NDS USB input

I believe the NDS USB port only supports flash drives.

If your goal is streaming Spotify from an iPad, then I can confidently recommend this Bluetooth solution:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...22#26768146343816122

ATB.

Hook

So far as I remember, Hook has nailed it. I don't think the NDS USB port will accept anything other than USB drives.

( Great new avatar Harry ! )

Here is the answer, chapter and verse.

Thank you and thank you.

Coolavatars net. 

So I can't connect the iPad to the NDS and this is the reason I can't use it to play Spotify. Sigh :-(

I can contine to use iPad - Airplay - Apple TV - optical, if I'm not bothered about the lower sound quality, but I was expecting better sound quality if I bought an NDS, if I'm honest!

Alternatively, I could install Asset (on the laptop?) and use Spotify, as long as the laptop is on. Presumably, control is achieved from the computer. 

Are there any phones or iTouch alternatives that do work with the NDS? I assume there must be for the manual to be correct?

Keith

No it's not, it's crap. Really annoying jiggling about on the screen.

Ah well.......

Come on, Nigel... On the contrary, I found the slow movement unobtrusive and easy to forget about (for a time, at least). And it was saying something very true about Harry: he can't help helping. As you do.

I wasn't having a dig at Harry in any way, just that horrid avatar. I see that calm has now resumed, and for that I am grateful.

Of course !

Someone on the forum has -- or used to have -- an animated avatar with a black wandering bug on a white background. How many times I tried to kill it on my screen !

Hi Harry,

i had no problem with the animated Avatar, but the new one is cool too, not least because I was there when you took it - a very enjoyable day in Salisbury 

Keith

Meanwhile, back on topic...

The NDS manual talks about players, phones and tablets which are Universal Mass Storage Devices (UMS). Does anyone know of such a thing and are there any which have a Spotify app? 

I don't really want to give up on this as it feels very wrong to spend so much money upgrading to a product which lacks functionality which I use all very frequently.

Keith

Thanks Keith. I am sorry to have accidently made your topic go banana shaped.

No offence taken from you Nigel and no offense or inconvenience intended to you or anybody.

Sorry I can't answer your subsequent question Keith. My BB Bold will present itself as a USB storage device  when I dock it to the PC but I'm sure it couldn't interface with an NDS or run any services to it.

I hope your logos don't acquire a blue tint!

Hi Keith -

The NDS's USB port will not do what you want it to do.  If you go to the Wikipedia page for the UMS device class, you'll find:

"...The USB mass storage device class, otherwise known as USB MSC or UMS, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two. To the host device, the USB device appears similar to an external hard drive...".

In other words, the NDS can only deal with things that look like hard drives (e.g., USB flash drives).

If you are having problems with Airplay dropouts, or if you would like to avoid having your ATV upsample everything to 48kHz, then you could use an Airport Express or a Bluetooth music receiver instead.  Both should allow Spotify's 320kbps stream to be passed unmolested to the NDS (and should result in slightly better sound quality). This is pretty much all you would gain by moving to a direct USB connection anyway. In fact, it could be argued that, unless Naim put the same effort into the NDS's USB connection as they did with the DAC-V1's, then a directly-connected device could actually inject a lot of noise, and sound quality would suffer. Come to think of it, I think that's exactly what Phil Harris is suggesting (in the link posted By m0omo0 above).

If you use Spotify a lot, I do think you would be happier with an AE, or even better if dropouts are a problem, a Bluetooth music receiver. Mine was very inexpensive, and continues to work perfectly.  The sound quality is as good as a 320kbps stream can be. For me, it's plenty good enough for trying out new music, but not good enough to be my primary source.  That could all change if Qobuz expands to this side of the Atlantic though!

ATB.

Hook

Hi, Keith,

I think the possibility aspect has been put to rest.  I can only add that I have tried the USB tether to the Naim DAC and found that worked well.  However, I think dedicating a Mac Mini or using other capable devices (AE, Apple TV, TiVo, Squeezebox Touch!! etc.) is preferable anyway, as it frees the iDevice from the tether.  It is possible the sound is better, too.

The Naim ND players are all excellent, but I have shied away, so far, because Spotify is important in our home, and its UI is not yet well enough integrated into the Naim ecosystem (Nstream, Nserve) to sell it to my userbase.  Work arounds are OK with me, but fail with the family.

If I had already made the NDS commitment, I would pause to savor that particular joy, then plug one of the above devices into it and enjoy.

Good luck.  Firmware is Hope.

Nick

Thanks chaps for taking the time and trouble, it's greatly appreciated.

i think the Arcam rBlink Bluetooth jobby could be the way to go. Hopefully, the sound will be ok. To be fair, my experience with wireless iPad streaming has been with the Apple TV (resamples) and a long and cheap Toslink cable.

I have given up on a UMS portable as they don't appear exist so it's Bluetooth rather than Henstooth

Keith

Further research reveals a problem with Bluetooth.

In its standard form, it's limited to to 128kps. There is better version called APT-X which does handle Spotify's 320kps files unmolested. This is supported by the Arcam rBlink but not by Apple portables. For this you either need a dongle on the iPad or different tablet such as the Samsung Galaxy Note, but this an Android device so no nStream. 

Keith

Keith,

I had forgotten that Spotify is not an app on Apple TV.  Roku appears to be an option.  I have no experience with it.  TiVo has the app, as does Macintosh, Windows, and other vendors listed on the Spotify site.  Sonos is an option, but sounds obviously inferior, to me.  (I understand after-market mods narrow or eliminate the gap.) 

A very old Mac Mini through a USB to SPDIF bridge would not be much more costly than a lot of these alternatives, and would give you a full-fat Spotify experience.  

The down side to headless computers is they constantly hold you up with prompts needing clearing before music can proceed.  

I wish somebody like Naim would buy the rights to re-issue the Squeezebox Touch.  Its only down side, currently, is it is discontinued and support may fade away.

No perfect answers anywhere, today, I am afraid.

I love Bluetooth, by the way, especially by the campfire, playing Neil Young from my iPhone.  Clever, and satisfying!  In the home, unless you are renting month-to-month, wiring is the only way to go, IMHO, except for remote controls.  (I am not meaning to assert that Bluetooth isn't amazingly good, only that wired is better, and less variable.)

Nick

Thanks Nick,

Roku looks interesting. I will continue my research.

Cheers,

Keith