Listening to the Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition
Contents
The iron-clad control this amp has translates into a big-playing, transparent-sounding stereo image. Focus is tight in the image, and all music has a solid bass foundation.
There is also ‘a danger’ in this much grip, you start turning up the volume louder and louder unnoticed. Also because at considerable volume you can still talk to someone else and continue to understand each other without having to shout.
Madonna’s “Confession on a Dancefloor” is the album that Naim should take to any demo of this Nova Power Edition. You are bound to sell a few copies with it. I am shocked by the volume I end with, but you want to dance along to the pulses of bass you feel.
In higher frequencies
There are two aspects that are a bit more up to debate according to taste. First, the highs sound a bit restrained, even a bit rounded. No doubt this has to do with matching the amplifier to Focal speakers, but it can then sound just a little too tamed down in proportion when using other speakers. Now, many modern speakers have a somewhat pushed up high, nevertheless it is an aspect to pay attention to when matching speakers.
The beautiful Beethoven recordings by the Van Baerle Trio on CD are reproduced with a full sound, with a lot of weight in the bass of the grand piano. The Nova Power Edition’s tremendous control is reflected in the speed and separation of notes in the fast runs on the grand piano, also in the bass notes of the grand piano and cello.
Here, the difference between the highs and mids is quite noticeable. The violin sometimes sounds nippy in the midrange, but not in the highs. Nevertheless, it does convey the intention of the playing. You long for a little more depth in the sounds, given the level of detail, timbre and transparency in the instruments’ reproduction. It is a ‘private concert in your living room’ feeling, courtesy of the beautiful recording and high level of musicianship. But what comes across most of all is the pleasure in playing these Beethoven pieces.
With conviction
The second aspect is even more subjective if you like, but important to mention, especially given the price level of this streaming amplifier. The amp makes music sound with a lot of drive, but comparatively lacks in urgency felt in lyrics and music, something you would expect to hear all the time. When you set the bar high on certain aspects of quality, as this Naim Uniti Nova Power Edition does, it is all the more noticeable when somewhere you fall a bit short of that self-imposed bar. It is all about proportions here, just as seasoning food is only good if the proportions are right.
For example, with Etta James in “I’d Rather Go Blind” from the “The Montreux Years” album. This track sounds convincing. It sounds transparent, with so much detail, so lifelike, that you believe you are there; you really are at the edge of the stage. There are fierce micro dynamics in the track, the Nova remains stoic. However, it sounds just a little too polite to also feel that Etta would rather be blind than lose her man.
That line of conviction is a subtle one. Joe Jackson’s album “Body & Soul” from CD palpably gives you the atmosphere of the recording room. It sounds like the band is playing live. Joe Jackson’s voice gets a lot of nuance and sounds very open and draws you completely into the lyrics. Cymbals sound full, brassy and with just right that dark rustling sound you want to hear. What an extraordinary recording it remains. The energy and rhythm bounces off the CD, the Nova gives you everything you want to hear.