UnitiServe (HD) - Ripping Problem

Posted by: Mak on 22 December 2012

Hi all,

unfortunately my first post here is about a very strange problem i'm experiencing with my unitiserve (1TB).

i'm using the us for roughly 1 month now, streaming to my SuperUniti. ripped many of my cds to the hd, worked perfectly, no problems at all. Today i continiued ripping my cds and after about 2 hours the us started to slow down the ripping process. Effectivels it now takes 30 - 40 minutes to rip a cd! no copies, just orignal cds, none of them damaged. I tested some of them by ripping it on my mac, took 5 minutes.....

any thoughts? can anybody help me out?

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Prubast

Sounds like you may have a problem - in my experience ripping a cd on my US never has taken more than a few minutes.

Might be worth powering down the US and then switching on again to see if this resolves the issue - if not suggest you speak with Naim or your dealer after Christmas

Best off luck

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Bart

Definitely shut it down properly (using the Naim logo on the front) and then let it re-boot fully. That's about all you can do other than work with Naim support.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Mak

I powered down the us for a couple of times, did not change anything.... Even changed the network cable, reinstalled nserve and a couple of other things.....

guess i have to contact the naim support after xmas. Thanks for the replies.....

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Nick B

Might also be worth re-ripping a CD you ripped before the problem started, that you know for definite only took the usual 5 minutes to rip. If the re-rip takes 5 minutes again, it could just be a batch of CDs taking longer than usual. I've definitely had at least 1 brand new CD taking 40 minutes to rip recently, but this is the exception. Some of my older CDs took 40 minutes + when the condition wasn't mint or they were older and had started to degrade.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Timbo

Some other things to check. Are the rips getting to the hard disk or maybe there is a problem with the hard disk i.e. it is starting to fail. I agree that it would be good to check a CD you have already ripped.

Tim

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Mak

I reripped a couple of cds, this time it took 30 min....So this happens also to previously ripped cds.

Also they are saved to the internal harddisk on the us, not to an external storage.

i start to agree with timbo, maybe there is a problem with the us harddisk. Happend an hour ago that all the albums on the us have not been visible for about 20 mins and them suddenly appeared again.

really strange....

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Jasonf

Originally Posted by Mak:

I reripped a couple of cds, this time it took 30 min....So this happens also to previously ripped cds.

Also they are saved to the internal harddisk on the us, not to an external storage.

really strange....

Hi, I have a 2 tb UServe, just 3 months old. When I first started ripping some cd's took up to 25 mins, others just 8 mins, it was a bit random but in all of the longer rips, I.e any above say 10 mins, the ripping noises were far more apparent and much more vibration through the unit occurred.

These issues were considered normal by Forum members, however it seems that your issue may be more serious than what I have described. I guess that if no further cd's rip at the normal time scale...7-9 mins approx then a call to Naim is required.

Sorry not to be able to help anymore than that Mak.

Cheers,
Jason.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Mak

Originally Posted by Mak:

Hi all,

unfortunately my first post here is about a very strange problem i'm experiencing with my unitiserve (2TB).

any thoughts? can anybody help me out?

Sorry, typo. Ive got the new 2 tb version

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Mak

Jasonf, i got the same us. More or less u describe the problem i experienced. When this "slowing down" started, the noise and vibration of the us also increased dramatically. some of the ripps then took 30 minutes, some 25, as u said " randomly". But never returned to the speed i had before.....

So do i get it right, that this issue normalized after some time in your case?

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by GerryMcg

Hi Mak,

Do you have a NAS to rip to, if this works OK it would, perhaps, suggest a HD error on the Unitiserve .

Gerry

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Jasonf

Originally Posted by Mak:

So do i get it right, that this issue normalized after some time in your case?

Hi Mak,

Well it was very random, the first time this occurred was after about 10 cd's then the next 4 would have the issues described above, then go back to normal ripping action. Then later these issues would happen again. So in 500 rips the patern was so random that I can't explain when normal occurs in terms of a specific period as it could happen again. However, the last 10 ripps have taken the 'normal' time, that being approx 7-9 mins.

Perhaps you should back up what you have done and continue to rip to see what happens. If your next 5-10 rips are still taking longer than specified in the manual, which I think is 8 mins, then take the opinion it's not working normaly a call Naim to get their views.

Cheers.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Jasonf

Hi Mak here is my account of the ripping issues. The general consensus being that this is normal.
But not ever CD of course.

After a few more rips, Tina pointed out that I did not need to run up and down the stairs to be near the ND5 to switch cd’s, I could sit on my arse on the couch on the first floor and play away....this is fantastic! I got to about 25 rips and then the UServe started making some unnerving noises, it was on Jef Buckleys’s Grace cd. The noises reminded me of many years ago when on old pc’s cd rom drive would often sound like it was speeding up like a fan noise trying to read the data on the cd but struggled but kept attempting. Speeding up, slowing down, speeding up slowing down, this was very unnerving. I watched intently, the cd was finally ripped but it took longer than other cd’s, approximately about 12 minutes. I checked for errors, none, I played the cd and it worked normally. I put in another cd and the same thing happened, the noise was quite audible as I could hear it from the ground floor through the stair well. Additionally, the chassis undergoes far more vibration during these types of rips but the unit does not seem to get hotter. This happened on three cd’s, the following cd went back to an almost silent rip process. I have no idea why this happened, why it happened on these particular cd’s, or if this is normal, and if normal, why is it normal??? It seems a rather inconsistent normal! In each case, however, the ripping process took longer, for Kruder and Dorfmeister´s KD Sessions, one cd took 22 minutes. This is either related to the UServe or its related to the cd, i.e. could it be that some cd´s are manufactured to a less quality than others and perhaps this is why the ripping software is taking much longer to read and rip the data on the cd? Perhaps the Forum can enlighten me on this matter?
I continued to rip, listen and drink Chablis all evening until it was time for bed.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Bart

Originally Posted by GerryMcg:

Hi Mak,

Do you have a NAS to rip to, if this works OK it would, perhaps, suggest a HD error on the Unitiserve .

Gerry

Great idea; if you have a nas, establish a Store on it and try ripping to it and see what happens.

Posted on: 22 December 2012 by Mak

@ jasonf thanks for your detailed explanation!

@ gregg great idea!

i did a backup overnight (differential) and mounted a networkshare as store. Ripped some of the "problematic" cds to that share. Worked flawlessly. Out of curiosity i deleted them and ripped again to the internal hd on the us, worked also flawlessly this time. Took something around 6 mins per disc....

well, thats really weird as i did not change anything in the setup in comparison to yesterday. But i really think there has been some sort of problem with the hd yesterday, would not find another explanation for that behaviour. Strange, strange....

i will definately monitor that and drop an email to the naim support once they are back to business. Lets see what they think.

in the meantime i will stop the ripping and will concentrate on listening to the music and enjoy it

guys, thanks for the help & merry xmas!

Posted on: 23 December 2012 by Claus-Thoegersen

If you are using the Windows dtc or the new mac version, there is a ripping monitor where you may find error messages. If there are any mail them to Naim support.

Claus

Posted on: 23 December 2012 by Russ

Mak: Good luck with your US. If you don't mind an off-topic question, how are you liking the Superuniti? Have you had it also only one month and if so, how is it breaking in?

Best Regards,

Russ

Posted on: 25 December 2012 by Mak

Russ, im using the superuniti for 7 weeks now, playing quite extensively. Really loving it, got the impression it "opened" in the last 2 weeks and gets better every day. for me it was best buy, loving the sound

Posted on: 17 January 2013 by Jasonf

Hi Mak.

What was the outcome of your ripping problems?

Posted on: 18 January 2013 by Mak

Hi Jasonf,

had a chat to my dealer and was considered " normal". Dealer said, this could happen sometimes.... Also it did never happen again, all working flawlessly....

should it happen again, i will contact naim support.

Posted on: 21 January 2013 by sktn77a

Originally Posted by Mak:

had a chat to my dealer and was considered " normal". Dealer said, this could happen sometimes.... Also it did never happen again, all working flawlessly....

Don't you just love dealers who say "this is normal/common/happens sometimes" without any further explanation (cars, hi-fi, kitchen applicances.............) My HDX does the same thing - after ripping several disks, it slows down and what took 5-6 min now takes 30 min. I think it's either a heat problem (optical/hard disk spinning, CPU activity) or a buffer/stack filling up somewhere. Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge of the product or the equipment/resources to sort it out. Any my dealer is.......... well, let's not go there! For $8000 plus change, "this is normal/common/happens sometimes" ain't cutting it!