, not very scientific!) and switched back and forth using the Topping remote. I could hear no difference at all, but the A6 was some 5 seconds delayed – which is odd.

This was just low res radio, so I brought in my Naim Uniti Core (which is a CD ripper and NAS for those not familiar). The Atom was streaming from the Core over the house wi-fi, while I had the A6 (which can of course also stream on wi-fi) connected by 75 Ohm cable directly to the Core. Given that the A6 did very well on Amirim’s tests and the Atom not very well at all by comparison, I was expecting to hear a distinct difference in sound quality in favor of the A6. I was playing a track on one device and then re-listening to the same track on the other device. I was not able to convince myself that I could hear any difference, but I was not able to convince myself that I couldn’t hear a difference either, if that makes any sense. Perhaps the A6 was better, but I couldn’t be sure that this was anything other than my bias. Or perhaps if I listened while switching quickly back and forth I might have heard a difference. I soon found that I got tired of the testing and was just listening to the music. Not much of a tester me!

If I posted this on a Naim forum I’m sure many would claim that my hearing is deficient, my cables not ‘dressed’ or poor quality etc. etc. Could be all of the above, but for me the bottom line is that if I can’t hear a clear difference in sound with my ears and my system, I will choose using other criteria. I will probably leave the Atom in my system as a streamer/DAC as I prefer the user interface and display over the A6, and it certainly integrates better with the Core. I’m coming to the conclusion that we might be placing too much emphasis on SNAID, and not enough on other features.
 
Components have to be really pretty poorly designed before you can hear a difference, the threshold of audibility is really an interesting question.
Keith
 
I have both of the streamers in the title, and decided to see if I could detect any difference between them in my system. I was only really checking the streamer/DAC in each. I had the Atom and A6 streaming from internet radio to start. The Atom was connected into the RCA inputs of my Topping A90 Discrete, while the A6 was connected to the balanced inputs. (The A90D was connected to a Moon 330A power amp and was driving B&W 702S3 speakers). I simply adjusted the volume on each to sound about the same (as I said, not very scientific!) and switched back and forth using the Topping remote. I could hear no difference at all, but the A6 was some 5 seconds delayed – which is odd.

This was just low res radio, so I brought in my Naim Uniti Core (which is a CD ripper and NAS for those not familiar). The Atom was streaming from the Core over the house wi-fi, while I had the A6 (which can of course also stream on wi-fi) connected by 75 Ohm cable directly to the Core. Given that the A6 did very well on Amirim’s tests and the Atom not very well at all by comparison, I was expecting to hear a distinct difference in sound quality in favor of the A6. I was playing a track on one device and then re-listening to the same track on the other device. I was not able to convince myself that I could hear any difference, but I was not able to convince myself that I couldn’t hear a difference either, if that makes any sense. Perhaps the A6 was better, but I couldn’t be sure that this was anything other than my bias. Or perhaps if I listened while switching quickly back and forth I might have heard a difference. I soon found that I got tired of the testing and was just listening to the music. Not much of a tester me!

If I posted this on a Naim forum I’m sure many would claim that my hearing is deficient, my cables not ‘dressed’ or poor quality etc. etc. Could be all of the above, but for me the bottom line is that if I can’t hear a clear difference in sound with my ears and my system, I will choose using other criteria. I will probably leave the Atom in my system as a streamer/DAC as I prefer the user interface and display over the A6, and it certainly integrates better with the Core. I’m coming to the conclusion that we might be placing too much emphasis on SNAID, and not enough on other features.
SINAD is simply used to create a comparative list. You will notice that the reviews cover far more, including noise, IMD, multitone etc.
 
SINAD is simply used to create a comparative list. You will notice that the reviews cover far more, including noise, IMD, multitone etc.
Yep,and specially in the specific case where Atom's SINAD is determined solely by it's high H2 which is almost never audible unless it competes with the test tone itself.
On the other hand these 11-bits of Multitone is not encouraging but in the end is what user hears.

So...
 
Since the A6 is connected by balanced outputs perhaps can be the difference, more than other component.

I can plug my DAC either with RCA or XLR, it sounds slightly better with balanced, not measured though. The voltage of the signal is double, so have to compensate with the knob volume so non scientific neither
 
I have both of the streamers in the title, and decided to see if I could detect any difference between them in my system. I was only really checking the streamer/DAC in each. I had the Atom and A6 streaming from internet radio to start. The Atom was connected into the RCA inputs of my Topping A90 Discrete, while the A6 was connected to the balanced inputs. (The A90D was connected to a Moon 330A power amp and was driving B&W 702S3 speakers). I simply adjusted the volume on each to sound about the same (as I said, not very scientific!) and switched back and forth using the Topping remote. I could hear no difference at all, but the A6 was some 5 seconds delayed – which is odd.

This was just low res radio, so I brought in my Naim Uniti Core (which is a CD ripper and NAS for those not familiar). The Atom was streaming from the Core over the house wi-fi, while I had the A6 (which can of course also stream on wi-fi) connected by 75 Ohm cable directly to the Core. Given that the A6 did very well on Amirim’s tests and the Atom not very well at all by comparison, I was expecting to hear a distinct difference in sound quality in favor of the A6. I was playing a track on one device and then re-listening to the same track on the other device. I was not able to convince myself that I could hear any difference, but I was not able to convince myself that I couldn’t hear a difference either, if that makes any sense. Perhaps the A6 was better, but I couldn’t be sure that this was anything other than my bias. Or perhaps if I listened while switching quickly back and forth I might have heard a difference. I soon found that I got tired of the testing and was just listening to the music. Not much of a tester me!

If I posted this on a Naim forum I’m sure many would claim that my hearing is deficient, my cables not ‘dressed’ or poor quality etc. etc. Could be all of the above, but for me the bottom line is that if I can’t hear a clear difference in sound with my ears and my system, I will choose using other criteria. I will probably leave the Atom in my system as a streamer/DAC as I prefer the user interface and display over the A6, and it certainly integrates better with the Core. I’m coming to the conclusion that we might be placing too much emphasis on SNAID, and not enough on other features.
I had the Naim unit and the noise floor was always very high (lots of hiss) compared to the Eversolo unit . With high sensitivity speakers (over 90) it was quite noticeable .
The Eversolo unit was superior in my subjective listening tests .
 
Naim is just a name.
Now bought by Focal. The British hifi label is a big seller due to Anglo-Saxon domination.
 
I had the Naim unit and the noise floor was always very high (lots of hiss) compared to the Eversolo unit . With high sensitivity speakers (over 90) it was quite noticeable .
The Eversolo unit was superior in my subjective listening tests .
That’s what I was expecting @lordhumungous, but the speakers I have are 90dB sensitivity and no hiss can be heard. Perhaps I have a good unit.
 
That’s what I was expecting @lordhumungous, but the speakers I have are 90dB sensitivity and no hiss can be heard. Perhaps I have a good unit.
Could be . Maybe the manufacturing quality is inconsistent with Naim . All I can say is my Uniti Atom was noisy and I’ve seen many others online comment about a high noise floor on all Naim products .

I would not buy another Naim product because of my experience .
 
Let's avoid criticizing a brand in light of the legislation, rather say it's not my listening style (and even that could be insulting).
 
Yep,and specially in the specific case where Atom's SINAD is determined solely by it's high H2 which is almost never audible unless it competes with the test tone itself.
On the other hand these 11-bits of Multitone is not encouraging but in the end is what user hears.

So...

That's some disastrous numbers versus even something like a ~$10 JA11 dongle.
There's no valid excuses for the $$$ asked for this.
 
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Let's avoid criticizing a brand in light of the legislation, rather say it's not my listening style (and even that could be insulting).
Legislation? What does that even mean with regard to this? And if something measures poorly we have the right and even the responsibility to slag it and prevent others from wasting their money! We don’t put much stock on ‘listening style’ here. The name of the forum has the word ‘science’ in it. Its numbers here that count.
 
I could hear hiss noise from the Naim Uniti Atom from several feet away . It doesn’t surprise me it had poor noise scores
 
Legislation? What does that even mean with regard to this? And if something measures poorly we have the right and even the responsibility to slag it and prevent others from wasting their money! We don’t put much stock on ‘listening style’ here. The name of the forum has the word ‘science’ in it. Its numbers here that count.
Forewarned is forearmed! Find out and come back later. This is for the legal aspect.
As for the "scientific" argument, it is laughable in audio as the technology is based on 19th century discoveries. Very few engineers will be interested in it, everything is known and resolved even more since digital.
Finally, if you follow this site, apart from its author, there are practically no people with even very vaguely technical knowledge at college level or if they have they never show it.
How many subjects would be resolved after a little research and a few figures. But no, nothing but therapy, "I really like my system" "no" "the more expensive it is the better it is" etc. Besides, one can wonder how many have done blind tests, it teaches humility at least.
 
I disagree with you in that this is a largely ‘objective’ audio forum. People do not often exclaim the virtues of their systems based on price or even in subjective terms very often. There clearly are some wealthy members who have very expensive gear here. That doesn’t mean that it is simply status driven gear. The one high end speaker that gets a lot of discussion is the Revel Salon 2 and it measures well. The reason we are here is numbers and appreciation of good engineering. And there is nothing wrong with loving a system you put together usually at great sacrifice financially.
Whether people understand deeply what the SINAD etc numbers mean is not the issue. One can respect the work of engineering and science without understanding the details. Fortunately I do having studied Physics, Electrical Engineering Art and Industrial and having post grad degrees.
Electricity was first becoming understood in the 19th century in amazing detail by Maxwell et al but the solid state details that allowed audio at the quality we have it now are 20th century discoveries.
You defend subjective ’taste’ in your post I quoted then you decry it in your rebuttal.
I appreciate that English is clearly not your first language but I doubt that you make a good argument or make much sense in any language.
 
1. The phonograph dates from around 1877, I'm only interested in the principle. Then of course it was improved, I say it clearly in the following with "digital" which allows us to communicate (is it progress? We'll see).
My English is bad, my American friends understand it, that's enough for me.

2. Concerning the equipment, I respect those who design them but in view of my experience, I would no longer manufacture electronics, I don't hear any fundamental difference between sources of various prices and amplification. I use software to calculate my speaker filters, it works. That's all I ask.

3. For the speakers, I remain extremely subjective, there's no way to do otherwise, I listen with my brain (even if for you I understood that I was just an idiot, I use its ability to analyze). Most of them, whatever their price, convey the essential musical message. I like the ones I made (badly of course given my total incompetence).
I have frequented many hifi clubs and for the sake of objectivity we have blindly compared a number of electronics (difference = 0 even for tubes, unless they were out of their comfort zones), all different speakers, some quite close (we remained, for those still alive, fans of high efficiency) but to say which one was bad?! Naim also made speakers by the way, to stay on the subject. Acceptable sound, price too high for a bum like me.
 
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1. The phonograph dates from around 1877, I'm only interested in the principle. Then of course it was improved, I say it clearly in the following with "digital" which allows us to communicate (is it progress? We'll see).
My English is bad, my American friends understand it, that's enough for me.

2. Concerning the equipment, I respect those who design them but in view of my experience, I would no longer manufacture electronics, I don't hear any fundamental difference between sources of various prices and amplification. I use software to calculate my speaker filters, it works. That's all I ask.

3. For the speakers, I remain extremely subjective, there's no way to do otherwise, I listen with my brain (even if for you I understood that I was just an idiot, I use its ability to analyze). Most of them, whatever their price, convey the essential musical message. I like the ones I made (badly of course given my total incompetence).
I have frequented many hifi clubs and for the sake of objectivity we have blindly compared a number of electronics (difference = 0 even for tubes, unless they were out of their comfort zones), all different speakers, some quite close (we remained, for those still alive, fans of high efficiency) but to say which one was bad?! Naim also made speakers by the way, to stay on the subject. Acceptable sound, price too high for a bum like me.
Kool. Never seen a hifi club in Canada. Japan has little places with great stereos.
I may be a slave to numbers theoretically but I don’t likely have a system myself with good numbers I’m sure. But I like it. I’d be miserable chasing numbers with my limited funds.
My DIY speakers with Scan Speak Revelator drivers and crossovers with ten years of tweaking sound much better than my commercially produced Sonus Faber speakers. And now with a UMIK1 microphone and REW software and Equalizer APO software to create corrections they both sound and measure pretty amazingly well.
There is a long thread in DIYAUDIO.com that talks about the history of NAIM.
Julian the founder really didn’t know what he was doing. Managed to convince people he did. His early products are bad copies of the so-called RCA amplifier without any of the stability built into the RCA.
 
Oh yes, too bad you don't know (anymore?) about it, great atmosphere, lots of different people, only met two women so not very inclusive huh Bill? I knew three of these associations/clubs, one of them having changed so much that I counted it as a new one, with electronics engineers, dealers, simple amateurs too. And we invited designers, generally from small structures. I had the chance to meet one of the founders of the SELAC company who used the same motors (Pabst) as the Goldmund turntables for his, the one for Cochet amplifiers and preamps, the Cairn firm and BC Acoustique etc etc
Some had the Japanese "bug" yes, I saw the first Kaneda amplifier there, or Hiraga Class A, the Goto and Onken, they only wanted that!
Several had Naim, mainly their CD players and one of their preamps. I didn't know the anecdote you mentioned, it's a shame.
The measurements aren't really useful for electronics (well for me), there's the threshold of audibility, besides the Dartzeel have nothing special on the test benches. I would like to have your knowledge to develop speakers but I haven't even done their cases, my knowledge of mathematics is mainly statistics and also financial, just what I used in my old job.
Sonus Faber is not bad, beautiful cabinetwork and veneers but I don't know the speakers used and the prices are out of my budget.
 
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