Recommended NAS Drives

Have a look at Qnap and Synology. The range is endless

I use a 12tb 6 drive NAS by Iomega and you can set it up to any version of raid. I am using raid 5 + hot swap.

I use a QNAp myself and very happy with it. I'd also suggest you have alooknat AssettNas having an embedded Assett Upnp server 

iver

Vortexbox 

+1 for this. Not a user myself but read many good reports of their kit

Hello Scott,

a bit of a sidestep here, but your reply intrigued. Apart from my Qnap 219, I also have a LaCie Network Space that I use as backup, so I know about the feature to configure a USB Share that (using an USB cable) can be used as an additional external harddisk. But why do you keep your high res specifically there ? Better sound quality into the NDX using USB ? My experience with an ND5XS sofar is that ethernet gives best results. Do you have other experiences ?

Cheers, Iver

Qnap But get one that supports raid so anything from the TS-212 upwards. Also all the new qnaps with the latest firmware now support 4tb disks even though they are expensive. The TS-212 has more than enough power to stream high res files to any of the Naim range of streamers. 3tb disks are around the £100 mark so that would get you a Qnap TS-212 with 2x3tb for around £350 +vat with 3tb usable in raid1 configuration.

+1 for Vortexbox

For those who recommend Vortexbox . . . I know you do so because of its server.  But if one wants merely storage (using say a uServe as the UPnP server) are there any advantages?

My Synology 212j nas has been flawless thus far.  I have 2 2tb WD Caviar "Green" drives in Raid 0.  It powers down when not being used and wakes up pretty quickly.  And it's relatively quiet.  But clearly there are plenty of fine options.

No, if storage is the main concern there are better options.

I thought long and hard before ditching my desktop for storage. Went for synology 212j and like Bart it has been flawless.

As gary says there are better options if you just want storage ... the Vortexbox would replace the UnitiServe and offer RAID if you want and very large capacity if you want that in whatever box you want (within reason) and you can get a silent VB if you are prepared to pay for SSDs .. you can get some high spec VBs too 

If you just want a NAS to use with your UnitiServe then Synology would be my choice. 

Would you be able to use such a NAS with a SB Touch & Logitech Media Server, and then someday upgrade to a more high-end solution?  If so, what would you recommend for the server machine? 

I really want to get all my music on a NAS, but I am afraid of going down the wrong path and ending up spending more $ than I could have had I known my arse from deep center field on the subject.  (Or picking a solution, and then having to re-invent the wheel.)

I would also like my solution to be able to do FLAC with an mp3 "double" for my portable device(s), scalable, open to upgrade, and based on what I read here, maybe use dbPower Amp (Or is that doubling up with the Logitech Server app?  But then, I don't see using the SBT forever, especially as LT will invariably begin to scale back on support at some point.)  Apple-free would also be a plus for me.

I admit it...I am pretty confused by the choices and the "proper" way to achieve what I hope...assuming I even can.

Also (yes, more dumbass questions), what would be the best way to rip all 800 of my CDs?  It seems that such a  project would beat a laptop DVD drive to death over time, and I would want to have it do the check for "bit perfect" rips that I see people talk about here.

I really do apologize for all the mundane questions, but I have been following these threads on this NAS/streaming topic for some time, and every time I think I am getting it, a new wrinkle throws me off.

There are companies that offer ripping services, if you want to spend the money and go that route.

For me theripping process is all part of the experience and enjoy reading the cover sleeves again while the cd rips. I chose to go the HDX route and rip bit perfect from the start. Also important to get the right size NAS from the start and also decide on your raid strategy, as I am sure you will only want to do it once

Paul

Vortexbox - it's big plus is it does all you want and is completely Microsoft free (essential for me). 

You don't need dBPA either, it'll do all the ripping for you.

(It can work with dBPA if you really want to). 

Works with SB, Sonos, Naim, Linn as well as iTunes, 

Give it a google and you'll see what I mean 

> What would be the best way to rip all 800 of my CDs?  It seems that such a  project would beat a laptop DVD drive to death over time, and I would want to have it do the check for "bit perfect" rips that I see people talk about here.

A lot of nonsense is talked abut ripping - don't worry about it. I use XLD on my Mac to rip and tells me whether its rip is perfect. Writes a little report on what a great job it has done (which is faire enough 'cos it has), but I've compared the result with iTunes, dBPA, Naim and CD Paranoia (Vortexbox) and the music data is all was 100% the same. I've ripped 3,000 CDs and the drive in my Mac is still going strong. But this is not meant to be an Apple ad, just trying to say - whatever reputable software you you use it'll do a good job

If you are concerned about bit perfectness then use dBPA as it will tell you whether you're bits are perfect and it is rally clever at ripping HDCDs if you have any. 

The Naim HDX and US don't check if they have achieved bit perfect rips - at least they don't do an Accurate Rip comparison report, but nonetheless they rip perfectly - so if I'd had one them I definitely would have ripped with it.  

All the best, Guy

Hi Bart,

You mentioned your Synology has been flawless thus far, quick question: does it stream album art to the N-stream app ok?  Cause I understand that the Synology uses its own uPnP server while the QNAP uses Twonky.  I guess the Twonky one should stream album art ok.

Hi Latecomer

I use the 212j also and yes it streams album art work just fine. The only issue i have is that the later versions of Synology software do not transcode hi def flac to wav correctly. It only transcides at 44.1. However if you install the older DMS3.2 software this works fine. Its a great unit, but ive not used the Qnap to compare.

Well as luck would have it, just this evening I finally turned on the media server in my 212j.  Up 'til now I've used it only as a networked storage device, but now my NDS is up and running, and my uServe still isn't back from the spa, so I turned on the media server on the Synology just to see what'd happen.

It worked pretty flawlessly, and yes I saw album art -- not IMMEDIATELY -- but once starting to play an album it did appear.  Again, this is the first time I ran nStream, and the media server.  But my wife and I listened to music all evening from the Synology to the NDS via nStream and it worked just fine.

Thinks very much for all your feedback - it's very much appreciated.  I think I'll take a look at the Synology drives, I'll report back later.

Yes, you Are correct. They say USB does sound better And i can see a slight difference. So I have the best of both worlds. It is a bitrue icky to set up, but I have the Ethernet so the up np option allows me to build a play list, but if I listen to an album I have the sound quality of USB to ensure I am getting the upgrade. 

Sorry for the late reply. I have not been on the forum in a bit. Just been searching and learning since my ndx purchase.

scott

I was using a qnap which I had long before the qute and it was ok, worked brilliantly as a shared folder for my sonos but twonky is a bit flaky with the qute. 

Have now built a vortexbox using a htpc case and have to say it's brilliant. Am also using it to store movies for my xstreamer and boxee box in the bedroom. The vortexbox also produces a much higher quality flac rip of CDs than dbpoweramp but that may be down to the higher spec cpu in my vortexbox though over my old lenovo laptop. 

How would you define the quality of a FLAC rip other than bit perfect or not?