NAS Compatibility and choice for NaimUniti
Posted by: dimmockg on 28 February 2011
had previous "flirts" with hifi (cyrus,bel-canto), change in circumstance meant i had to "off-load" Two weeks ago after much research and previous listening to one-box solutions i've placed and order for a NaimUniti and Neat Motive 2 se's - simply cannot wait! (2 more weeks unti eta). I've now got the dilema of choosing ripping software and a NAS, here are my thoughts and options which i feel suit me best....
1) CD's will be ripped using CDPoweramp (flac), onto a PC and then transferred to the NAS - the PC would therefore hold one part of the back up, i also have a seperate external drive which i'll also use to back up files, so music files will be on the PC, NAS & external HDD
2) No integration is required with Itunes at all, as there will be a completely seperate library for this - Itunes is only used for my iphone (small library)
3) The Uniti will be wired to router/Nas - i understand this is likely to avoid drops?
My questions are...
1) Is DBPoweramp the "best" and "easiest" ripper for FLAC? - i'm talking overall use/set up
Are either of the following NAS drives suitable (NAS needs UpNp)
Synology DS110j or QNAP TS-110 (i think both are essentially the same)
Or are there "better" NAS drives or options available
Many thanks all
Ripping is highly personal and contentious but CDPoweramp is an excellent choice on the PC
QNAP and DS110j are good choices but since you are using CDPoweramp why not go for an AssetNAS with Asset UPnP from the same good people.
Tog
Unfortunately my budget for the NAS is fairly limited - probably around £250 max to include a 1tb drive and any other required software
cheers
I'm excited for you with the imminent arrival of your Uniti. I love mine. I think you're right going for a wired approach, it's definitely more reliable.
For ripping software, the two that are most often cited amongst those who are serious about their music are dbpoweramp, and EAC (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/).
I use dbpoweramp, and it works very well. It's also a full featured product, so there isn't much you won't be able to do with it. EAC is free, but I have no experience of it. However it regularly gets good reviews.
My opinion is that I would definitely stick with flac rather than wav, for the key reason that in general, wav files don't allow you to store metadata (like track names, album art etc) as part of the file. Once you start getting into digital music more, and as the technology matures, there will be more occasions when you want to play your music on other devices. Flac is widely compatible, apart from with itunes.
As you correctly pointed out though, dbpoweramp will allow you to save to pretty much whatever format you want. You can also convert between formats easily, which can be useful if for example you want to make some small, lossy (e.g. mp3, wma, AAC) copies of your flacs for use on your phone, or in your car. Just remember though that if you start converting from lossy formats to another lossy format, you will lose some quality each time.
Some people on this forum and on many other forums may have a different view, but 9 times out of 10 it comes down to whether they have a PC or Mac based computer network.
I think you're definitely going in the right direction
Tom
still not got a NAS drive, but will deffo be getting one this week, in view of starting the ripping of CD's next weekend. I now want to rip the discs in my laptop drive (only available drive) but point the rip files to the NAS - i aim to have the NAS wired to the Laptop via ethernet when this is done. So laptop will only be used for ripping of cd's and data transfer to NAS drive. I then aim to use my 1TB external HD via USB or Ethernet as a backup for the NAS. I've also decided on giving EAC a go as it's free and deffo ripping to FLAC
think thats everything covered?
In my experience rip to your laptop first then copy the files to your nas, although you could reasonably rip straight to the nas it does not always work out.
Thanks
And yes that is true, it is every bit as good as iTunes, dbPowerAmp, EAC, XLD and others.
If you're rippling to AIFF, ALAC or WAV they all produce the same music data in the files.
If you want to rip to FLAC then avoid iTunes because it won't do it.
The only difference could be with error correction.
The first error correction uses a combination of redundant information and special data positioning, to detect and recover missing bits of data. So your CD drive should reconstruct missing data from these data.
When this doesn't work then your ripper will guess. Suppose your CD has the values 400, 525, 650, 825, 1100, but it's scratched so your CD drive can only extract 400, 525, 650, ___, 1100. The ripper can guess the missing value - it'll probably guess 875 as this is half way between 650 and 1100. It is close enough so you won't notice. as it is one of thousands of values being played to your ears each second. The quality of these guesses varies, but I'm far from convinced anybody could hear the difference. I most certainly cannot.
It is different if you were ripping to MP3 as this chucks stuff away and reportedly iTunes does not do this as well as some of the other rippers, but you're not going to use MP3 or any other lossy format.
If you add 2+3 on a cheap calculator you'll still get 5 unless it is broken - none of these products are broken, but some do have more features and are easier to use than others.
The Naim UnitiServe is an excellent product with support second to none and will rip CDs as well as anything on the market. It also has a super S/PDIF interface if you wish to use it.
That said, what you are proposing will work just fine - both of your NAS choices are for good products and you've chosen good software - so you should have no worries.
Digital audio is very different from buying the best gunpowder.
All the best, Guy
Thanks
My money would (and did) go on a ReadyNAS as a small NAS drive ... works very well.
Phil
Tog
Are NAS with ssd storage coming up with reasonable prices? Are they starting to make sense?
No and No.
SSD makes no sense in a NAS, and probably never will.
If you are buying a nas get something like a QNAP TS410 and stick 4 1.5tb drives in it, all for less than 400 quid giving you RAID 5 and 4.5tb of usable space.
Avoid drobo like the turgid plague it is.
Hi,
I have a RipNAS in use for my UnitiQute and it works fine. It supports all kind of file formats including transcoding on the fly if needed. Album art is supported too.
rgds
AKa
It's payday this week, so I'm setting a budget of around £150 for nas and 1tb drive, what could be had for that? Which would be good/easy to set up use and run simply out of the box? Ideally without the need for loads of tweaking and installing stuff on pc or nas. I'm deffo using exact audio copy and FLAC files
Cheers all
still (i know) not got a NAS sorted, would either of these be a good choice?
1st: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk...-live/specifications
So, I just want to confirm you were happy to spend what £1500 on a streamer but want to spend 100 quid on the device that serves that streamer?
streaming wasnt the sole reason for the purchase of the uniti, the sound, audio options, convenience etc all were. I would like to dabble with a NAS, who knows i may only rip 1/4 of my cd's to it but fancy giving it a go without huge expense.
OK but your minimum expense for a NAS that will do what you want, with drives is £300 quid, not £100. £100 buys you a cheap device with an ethernet socket. You will buy it then complain the uniti does not work.
OK but your minimum expense for a NAS that will do what you want, with drives is £300 quid, not £100. £100 buys you a cheap device with an ethernet socket. You will buy it then complain the uniti does not work.
care to elaborate on this? i dont need raid as everything is ripped to laptop or pc first (1st back up) so long as the NAS has a USB port i can then use a further external HD as a 2nd backup. The NAS will be wired into the router, along with the uniti, i only need or require 1tb of storage as well
For a uniti what I assume you want is something that will deliver UPNP. If your intention is just storage for a PC then a NAS is pointless, if the PC has to be on to deliver UPNP then you may as well attach a USB HD to it..
Get a decent NAS, which delivers UPNP. Ensure you have Future storage so you are not spending twice. Also a NAS is in essence a mini computer. If its 100 quid with a drive then its a shit computer. It will be slow. When deciding on a NAS check out its processor and RAM. Check out its services and spec. Don't buy purely on price.
I have been there and it did not work out. I have not spent millions. I spent in the end around 400 quid for 4.5tb of storage with single drive failure and the NAS is reasonably specced for the money. If you are going to go for a two bay job then youc an probably bring it in for around £200. Again I recommend QNAP because thats what I know, and I don't recommend Drobo, because again its my experience.
dimmockg,
Your situation sounds exactly like mine.
Did you finally decide and get your NAS? Which one and did you have any issues?
However, I am or should be getting something by around the first week in feb. At the moment I'm looking at readynas duo or buffalo link station duo
But no firm decision made as I can't make my mind up
It's payday this week, so I'm setting a budget of around £150 for nas and 1tb drive, what could be had for that? Which would be good/easy to set up use and run simply out of the box? Ideally without the need for loads of tweaking and installing stuff on pc or nas. I'm deffo using exact audio copy and FLAC files
Cheers all
try this