HDX "Best Match" when ripping CD's

Yes, Phil Harris, Streaming Audio Wizard Extraordinaire. You'll find him at support@naimaudio.com

(See the sticky Naim Support thread at the top of the Streaming Audio section.)

Note though that Phil, along with the rest of Naim, is on holiday this week so you may not get an immediate response.

Thanks a million to all of those who were actively working on a view what would make an even better HDX (which is already perfect today).

I sent a note to Phil and will let you know if we will get a solution for the perfect HDX database.

A current work-around, which will use the HDX ripping, is to rip as usual. Then copy & paste the files from the "Music" folder to the "download" folder. (Using Finder on a Mac or Explorer (I guess) on Windows). Then using whatever metatag editor you choose, edit the files. You can then delete the "incorrect" album from the "Music" folder on the server.

Although you'll have the album in the "downloads" folder, it will be a "full HDX" rip.

I'm now not terribly excited at the prospect of ripping all of my classical CD's (even though I only have around 50 titles) and the thought that many may be incorrectly titled......

Did you direct Phil to this thread?

Yes blythe, I did this.

I like your workaround - and will use it for some of my CDs in the interim .... until we have a final fix .

I guess that you export the WAV files into the FLAC or AIFF format as WAV doesn't accept metadata?

Ah, I haven't actual done this - it was merely a suggestion.....

Isn't there any way of adding the tags to the WAV files, or generating the "accompanying file" so that the HDX can read the tags?

(I'm imagining that Naim manages it in a way similar to described by me, with an accompanying file)

Even without the full tags, wouldn't you be able to still have the correct album title and track listing? Maybe from the downloads folder, copy into iTunes (still as WAV) rename everything in there (probably automatically), then copy the files back into "Downloads" - overwriting the originals.

With firmware 1.7a, converting to FLAC is a possibility but you can also use some software like dBPoweramp (Windows only) to tag the WAV files. See here an explanation by Simon:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...47#18320909147639347

I don't think you should mess with the XML metadata file unless you know how to create a legit API-compliant file that refers to a real entry in the AMG database (ie recreate the file for what should have been the correct album choice, had the HDX have let you choose). Having no Naim server, all I can see is the files the Naim Label provides with its downloads, and it doesn't look like its exactly compliant with the current 1.1 version (or previous 1.0 for that matter) of their published API.

I would discard the XML file so it doesn't conflict with the tags you put directly into the WAV file.

Just my 2p...

@blythe, leaving the files as they are (as WAV) would be ideal and thanks to m0omo0 for making me aware that dBpoweramp is capable to tag the "native NAIM format" (I guess that there is nothing compared to dBpoweramp that supports Mac OSX?). Anyhow, I will fire up my VMWare, giving dBpoweramp a try.

Out of curiosity, I've just tried to tag a bare WAV file with Metadatics on MacOS X. Coming out of Pro Tools, the file may have contained a few "regular" WAV tags, like "Producer" or "Encoding date" -- that are shown to me by a little piece of software called Media Inspector --, but no Artist or Title.

I tried to tag everything I could, from Artist to Title to Composer to Sort Artist to cover art and lyrics. Once saved by Metadatics, the file is unfortunately unreadable by Media Inspector, but in an hexadecimal editor I can see the ID3 tags at the end. I had asked Metadatics to use ID3v2.4, which it did correctly as shown by the TSOx tags for sorting. Every tag was written to the file, including lyrics (USLT) and cover art (APIC). I don't think the "regular" WAV tags were altered -- as I can still see the "Producer" information --, but I don't think any was added either (though I'm not sure how to verify it).

The tagged WAV file doesn't display any information in Quick Look or in iTunes: the ID3 tags are ignored. But they show up correctly in Play, which is a standalone player for MacOS X from the guy who developed Max. It works perfectly fine with my Logitech Media Server too.

Metadatics is used successfully by quite a few people here (including me, a recent convert, thanks to those who suggested its use) and it is cheap, so nothing to loose to give it a try.

HTH

Maurice

Dear all

here is the feedback from Phil (thank you very much):

"At the moment we have no plans to change the way that the servers select their “best match” but I will ensure that it is passed to our software guys for their consideration."

Regards

Oliver

Blythe, I have ripped 1800+ cd's to my Unitiserve, about 40% classical, and I would say that less than 20 were not matched properly. No need to worry!

David

Thanks for the update from Phil.

One thing I would like to point out is that in some cases, there can be no "equal weighting" to a particular CD if there is only one suggestion, as has been the case with some of my CDs.

That ONE CD is discounted.

I do hope that Phil and his software team do give some further consideration to this problem and give us the opportunity to choose a title.

Thank you David, I hope when I get to ripping my classical collection it won't turn into a nightmare!

I made another suggestion: "Maybe something for the interim: would it be possible to "open" up all metadata for editing? In that case I could add Musicians and could change something like Musiker into Bass or Tenor or whatever. That would already help a lot."

Phils reply: "It would require quite a lot of changes to be able to do that so I’ll leave it with the software team to consider for now."

So let's wait for the final decision and solution. My big "Thank You" to Phil's quick response.

@David, thanks for sharing your experience which is very different to mine. I have around 200 classical CDs and minimum 50% are not being matched properly. Additionally you might want to look into the log's; you might find out that there were even better matches that were being deselected (for whatever reason, see blythe's last comment).

The issue that I'm having is the following: a CD that is ripped w/o or with wrong metadata is like being trashed because you will not be able to find it via a search or via the metadata. This is VERY different compared to CDs you see in front of you.

Well Owenzel, perhaps I'm not being picky enough about whether a match could have been better. But the CD's are still in front of me because  the 555 remains my primary source, so I'm not too concerned at this stage. Anyway, at my age I'm much more concerned with finding time to listen, rather than whether every last detail is correct.

From trying to locate specific pieces in Spotify, I can see that there is an almost insuperable problem in being exact in this area, so I guess some compromise is inevitable.

I'd like to add my vote for opening up all metadata for editing. The ability to edit Album, Artist, Track and Genre via DTC was added in an update last year I think which covers a lot so it should be possible to extend this. When the incorrect CD is identified, the Album, Artist, Tracks and Genre can be amended but nothing else so the Performer search within nServe can be fairly pointless at times as it returns the incorrect, uneditable Performer.

For me, this is the last major functional inadequacy in the Naim software solution.

I didn't collect statistics as I was ripping my collection of approx. 1500 CDs but I would estimate around 1/4 to 1/3 have incorrect or missing metadata that I'm unable to edit. As a "nice to have" feature I'd also like to be able to add metadata, e.g. "Remixer" if possible.