Earlier this week, Naim launched its new premium Uniti Star Lite streaming amplifier, which retains all the extensive features, connections and design of the original Star – but loses the CD player and ripper.
This is a blow to CD fans, but it was unavoidable due to issues sourcing the original drive mechanism and an inability to find a suitable alternative.
Naim's solution therefore was to cease production of the original Star and introduce the Star Lite as a streaming-focused unit. All sensible, to be fair, especially at the lowered price of £3199 compared with the now-discontinued Star's £3499.
With all the specs, amplification and streaming features being pretty much identical, we had also assumed that the sound quality of the two units would remain the same as well. That would be no bad thing, as the original Uniti Star got an effusive five-star review from us when we tested it back in 2018.
However, Naim has now confirmed to us in a statement that the new Star Lite will actually have a "better audio performance" than the outgoing Star.
Developing the Star Lite gave Naim's engineers the opportunity to tweak elements of the hardware, circuitry and software under the hood, all of which should result in "a cleaner signal path, with improved transparency for a more refined listening experience."
Here is the full statement from Naim below:
"The Uniti Star Lite was developed as a replacement for the Uniti Star following the discontinuation of the CD mechanism. However, during development, we identified some performance benefits resulting from this simplified architecture.
"By removing the CD mechanism, we were able to reduce electrical noise within the product. Combined with software optimisation and a more focused hardware architecture, the result is a cleaner signal path, with improved transparency for a more refined listening experience.
"In short, Uniti Star Lite is not simply the original Uniti Star without a CD drive; the simplified architecture has enabled us to achieve a more optimised electronic with a better audio performance."
So that's more positive news than we initially thought, and credit to Naim for not resting on its laurels. While many will mourn the loss of the integrated CD player, it looks like those investing in the Star Lite will potentially benefit from better sound, too.
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