The device is loaded with fabulous audio components, including top-shelf Burr Brown 1791A DAC (digital audio converter) with hi-res audio support up to 24 bit/384 kHz. Even in the rarified air of audiophilia, that’s a distinct advantage. You plug in or stream everything you’d need all from a single box. What really makes the Uniti Atom HE stand out, even at its high price, is the self-contained design. Then again, maybe that’s what systems like this are for. I had a palpable degree of underlying apprehension the whole time I had this automobile-priced system in my listening room. This setup was almost too fancy for even an experienced reviewer like me. It didn’t hurt that I got to audition the Uniti Atom HE with a pair of headphones from Naim’s sister brand, Focal, called the Utopia-they run a whopping $5,000 and print sound like one-way tickets to audio nirvana. The Unite Atom HE lets your music bounce around the open space like an echo in a giant auditorium. Instruments absolutely gleam with clear definition, dynamics seem to expand into the ether, the noise floor is all but nonexistent. As I cycled through multiple high-end headphones, the Atom HE provided sparkling-clean playback with enormously spacious sound staging. When it comes to the sound, it’s perhaps no surprise that this device sounds really, really good. The button is used to swap between the headphone outputs and the device’s other main use case, which is as a streaming preamp for powered speakers or an amplifier. The only real visible change between the HE version and the 2017 Atom I regularly use to power review speakers is the HE’s dual headphone ports set below a lighted headphone button on the front. A long, glossy remote offers the same intuitive layout as the original, with backlit buttons that gleam when you pick it up. It’s also motion sensitive, calling up the song name and playback time when you approach it (though, somewhat frustratingly, it’s not a touchscreen). The colorful front-side display welcomes you with vivid album covers when you play from your favorite streaming services. As with its siblings, the Atom HE sports a chic, neo-industrial aesthetic, with brushed aluminum trim, blocky heat sinks along the sides, and Naim’s signature jumbo volume dial on top that lights up when you give it a spin. Naim’s Uniti design style is iconic, and the company has changed very little on the exterior for its Headphone Edition model.
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