Feeding the ND5

Posted by: Rave on 11 December 2012

Question \;  Can I connect my Sony Viao to ND5 with a cat 5 cable and play my saved music files with iTunes? I am guessing I need some extra software to serve, if that's the right word, these files.

 

This is temporary measure before I invest in a NAS + network cabling or a mac mini?? I do have (or i should say my wife has ) an ipad and macbook

 

So far I have just used my wife's macbook or her ipad connected directly to the ND5 with opti cable and usb respectively to play cd's ripped on her Macbook

 

Any advice on which way to go would be welcome > I have a couple of hundred of cds to rip.

 

Results so far: ALAC files on ipad/usb input sound good. ALAC files from the macbook/apple optical cable sound as good if not marginally better but very close.

 

I'm looking best SQ possible, aren't we all

 

best seasonal wishes

 

Rob

 

 

 

Posted on: 11 December 2012 by Bart

Rob if you want to connect your laptop to the ND5, you need to be running upnp server software on the laptop.  It seems that many folks here like Asset as a upnp server to run on Windows.  Whether a direct connection as you propose is best, or connecting them through a switch . . . I'm not sure but others will know better. 

Posted on: 11 December 2012 by mutterback

I think you'll find an NAS is much easier and will have the best sound - the ND5 is designed to stream from ethernet after all.  Stay away from iTunes as a ripper if you haven't already invested a lot of time ripping from it.

 

A standard consumer NAS  - as long as it includes a UPNP server - is not too expensive ($200?) and should work.  Spending more will lead to more stability (you won't need to restart it as much. All hard drives can fail, so also make a separate back up.) Lots of discussion on which NAS drive is best here, but any with UPNP will work. Myself and others also love vortexbox - see vortexbox.org, which will rip CDs and has a UPNP server built in.

 

Otherwise, download and install one on your Mac. Just google "Mac UPNP." Twonky is popular. But, if you rip your 100s of CDs onto your laptop uncompressed you are going to run out of hard drive space.

 

For the Mac, I recommend MAX as a CD ripper.

 

You don't need to get a lot of network cable. Get a basic ethernet switch ($20?) and 2 runs of ethernet cable, plug one into your ND5 > switch, then another from the switch > NAS/Mac/VortexBox. 

Posted on: 11 December 2012 by mutterback

PS - did you get your ND5 new?


Please don't take this as a criticism of you or your post - but your issue should have been sorted out, or at least explained, by your dealer if you bought it new. Naim has an issue if people are leaving their dealers with network streamers without answers to your questions.