These are not the same size of amplifier: Naim CI-Uniti 102 has roughly 2.5x the power of Naim Nait 5si. That is about 4dB, so it is a question of room size and how hard your speakers are to drive, not of one being the better amplifier.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Naim CI-Uniti 102 has more power - 150W against 60W into 8 ohms. That is about 4dB, so it plays usefully louder before it runs out and has more in hand on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Naim CI-Uniti 102 the better fit for a large room and a very large room, and Naim Nait 5si for desk or near-field listening, a small room and a mid-size room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Naim CI-Uniti 102 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Naim Nait 5si takes more analogue sources - 4 against 1. |
| Use with a TV | depends | Only Naim CI-Uniti 102 has HDMI eARC, so the television can drive it directly and one remote controls the volume. If the system is for music only, this changes nothing. |
| Headphones | depends | Only Naim Nait 5si has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Naim CI-Uniti 102 is Class D and Naim Nait 5si is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Naim CI-Uniti 102 takes up about 31% less shelf area (900cm² against 1300cm²). |
| Price | A | Naim CI-Uniti 102 costs less - $1,499 against $2,299 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | A | Naim CI-Uniti 102 is the cheaper watt - about $10 per watt against $38. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Naim CI-Uniti 102 B Naim Nait 5si
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Naim CI-Uniti 102 is the easier recommendation: it leads on most of the measured areas and costs less. Take Naim Nait 5si if one of the "depends" rows above describes your system. Start with the room. In a large or open-plan room, or with speakers that are hard to drive - low sensitivity, or an impedance that dips - Naim CI-Uniti 102 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 60 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 90 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate Naim CI-Uniti 102 poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason. If this sits under a television, Naim CI-Uniti 102 is the one to buy - HDMI ARC means the TV remote controls the volume and there is no second box in the way.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.