music skips when streaming off a NAS (new user)

Posted by: rafota on 09 December 2013

I would love some help with the following issue on my brand new unitilite. I could not find related help (only one user with a related issue on UnitiQute but no conclusive solution) on the forum but please point me to existing threads if help is out there.

 

When playing music using the UPnP protocol (whether activated by the remote or nStream), music will frequently and unpredictibly skips. Sometimes, there are no problems but for now I have not been able to detect a pattern. Our set-up is that Unitilite picks up the music wirelessly from a QNAP TS212, which is itself hard wired to our router, an AirPort Extreme. I really really want to sort this out, and Naim must have solutions for this, as streaming ability is a selling point for Uniti products.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 09 December 2013 by mutterback

Could be the wireless network.  Is there any way you could wire your UnitiLite via ethernet (also through the router)?  Even if its just temporary to test it, that could prove that wireless is the issue.

 

Are the tracks skipping hi-res or standard cd rips? 

Posted on: 09 December 2013 by rafota
hi Mutterback
 
The tracks are encoded in ALAC (Apple LossLess) format, so hi-res. I actually had checked the music when the Unitilite is plugged in to the router with a wire. In that case, no skipping. But yet, how come my Panasonic TV can read high volume Netflix movies wirelessly without a single problem if my wireless network had a problem? It does not make sense to me, (we use  2 year old Airport Extreme). So I am inclined to think the problem is with the Unitilite / nStream / QNAP set up. Any idea?
 
 
 
Originally Posted by mutterback:

Could be the wireless network.  Is there any way you could wire your UnitiLite via ethernet (also through the router)?  Even if its just temporary to test it, that could prove that wireless is the issue.

 

Are the tracks skipping hi-res or standard cd rips? 

 

Posted on: 09 December 2013 by osprey

The consensus in this forum quite likely will be that the reason is the wireless connection used. Although Naim sell these equipments as wireless they do not actually seem to recommend that. So it can be said that the fault in your case is the UnitiLite (unfortunately the only cure is to get a wired conncection). 

Posted on: 09 December 2013 by mutterback
Originally Posted by rafota:
hi Mutterback
 
The tracks are encoded in ALAC (Apple LossLess) format, so hi-res. I actually had checked the music when the Unitilite is plugged in to the router with a wire. In that case, no skipping. But yet, how come my Panasonic TV can read high volume Netflix movies wirelessly without a single problem if my wireless network had a problem? It does not make sense to me, (we use  2 year old Airport Extreme). So I am inclined to think the problem is with the Unitilite / nStream / QNAP set up. Any idea?
 
 
 
Originally Posted by mutterback:

Could be the wireless network.  Is there any way you could wire your UnitiLite via ethernet (also through the router)?  Even if its just temporary to test it, that could prove that wireless is the issue.

 

Are the tracks skipping hi-res or standard cd rips? 

 

+1 to Osprey. Everyone's experience points to the wireless network. ALAC is what I'd consider standard resolution (full resolution from a CD, but not above that.)  I think you need a wired connection, or try moving around your base station around a bit. Cement and brick walls, microwaves, all kinds of things can mess up a wireless network. If wires are tough to reach to where you want the Uniti - and I know they can be - you can get an airport express and use it to amplify the network signal, or - better - act as a bridge to the wireless network and plug an ethernet cable from the airport into your uniti. 

 

The next thing I could think of is the QNAP drive, if its *very* fragmented, or has some errors on it. Or, if you have something else heavy running on it, like a backup - apple time machine for example. The disk may not be sending a steady stream. I'm not familiar with QNAP software, but see if there is a disk cleanup utility you can run (back up first!)

 

Netflix isn't a great comparison, as it does a number of things to manage the connection - it buffers it, storing the next X minutes or seconds locally on your TVs memory or drive, and constantly dials the quality up and down to keep the playback consistent.

 

 

Posted on: 09 December 2013 by rafota
Actually I was able to test the hypothesis under which the QNAP nas could be somehow responsible for the skipping. My panasonic TV is also compatible with the UPnP protocole: I connected it wirelessly to the QNAP, and played the same album side by side with the Unitilite: the Panasonic TV did not skip once. And it is located close to the Unitilite. It leads me to think that the Unitilite wifi receiver is responsible.
With that in mind I will see what my dealer says about that, and whether a good wifi dongle connected to the Unitilite would help. Or the wifi receiver on the Unitilite might be defective.
 
 
 
 
 
Originally Posted by rafota:
hi Mutterback
 
The tracks are encoded in ALAC (Apple LossLess) format, so hi-res. I actually had checked the music when the Unitilite is plugged in to the router with a wire. In that case, no skipping. But yet, how come my Panasonic TV can read high volume Netflix movies wirelessly without a single problem if my wireless network had a problem? It does not make sense to me, (we use  2 year old Airport Extreme). So I am inclined to think the problem is with the Unitilite / nStream / QNAP set up. Any idea?
 
 
 
Originally Posted by mutterback:

Could be the wireless network.  Is there any way you could wire your UnitiLite via ethernet (also through the router)?  Even if its just temporary to test it, that could prove that wireless is the issue.

 

Are the tracks skipping hi-res or standard cd rips? 

 

+1 to Osprey. Everyone's experience points to the wireless network. ALAC is what I'd consider standard resolution (full resolution from a CD, but not above that.)  I think you need a wired connection, or try moving around your base station around a bit. Cement and brick walls, microwaves, all kinds of things can mess up a wireless network. If wires are tough to reach to where you want the Uniti - and I know they can be - you can get an airport express and use it to amplify the network signal, or - better - act as a bridge to the wireless network and plug an ethernet cable from the airport into your uniti. 

 

The next thing I could think of is the QNAP drive, if its *very* fragmented, or has some errors on it. Or, if you have something else heavy running on it, like a backup - apple time machine for example. The disk may not be sending a steady stream. I'm not familiar with QNAP software, but see if there is a disk cleanup utility you can run (back up first!)

 

Netflix isn't a great comparison, as it does a number of things to manage the connection - it buffers it, storing the next X minutes or seconds locally on your TVs memory or drive, and constantly dials the quality up and down to keep the playback consistent.