Naim has been building amps for 40 years, and its experience shows. The UnitiQute produces a balanced, open sound that provides punch where it's needed, but also brings out the nuance and detail in complex recordings. I hooked the system into my Definitive tower speakers with built-in subwoofers, and it proved plenty powerful, with an impressive soundstage and well-defined sound.
The UnitiQute has a bright bluish-green display which can be read clearly from about six to eight feet away. Other than a headphone jack, an input jack and USB port, that's it for the front panel. You'll need to pick up the remote even for the most basic functions. The remote does everything, though: it lets you change the settings (networking, inputs, etc.), as well as view and select album, track, artist and other music data.
A better option, though, is using your iPod touch or iPhone to control the action. To do so, you need to install a Universal Plug and Play server (in this case, EyeConnect) on your computer, and you need to install NAIM's "n-Stream" app. Surprisingly, the app costs $36 through iTunes – a tough swallow after dropping $2,500 on the hardware unit – but you can get a voucher for a free download if you register your Qute on NAIM's website.1
The app lets you browse and select tracks from your music libraries to be streamed through the UnitiQute right there on your Apple touchscreen. Once these two apps are up and running, the UnitiQute can read all the music and radio stations in iTunes, or from any NAS drive on your network. The performance is surprisingly smooth and snappy – a one- or two-second delay when switching tracks, and no dropped connections in our testing. When you touch the top of the screen, the bit rate, sample rate and other track info appears. All in all, pretty slick.
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