Naimnet Now Audible

One advantage of any of the slim device products is the the internet radio. I know it doesn't sound as good as a ripped cd. But at this time that is all I use the sb3 for. If I want to listen to a Cd I put a cd in my cdp.

I'm sure the naimnet range sounds amazing but I love the internet radio. I guess for another $300 you can have both.

Dean

This might be a question for Dave Dever.

Why is Naimnet using only rca jacks and no din jacks. Also there is no way to add a hicap or the likes.

Dean

quote:

Originally posted by Gordon Cavanaugh:
... then your computer should be used solely for computing.

Dear Gordon,

My PC does some things very well, and some so badly as to be intolerable, like playing DVD films! I accept the compromise with a PC because I don't expect better, but for music, all the more do I insist on a minimum acceptable standard, and also simplicity of use in a system. Because music is for me so much more important than anything I could do with a computer!

I love the simplicity of a good CD player, and in this respect it leaves LP replay in the long grass! I would also really love to access any piece of music I have a recording of with the utter simplicity of alphabetic listing on a screen. What I definitely would not want is some elephant of a system that is un-steerable. I will stick with CDs laid out in more or less alphabetic system on a shelf in preference to a hard to control system. This element is crucial.

I also need to sample the effect of music played back this way, to work out if it is the route forward for me with a mature collection of recordings of favourite music and performances! I would love to store the CDs away, out of sight, and have the actual simplicity of using a mouse or arrow on a screen to select perhaps even a whole session's worth of listening before the start.

I also hope there is some form of remote [infra-red mouse?], for setting off the music once I am ready seated [or lying down] and properly concentrating, as is currently possible with CD.

George

PS: In my view it is crucial to be able to programme a specific long gap between different pieces, and, of course, no gaps at all between live recorded individual tracks in a single piece with many movements or sections to preserve continuity. This will bring specific gains where the duration of a given piece is longer than the maximum a CD can hold, though this is fairly rare ...

quote:

Why is Naimnet using only rca jacks and no din jacks

There are DIN jacks on both the room amps and the server–pictures of the rear panels on the NaimNet website are not representative of shipping product–see NS03 rear panel below. (In fact, we used a Hi-Line on the second NS01 on demonstration at CES.)



P.S. Neither is our picture, BTW–the user interface on the NS03 is an older version than would be found on the shipping product.

As for internet radio–as I understand it, this may be forthcoming in a future software release, so no need for a Squeezebox.

I think the underlying architecture to this whole initiative really bears out in the ease by which additional zones can be added to the system with no loss in fidelity–after all, once you have your music centrally located, you will want to be able to access it in other parts of the house (or flat, in my case). Competing systems offer little or no fidelity at long distances, and the degree of control is often tied to the amount of programming required to get the system up and running.

As far as the NS-series servers go, they can be configured as standalone units straight out of the box without any complex network setup (yes, GFFJ, they ship with an IR remote, as well as an input on the rear for an IR repeater), nor do they require a PC to operate (as do some other manufacturers' streaming solutions) or external storage (meaning that one can get up and ripping quickly, adding additional storage at a later time).

I can quite see that some or even many people would want to be able to access music in different rooms.

I definately would not, though. If I want any music or speech away from serious listening, then I prefer a small radio!

I can see how this might work, where sony Jim want some Floyd in his bedroom whist Mom and Dad want some Miles Davis in the living room or whatever!

But all I would want is a local line-level output to feed my existing pieces. I doubt if this hope is unique!

The only way I am going to find out about functionality in peration is by arranging a demonstration. The descriptions so far seem to concentrate on other rather technical things!

In deep anticipation! George

PS: Dear MR D_, you are editing as fast as I can answer! Thanks for some clarification! I really hate the space taken up with physically storing CDs near the replay set! There is no single greater improvement I could conceive of for me than allowing for the whole lot to be stored tidily out of sight! I shall also delight in the possibility of downloading recordings that have never surfaced on CD! There is an awful lot of good that can come of this. I am certain that the actual quality will equal and eventual surpass CD standards, which in any case for me are already night and day preferable to LPs, not least in the utter convenience of that system. This takes it to a very betterment ...

quote:

If I want any music or speech away from serious listening

...and therein lies the paradigm shift. Prepare to be distracted in the kitchen.

Dear David,

You cannot guess from the page here that my approach to listening is against the trend to musical wall paper. Not disrespect intended to anyone in that. It is simply too important to me to waste on half concentration! In fact I hate musac in the Supermarket, because I find myself listening intently to it, and forgetting why I went to the shop in the first place! I cannot turn off my ears, unfortunately! Many are the times I have gone home with butter but no bread because of the music!

I edited my above answer to you as well ...

George

Thanks David


Dean

Calling Mr Dever one more time.

If you have music stored in Itunes already can you just plug via usb into Naimnet? Or do you need to re-rip?

Thanks

Dean

The rips do sound better via the NS01–but this should be weighed against the practicality of another effort to re-rip discs, as well as against future software updates for the NS-series servers that might support other file formats.

DRMed files from the iTunes Music Store are not supported, as one might expect, given the closed nature of Apple's FairPlay DRM (and the fact that this may not be with us much longer).

David,

Let me see if I am tracking through all this. I can with a NS03 download my CD collection, and these downloads will be a bit for bit copy of the CD (identical), then I can access this downloaded collection through a remote screen via artist/classical-rock-jazz-etc./and then tell the NSO3 to play a list of selected CDs or tracks from CDs through the Supernait-then through my existing speaker system? How will the sound of the music played through the NSO3 ompare to CDs playerd through my current CDX2? How user freiendly is the NSO3 instruction manual and software? There are two generations this product needs to reach, one that is quite computer literate and another that only knows enough commands to make the soft/hard ware do what we want it to do. I fall in the latter group. I really like the idea of replacing walls of CDs with a storage and search device that is simple to use and fool proof, but I need to also know that the effort I have put into creating the wonderful sound system will not be lost. Thanks for your thoughts and input.

David did you run from the digital output of the NS01 into the digital input of the supper nait? If so what was the outcome?

Dean

George,

If you can bring yourself to consider the computer interface, it does give a lot of control.

These screen-dumps give you an idea of the options. There is no reason why ripped music should not be as good, if not actually better, than standard CD replay.

Using a Hi-Line for both, the baby of the range, NS01, is good but not a CD555 alternative. My guess is between CD5X and CDX2 level, but we need to let it burn in before serious comparisons are made. Given the amount of added features, and the fairly modest price, this is a very good result.

Alastair

rest of the pictures, I hope:

and . .

The UI looks alright, although not groundbreaking.

It seems to me, from above posts, that much is yet to be decided: extra music formats, cd-playing functionality, internet radio, how to apply a software update.

I do hope it's possible for a user to update the firmware over the network or a special cd. Living in Norway with no Naim reseller at all (in my part) would force me to part with my equipment far too many times. Software is still always full of bugs (some are just yet to be found ).

Is there a way to access Naim server-ripped CDs to transcode to e.g. MP3 for portable use? (Transcode via a tool that is external to the server.)

Cheers,
Mark

Pretty sure that I read in the bumph that it generates a 192 mbs mp3 file for each WAV rip. You can directly sync this to an iPod, or other portable device, via the USB socket.

For all this to work, the iPod must be PC formatted (this does not stop it working with a Mac) but I have not get around to reformatting mine to experiment. We connected my colleagues iPod the other day and the Naim read the files from it and made them available on the list of all available music.

Thanks Signals. So I may need to reformat an iPod on a PC, even though we have no PCs in the house? Could be challenging!

Nope, the Mac can do it. There is the disk utility.

A

I am missing a NaimNet server without an integrated DAC, because that would be the perfect fit for the Supernait.Why do i need in both systems a DAC, it would be much cheaper,so i would be able to go through an digital output from the server direct to the digital input of the SN.
Okay for the amps with only analog inputs it makes sense, but no sense for the new SN, it is wasted money for a DAC, which you didnt need.

quote:

Originally posted by themrock:
it would be much cheaper

how much is the ns01?

NS01 costs around £3000.

I really cannot see why it should be specifically linked to the Supernait though. Keeping the dac as part of the replay device has been Naim policy since the year dot. Adding a dac to the S/n was to give it access to third party digital sources.

Why not?
First it would be cheaper
second, why the SN DAC only for third party devices, when you go the digital way, dont stop half way.
third, one of the naim mottos was, keep it simple, so why in this case 2 dac?

Now i am using the Cambridge Musikserver, it has all i want, a digital output i can play multiple formats and not only wav, but one thing is missing, the naim Optik

quote:

I am missing a NaimNet server without an integrated DAC, because that would be the perfect fit for the Supernait.

In comparisons I did at home with the SUPERNAIT and the NS01, I felt that the analogue output on DIN (using standard grey interconnect) was better than both the digital coaxial (using DC1) and optical (using custom glass-fiber optical i/c) outputs of the NS01. Not what I expected, for sure, but a very good analogue output stage (with its own separate internal power supply).