Hi everyone,
I’m new to the forum and Naim! I just received my ND5 XS and am now awaiting the Headline which I plan to use with it. This should arrive in a few days, and the anticipation is killing me!! Still its giving me the chance to get the ‘backroom’ stuff sorted – CD rips, tagging, network issues etc. I seem to be going round in circles at the moment, and wonder if I could get some help and advice.
Over the past year I have been using a laptop setup as a Vortexbox. This was connected into a spdif/usb converter and then into my DAC. Using Mpod on the iphone has been a joy. Snappy, clean artwork and intuitive browsing and selection of tracks – really great stuff. Am I right in thinking that this won’t work with the ND5? Vortexbox player has a built in UPnP server, but am I right in thinking you have to use n-stream to request the music from the server?
The ND5 is connected via Ethernet to my router as is my Lacie NAS. Using it’s built in UPnP server (Twonky) I can get flacs to play, but the folder structure is awful. You select browse by folder and you get a list of genres, and vice versa! Running Asset on a laptop improves this, but they are both just so slow to move between screens on my iphone. The laptop is on wireless, I tried connecting this by Ethernet to the router with little improvement. Is my router the fault? Its a netgear WNR2000v2.
Am I doing something wrong? Jumping back a level in n-stream I have to wait for the list to download for what feels like ages, where Mpod was instant.
Any advice or suggests would be really appreciated!! Meanwhile I look forward to hearing my first Naim source 
Posted on: 06 November 2011 by garyi
I suggest you take it one step at a time.
As you have vortex box running, use its upnp server.
Use your current software as well, it may well pick up the nd5 as a renderer, however volume wont work.
Then try nStream, it should all work fine with vortex box
Posted on: 06 November 2011 by spacehopper
garyi thanks for that. Lacking foresight I sold the laptop running vortexbox to fund the ND5, but I could easily pick up another and give it a try.
Not sure I understand what you mean by current software and it picking up the ND5 as a renderer. Do you mean within Vortexbox??
Cheers.
Bryan
Posted on: 06 November 2011 by Tog
@Spacehopper
Vortexbox is quite versatile
You can use it as a player directly connected to your ND5 via optical just as before, albeit with a new laptop or as a UPnP server connected to a network router. In the latter case your ND5 will pick up Vortexbox as your server and you can use either nStream or Kinsky as a control point.
My first Vortexbox server was on a Sony Vaio netwbook attached to an Airport Extreme and its worked a treat. If you prefer to use VB player and Mpod (Mpad is even better) the dac in the ND5 should work wonders.
Tog
Posted on: 06 November 2011 by mutterback
Did you back up the Vortexbox laptop before you sold it? Should be very neatly organized. Music is in \\files\music\flac\ Copy it over everything after \flac to the fodler on the NAS for the upnp server.
If you can get another Vortexbox set up, you can use that to rip and keep everything organized. Rip to the Vortexbox and also the NAS. Believe this feature is in the GUI under "mirroring." dBpoweramp also does this really nicely.
BTW - I've had a terrible time with my Lacie NAS as a upnp server, it keeps cutting out and has never worked with iTunes as advertized. You're might work fine, but if something's not working in your setup, I'd suspect the Lacie.
