Which NAS for Squeezebox Touch into nDAC?

I was using a SB Duet into my DAC and controlling everything from an iTouch using iPenq. I have a QNAP-419P NAS solution.

Everything worked well until my music collection got to about 6000 songs (it may have been more, it was some time ago). The problem I then experienced was that it took ages to search for particular songs.

Now I don't know definitively that this was a problem with SqueezeCentre but I suspect so. A very brief search of the Slim forums seemed to indicate a database performance problem and suggested some tweaking of the config.

I am going back some time, probably at least 12 months so things may have improved with newer versions. I moved away from SC to just using Foobar/J River on my PC

Just thought I would flag this with you as a word of caution.

Jack

Vortexbox or Ripnas ?

I saw the Ripnas working today at my dealer when i went for a demo. Very neat indeed.

James

quote:

I have been thinking to move away from my PC to a NAS-station in the living room, going via ethernet-lan into the Squeezebox Touch and then into the nDAC.

Which is the best NAS solution???

As you are running Squeezexx system ,your NAS should be Squeezecenter compliant

I'm running my system (a squeezebox pairing my SN (wired) and a Squeezboom (wifi)) with a Synology DS209 II+
It's just a perfect solution, the other advantage of this NAS is that you will also be able to stream Video (who knows ) as UPNP and DLNA compliant.

Hope Helps

Cheers

Didn't Stereophile find problems with the Touch when fed directly from a NAS? I haven't got a copy of the review, but I seem to remember they were much more impressed with the Touch when it was running via Squeezecenter on a networked pc. I think the issue was with high bit-rate files - his may not be an issue for you.

Can't comment on SB. Do have a NetGear ReadyNas Duo running with the HDX/nDAC and I have no complaints. In fact it's all been much less painless and more fuss free than I anticipated. I have 2X1Tb drives in and the box is essentially silent after it's twenty second turbo boost when starting up. Next job is to run a back up off the NAS USB. I have two spare HDDs tucked up also, because sooner or later... I also have a spare ReadyNas bare box - anal or what? It's so relatively inexpensive it seems silly not to.

Wil a NAS be silent enough near your hifi setup?

And how does it work with iTunes? Can i put a NAS with iTunes (server or something) and control it by my remote app (on iPod Touch/iPhone)

Thank you.

Will check out some models...

May seem a bit expensive but there are benefits to getting a NAS with a proper built in processor such as an Intel Atom. There is then usually some operating memory into which you can load a media server app of your choice over and above typically an onboard choice of an i-tunes server.

I have an ACER Homestore which has 4 bays. I run 4 1TB disks and use it for all backups including my computers. It runs Windows Home Server which is actually a very stable piece of software and provides a lot of data mangement functions including file duplication at user choice.

You can get small 'ádd-in' software programs to put on the Acer including 'Squeezeserver', but what I find nice is that dBPoweramp does a program called 'RipNAS Essentials' that with a USB optical dribve attached via 1 of 4 usb ports I can use to rip and tag CDs direct onto the NAS drives. Also they offer a great fast scan music server called 'Asset UPnP' which talks completely reliably to i-pads / pod touch and phone via a choice of small apps ( I use Plugplayer for i-pod touch).

This setup has run seamlessly since day 1. I now have 25,000 tracks ripped.

Seems a bit pricy on paper as a solution but well worth the investement when you consider how safe and accessible you need your music to be.

regards
Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by Robbert:
Wil a NAS be silent enough near your hifi setup?

humm i must admit that the NAS is not silent but definitively less noisy than my laptop

I put it away from my system and linked to it with a Cat7 ethernet cable sound very good.

I know that a raid 1 NAS + external Bck disk is not the cheepest solution, BUT it allow me to share everything in my house (Video via Popcorn system, Music via Squeez systems) so a really efficient/reliable concept.

The Synology was choosen because squeezebox system need a special app (squeezeserver or squeezecenter...depend the version you want to run....) personnaly still working with the "old app" and very happy with that. I can also manager my squeezesystem using my ipod (with the squeezmote app)

My ripping are today done using AIFF format and my HomeMusic_iTunes Lib is stored on my NAS.

Cheers

Laptopsdirect are currently selling the Acer Aspire WHS for £250 +£50 rebate. Absolute bargain fro £200 for a full blown windows home server.

I use a mac mini server with a Probox of 4 drives set up as raid attached via usb to the mac which holds all the music. The mac runs the squeezebox server and the SB touch picks it up via wireless and plays thru my Naim system. This allows me to run itunes as well where I have an apple airport express upstairs and in the gazebo outside to play music. So far it works well, planned improvements are connection by cat 5e cable rather than wireless and the addition of a Naim dac.

Tim

I second Tim's setup.

My advice would be to get a headless Mac mini for Squeezecenter with an attached drive for music storage. I tried 2 different QNAP models and found the NAS to be too slow. The mini is super fast and it is easy to upgrage to newer release of Squeezecenter.


ASenna04

quote:

Originally posted by Asenna04:
I second Tim's setup.

My advice would be to get a headless Mac mini for Squeezecenter with an attached drive for music storage. I tried 2 different QNAP models and found the NAS to be too slow. The mini is super fast and it is easy to updrage to newer release of Squeezecenter.
ASenna04

Trust me... the DS209 II+ is everything except slow

I also use a Qnap 209 II. Then (about 2 years ago) it was a good buy, but I find it too slow for today's standard.
ie it takes a while before the artist/album/track list is displayed..
Luckily it stands in a spare room, the fan makes too much noise for a living/study/bedroom.

For now is fine, but when SSD has a good capacity/cost I'll jump on this fast, silent low energy consuming train.

And thumbs up for Qnap's user friendliness and stability. Works great!

quote:

Originally posted by Thorsten_Lux:
I have been thinking to move away from my PC to a NAS-station in the living room, going via ethernet-lan into the Squeezebox Touch and then into the nDAC.

One of your advantages would be that the NAS could be placed anywhere. As long as it is connected to your network, it doesn't have to be in your living room. Therefore it doesn't matter if the NAS is silent or not...

Regards,
Michel

quote:

Originally posted by Fred Mulder:
... but when SSD has a good capacity/cost I'll jump on this fast, silent low energy consuming train.

Fred and folks in general right now a typically cost ratio comparing SSD to the ubiquitous HDD is as follows:

SSD 70 Gb for 120 GBPounds
HDD 2,000 Gb for 120 GBPounds

This cost ratio of approxm 300:1 in favor of HDD is not likely to change much for a long time. I know from technical involvement in HDD manufacturing that they have already developed solutions that will allow HDD to just keep on increasing capacity for about the same cost overtime which will keep the price of storage ratio of HDD to SSD at at least 200:1.

SSD is a luxury storage solution in the consumer market where I reckon it will continue to be used mainly for fast operating software access in computers and for in / out storage buffers as Naim does for example.

Apologies for goimg off topic.

regards
geoff

The only NAS supported by Logitech (mysqueezebox.com) seem to be Netgear ReadyNAS NV/Duo and ReadyNAS Pro. I.e. for runing the server software on the NAS.

I only use it for internet radio and to access the spotify service. Sounds great with a Transporter feeding a Naim DAC.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff P:
I know from technical involvement in HDD manufacturing that they have already developed solutions that will allow HDD to just keep on increasing capacity

That's interesting Geoff, good to hear that HDD still has a trick or two up its sleeve.
After my post I also realised newer formats will feed a demand for huuuuge storage (ie uncompressed Ultra HD takes 4TB storage for 20 minutes footage )

Cheers, Fred