n-Serve impressions

I can't comment on the app, but the issues on the cover art and Genre are being caused by  your metadata. the short answer is you need to edit it. Its kind of pain and there's no good solution right now. NServe ripper uses a licensed source of metadata (I forget what it is.) which should be better than FreeDB, MusicBrainz and others. So, if you're getting bad covers and genres - I think you have a right to complain loudly, as better metadata is one of Naim's stated value propositions for the NServe vs. ripping yourself and using an NAS. They should get the album art right from the label, vs some person's scan on the internet.

Here's why I like ripping myself:  dpPowerAmp does a great job of letting you choose the best cover art (and all metadata for that matter) from a variety of sources and then edit it easily before your rip.  For albums you've already ripped, Bliss let's you update all of your covers and will find art for ones that are missing. uses a similar, very nice interface that let's you choose the best version and saves it in the right place. I don't know if NServe will let Bliss edit the metadata - it probably can't as the metadata is stored in a custom database created by Naim.

For the genre's - there's no control or standards. The genre's you are getting when you rip your CDs are just what other people have tagged, or what the editor of the data Naim uses has decided. Again, dp power amp let's you edit the genre before the rip, and Bliss can do this after the fact.

I've found that you need to make up your own mind on the genres - Is a Beethoven cello sonata "Classical" or "Chamber Music"? -  then spend as much time as you want updating them.

Jason the 'refresh the cache' issue you have seems a bit more severe than mine.  I tend to see cd's show up relatively quickly after they are ripped -- if not in the Albums or Artists lists, then at least in the "Most Recent" list.  I tend to look there first.  It does take a while sometimes for them to show up in the Artists or Albums list on nServe.

I too will soon own a streamer, and will be using nStream as well.  I am just wondering -- does a newly ripped cd show up any quicker on nStream?  Meaning -- does the NDX "see" it on the uServe faster than nStream sees it?

Hi Bart, just done a test rip and after 10mins still know show of the rip in n-Serve or n-Stream and after two refresh caches.

I ripped Rising Above Bedlam by Jah Wobble and then Tricky's Mission Accomplished, it eventually appeared after about 15mins but the funny thing is it appeared in n-Stream before n-Serve.

Then I ripped Solveig Slettahjell's Good Rain, this has appeared before the Tricky rip and it appears  the rips do indeed show up first in 'Newest' rather than the actual 'Album' list. A little strange if it was a deliberate hierarchy choice as the 'Newest' folder is more for reference. Most people will access the 'Album' folder to browse music not the 'Newest' folder. 

So to sum up then.

Rips appear first in n-Stream before they do in n-Serve (not yet confirmed this happens all the time).

Rips appear first in 'Newest' folder before they show up in 'Album' library.

Rips do not show up in order of rips and it is random as to which rips show up in any order.

n-Stream:

I still have blank cover art in the album folder (but it shows in n-Serve), but when I click on the album to go into the albums details I can see the cover art.????? I think this has been mentioned in another thread.

I don't know whether these inconsistencies have anything to do with IO6 as I have only used the apps on this OS. But it seems that there may still be some tweaks required on the apps or software.

Also, I would welcome any views regarding the single app idea, as in, is there any technical reason not to have one app that controls both streamer and HD/server? 

Cheers.

Oh, after 8 days I am up to 200 rips, just another 300 to go.

I am getting a unitiserve SSD in the next few weeks and would like a point of clarification. I know I have to use n-serve to rip etc, but will the n-serve app give me access to internet radio with the unitiserve ssd or do I have to use n-stream?

Tim

Yes.

Tim, yes, nServe includes internet radio functions.  But if you are using your uServe to serve music to a Naim streamer (NDX, NDS, ND5XS) you'd have the ability to use nStream to play internet radio. On the other hand, if your uServe is connected to the Naim DAC, just use nServe for that.

Thanks very much guys!

Tim

The eLyric app from PS Audio controls both. It recognizes all UPnP media servers on your network and all UPnP media renderers (streamers / network players).

So, for example, during bouts of insomnia you can walk around the house with a set of decent headphones connected to your iPod Touch / iPad (media renderer) streaming wirelessly from your UnitiServe, or your NAS or your computer...

A neat solution and the best $9.99 you'll ever spend on audio.

Plug player can do the same and is free.

If Naim can code one App it should make development easier and we could hope for more features for all devices.

With the desktop client I use almost all of the time I always use last ripped, probably because it is easy to access if you are using internet radio, but of course the other way should work to.

What really annoys me with the dtc is the need to update shares when new files are added, and you have to use the list of network shares instead of just updating the shares available on the music library tab. The dtc has a bad habbit of rediscovering shares even though you tell it to ignore them, and I have not found a way to update shares from n-serve.

Claus

Hi,

The only editing you will have to do is if a rip is not recognized, or if there is a problem with artwork, and to move albums into other genres. You can do this from the n-serve also. You have no reason to move files, you do only work with information about the files not the actual files.

As far as I can see the only thing you cannot do from the n-serve is to update  external shares with downloaded music, or rips done on a pc. Unlike the internal rips shares has to be manually updated when you add new files.

To backup to a disk outside the unit you need to have a share on a mac or a pc or a share on a nas. The only way to backup to an external disk is to connect it to a pc and make it a share, that should work. Naim  advices against connecting usb disks that draws power from the Naim player, but people on the forum has used externally powered usb disks.

The automated backup in the Unit only  backup new files, the default schedule is daily or rather nightly about 4:00. You can create other backup routines and you can create a total backup of the internal disk from the dtc.

You cannot defrag the internal disks  in the unit, and it should not be a big issue unless you delete many rips. Naim may have some kind of defragment included in the firmware.

  do not know.

Claus