Will UnitiServe add any real value?

Hi Jan

Yes he is isn't he - one of the earliest photos of him from when he was a kitten. He loves Naim as their obsession with power supplies means that the amps give out just the right amount of heat.

Unfortunately when I discussed the ever topical issue of the uServe he pulled a face and suggested that whatever it simply wasn't big enough to lounge upon, whatever its merits. So that was that.

Tog

Everybody has  their own toolbox of prerequisites for jumping into a conversation. Some of us try to confine our comments mainly to things we have hands on and/or ears on experience of, and to keep an open mind about everything else. Others have other criteria. Nothing wrong with opinion based dogma. It's just a shame when the two approaches try to score points off each other by question hearing, intelligence or professional qualifications. Bit stupid really. I think this thread is pretty tame, although there's a lot of same old about it.

I traded in my unitiserve after several issues with the power supply, I would never consider purchasing another unitiserve until it comes with a proper linear supply that works every time. I don't know what naim pays for the supply, but it ain't gonna be a lot. On a unit costing over 2k retail is madness.

Surely naim could offer an upgrade to a napsc style case/supply that I am sure many would buy.

It's built to a cost point and as it's basically a small computer with a decent digital output you could reason that all it needs is a pretty standard switching brick that most computers come with. As you say (and given the results owners get with 3rd party linear supplies) perhaps it's time Naim offered this as an option. 

I think we can assume the psu in the u-Serve can do with upgrading.

Jason.

We all have our preferences based on our particular needs. My and many others experience with the u-Serve here have been very positive and will advocate its merits to other forum members.

The difference between accepting when one forum members preference don't match yours and running around on a bizarre trajectory, grabbing onto any thread that is remotely relevant and undertaking a repeating self-promoting mantra,  whilst at the same time including thinly veiled digs at other methods of system replay in those posts....is at best irritating and at worse arrogant. Rather  like me jumping on a mac/mini thread and saying how delusional one must be to own one...I mean how arrogant would you think I?

I think one needs to take a step back, take a deep breath and concentrate on the music rather than who's got the best toys in the playground, before the ulcers set in.

Jason.

Jason,

Sorry if sounds like a rant, it probably is, just want to let prospective purchasers know the pitfalls of unitiserve. I liked what the serve does when it works. When you pay good money and have constant problems it does not sit well with me, hence I would not buy another until this issue with supplies it sorted.

Financially I am out of pocket for my decision, but I can now get on and play music without trying to figure out why it broke again.

Naim telling people to go to HDX for a better supply is in my opinion quite shameful from a company that prides itself on quality and customer relations.

Rant over.

My first venture into the world of 'rip/store/serve' was around 4/5 yrs back...with a Mac Mini, fed by Toslink into a Cyrus system (Dac X, tuner, amp. phonostage), playing into Dynaudio Focus 110's......still all in regular use (in the study) and working flawlessly....sounds good..

Around 3 yrs ago I then added a 'server' to my main (Naim) system, and I considered the Mac Mini (in black of course), however went with the UServe, (which was relatively new then). The UServe has worked very well, no PSU issues, although for reasons unknown to me Naim did replace the original psu with a slightly different new one when it went in for a fairly recent 2TB upgrade.

Out of curiosity/expectation, earlier this week I ordered an upgrade PSU from you know who, and will see if it improves the sound..Overall, love the UServe.....looks good and sounds very good...

So no issues with either 'server' solution, a question of choice really....

Jason - no need to be so defensive.

We discussed (and argued) over the merits /cost of the uServe in threads back in 2010/11 in what was quite a good natured way - forum members didn't seem to be so irritable back then.

There is no doubt that just as many find the uServe admirable others find it lacking - just the way it is I'm afraid.

Tog 

Aside from hardware concerns (ps) and upgrades in that department I have found it crucial to think about the way you organise hard drive storage. I own the SSD variant and what I mean by this is that in summer 2012 I had a major problem with the US - it would not scan recent additions -"service 2911 error". The whole library was thrown into disarray and was un-playable.

Fortunately I live in Salisbury so I dropped it in so that the helpful Phil Jones could have a look - despite his efforts and consulting the tech people the problem was put down to metadata issues but no solution was given (although the tech people I understand took their data for future software releases).  

I finally after weeks of searching found the offending album and file but could not see what the metadata issue was for the life of me - - looked perfectly normal to me.

Having done that I re-organised the NAS. Due to the number of rips I now have a Rips 2 folder. Downloaded music is broken down and saved to 9 music folders and HD tracks saved to their own folder. The music folders hold no more than 200 -250 albums each. This allows speedier updates and if I save a rogue file it does not throw the whole system into a wobbly as only one folder is affected.

Some will no doubt say the above is obvious but no instruction or guidance is given on the subject in the instructions. Since the  re-structuring I have not encountered any further problems so if you have not considered the organisation of the hard drive - you might want to!

I use the same power supply for my Unitiserve. I have no problems with it but never did any double blind testing so I will not state that it is wildly better. I did double blind testing for this brand of DAC against the NDX and the NDAC and that was an astonishing difference. 

Xsquid - that is some very useful information.

I have been wondering about organizing my rips. At the moment I have a Qnap NAS with 2 x 2TB drives in a mirror array and then the relevant folders are backed up every night to another 2TB esata drive.

At present I have one shared folder with downloads on it (100 albums) and another folder with all my rips (1130 albums) and use this as a music store. When the unitiserve needs to be rebooted it does take a long time to scan and index the music store. I was thinking about creating a new music store and making the other one just a share.

After your experience it would seem to make sense.

By the way have you or others experienced the phenomenon of negative up time? My unit suddenly started to display the up time as a negative value after about 29 days and kept counting down. The system clock was fine and accurate. I'm keeping an eye on it this time and see if it happens again.

Tim

Hi Tim,

I have the hdd model, so the Store is on the internal hdd.  I'm surprised that rebooting the uServe leads to a long scan of anything.  The Share on my nas is instantly available upon reboot, as is the internal Store.  I wonder if something is amiss!

The PSU arrived today (managing to avoid the normally overzealous Customs folks), so I will do some SQ comparisons vs the US psu......interesting comments on the DAC, I am considering getting an NDX to feed into my NDAC/555PS...something else to think about...

In favour of ?

Jason my old friend, it rather seems the other way around, i.e. you feeling the need to justify your purchase of the SU . I assure you, many of us who are pointing out the week spots of the US are very happy with our choices. 

A bit of background info, the debate on Naim rips sounding better than other bit perfect rips preceded your joining date. And what lengthy debate it was!

I think this is a good opportunity to address some general misconceptions:

The point regarding versatility is debatable, really. Until recently it only provided WAV rips in a way that only Naim streamers and servers could read. To be fair it still does, none of the metadata will show up in other environments. In fairness, it got better in that regard, now that it also offers FLAC and mp3 options.

Regarding "best sounding audio files possible", well that's the point really, isn't it. Any bit perfect lossless file, ripped using XLD, dbPoweramp or the likes will sound equally good to most people on most people's systems. The report you allude to is irrelevant, it just comes curtesy of the ripping software. You don't have to look at it, I don't. The rips are bit perfect anyways, same as on the US.

There is no difference really. Bottom line, the US is nothing but a PC in a pretty casing. And it does break down, just like any other old PC or hard drive. There were many reports of people getting frustrated with their US, having to ship it back to Naim, swapping it, chucking it in, the lot. Maybe not so many reports now but these customers still exist, for sure. It comes with the territory.

Thing is, it doesn't take much to rip a CD on a PC or Mac, easy as pie. Downloading a UPnP server like Asset? Same again, couldn't be any easier. There are even plug and play boxes such as RipNas or ZoneRipper, etc. that do same job as the US but for less than half the price. 

At the end of the day everyone will have to make up his or her own mind. However, what's important is that when people do ask about the value the US provides that they understand that they can achieve what the US does for a fraction of the cost without any loss in SQ to worry about.

Linn do pretty high end gear on the streaming side. They recommend RipNas as a perfect audio ripping solution even for their top of the range Klimax system. No issues there. 

My own view is that, unless the money side doesn't really impact buying decisions, most people would be far better off doing the ripping themselves and investing the extra cash in a better streamer, DAC, PSU or amp. On the whole you'll achieve better sound quality from your system that way. The US can't make up for what the streamer, DAC or pre doesn't provide.

A wise man once said: It's the DAC and what comes after in the replay chain that matters the most - provided of course we are talking about bit perfect rips in a lossless format. 

That's it really. But anyone who does decide to buy a US? Great choice too. I am sure it does a good job of ripping those CDs. Naim's UPnP server software is top class and it looks pretty too. 

In the end, the world is a big enough place for all solutions to coexist amongst each other happily and in peace 

With that in mind, over and out!

Cheers!

Thank you Lumos for the interesting write up.

Jan

The TP-PSU is now installed....I did some comparisons with the US psu..

FYI, I run my US directly into a NDac/555PS DR, via bnc (better than Toslink), listening to both internet radio and ripped/stored music.

Initial impression, the TP-PSU really does seem to make a difference...more life/energy, bass is tighter, sound is clearer, in comparison the US psu sound seems muddy, with the T-PSU the sound is more  lively but not in yr face...

So thanks HH for the recommendation...

Enjoying the music,  however the S'Cap2 goes to the dealer tomorrow to be DR'd...should be back in a week though...

Thinking about getting an NDX, will it be better than the US wired directly to the NDac....

The ('new') SL2s are not installed yet...so more to look forward to...

Have a good weekend

One of the many definitions for forum - A medium for open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper, a radio or television program, or a website.

Doesn't say anywhere that you have to agree with the discussion or ideas ....

Tog

If you were in a bar that sold only beer made by a particular brewery you would expect that the conversation would often involve the merits of other drinks. Indeed, someone might disagree with your choice of drink and suggest alternatives even if you want to talk about the virtues of your pint. 

Of course the stakes are higher here because the drinks in question cost rather more than your average beverage which I suspect is why people often get rather defensive of their choice. Forums like this one, rather like bars, are not helplines or wikipedia but exist both as a meeting place and marketing exercise for the company producing the product. 

At the bar, you can ask a question but don't expect a straightforward answer. 

You could always sit on your own in a corner but where is the fun in that?

Tog

That's great. I'm so pleased it has made a positive difference. The improvement is, I feel, very good value, and it's interesting how more and more people are getting them to power their unitiserves. I had a couple of emails this week from people about to order them.

You'd think that Naim would supply a tweaked napsc for the job, or maybe they just accept that this power supply is better than a napsc could be - a sort of official unofficial upgrade.