Replace HDX?

This post should probably have gone into Streaming Music... sorry.

I can certainly give a very positive response on the NDX,  I wanted to re discover the musicality I lost when I moved from CDX2 to Uniti

the NDX has certainly done that for me - I use QNAP as the NAS rip to FLAC losses use dBpoweramp which is a great programme - assuming the HDX is backed up you can transfer files on to NAS

but lots of forum members will have experiences - but this certainly works for me and my ears NDX, 202 & 200

On the basis you have the backend server in place surely considerations for some qutes? Will the new muso thingy read from hdx?

The HDX is an SSD version, so there's no music on it - it just rips to, and reads from, my NAS. 

Qutes, or any other kind of streamer, can play the same files from the same NAS so what is the HDX adding to the equation? 

It would be a different story if the HDX and the Qutes could play the same music simultaneously but (unless I'm missing something) that's not the case.

An NDX, by contrast, will play along simultaneously with the Qutes, so that's a step-up from the HDX except that the secondary locations will only play 320kBs, not the same hi def or CD quality as the primary source.

Hence my query.  If I really want a multi-room solution, and I'm not going with NaimNet, what is the HDX bringing to the table?  I'd be better with an NDX and Qutes, or just Sonos + Naim DAC and amps in all my locations

For my money which I don't have I would have the HDX into a dac in the main room. I understand you have a nas but really in terms of the solution, HDXs ability to scrape music from the entire LAN and present it as one library that the qutes will reliably work with is really quite good.

But I also get your point you can get that done cheaply with sonos. I cannot comment on sonos as I have never heard it.

I suppose it comes down to resale value of the HDX, also if you have the ability to check how that NAS will work with the naim streamers.

If Sonos lights your candle Endless, sell the HDX,  but if your 'one day' dreams include Naim streamers doing multiroom or even serious listening, then "hang on to your HDX" would be my recommendation. 

An HDX has been the cornerstone of my system for most of the time since its 2008 launch, except for a six month spell with a Unitiserve (bad decision - bought another HDX to replace it).

Sonus for me was a boat that never floated, but if it does it's stuff for you (and it seems it does), then fleabay be it for the HDX - you'll make someone happy for sure 

Thanks rj. 

When you say the HDX is the "cornerstone of your system" do you mean a local system or a multi-room one, and if the latter how do you use the HDX for multi-room?

To say that Sonos "lights my candle" is going too far.  All I can say is that, for the time being , it does the multi-room job better than anyone, including Naim.  For all its compromises, Sonos gives me CD quality in several rooms simultaneously, with a user-friendly control interface and easy access to services like Qobuz, and I can solve its shortcomings by adding better-quality DACs and/or amplifiers. 

My dream definitely does include multi-room streaming, in CD quality and better, and I have the fully-wired house to do it.  I just need the kit that will deliver it in the easy way that Sonos does, and with the access to services like Qobuz that Sonos provides.  If Naim could give me that alongside its great DACs, amplifiers, etc then nothing would please me more.

I suggested replacing the HDX with an NDX because an NDX would at least play along simultaneously with satellite Qutes, albeit only at 320.  The HDX won't do that except as part of a NaimNet system and I have dismissed that idea.  (I have posted separately on the subject of NaimNet and I think you commented at the time).  If the HDX is going to have a role in multi-room, it must somehow be integrated with the streamers so that they can both play the same thing simultaneously, and nServe must somehow be integrated with nStream so that one app can control both server and clients.  Is that about to happen?  If so I'll hang on to my hat.

I no longer really need the CD-ripping capability of the HDX and think my future is more likely to be streaming from sites like Qobuz with occasional downloads.  Nevertheless, I'm reluctant to get rid of the HDX without thinking it through and gathering opinion, which is why I posted.  You seem convinced that the server capability of the HDX is worth hanging on to for future multi-room possibilities and I'd be very interested to hear how you think that will pan out. 

Does the mutliroom music need to be exactly in-sync? If I decide to not use multiroom mode I can start the same music in separate locations at almost the same time and have them both at the ripped quality rather than 320kbps. My two devices are not within earshot of each other so it's not an essential for absolute sync.

I can even get it in sync by using two iPad minis. By turning the remote location volume up I can hear them both playing at the same time right now.

The playback needs to be simultaneous.  I have a large ground floor and I like to have music playing in three different locations so that I can hear it wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, without having to have the volume too high in any one location. 

Ok. I'm not that 'up to speed' with other methods or manufacturers' solutions but my first thought would be to link open-plan stereo pairs using daisy-chainable mono amps. Naim don't do those. I would however question the need for quality audio above 320k as you will be getting all sorts of delayed sounds from adjacent areas. It's non critical listening after all 

I'm sure there's a clever way to crack this though.

Hi Endless,

I use my NS01 > Bel Canto 3.5 dac > Main System

It rips to my NAS.

I also use a SONOS for streaming Qobuz.

SONOS > Bel Canto 3.5 dac > Main System

If I was going to go for multi-room I would extend my SONOS solution; but, I would retain the NS01, it is much better than the SONOS, even through the Bel Canto.

M

Hi Endless, should've got back sooner, sorry.  I personally don't multiroom - I have an NDS which doesn't do that and a Qute 1 which also doesn't.  However, I just set up a customer with a Uniti 2, UnitiLite and a UnitiQute2 all served from  Unitiserv (but of course that could be an HDX) - she uses multiroom, it's a big house, but it all plays in sync very nicely... and the beauty of it is that she has a very high quality music system in each of her rooms.  The streamers are all connected together using Powerlines - not ideal, but it's an old house and network hard wiring just wasn't an option unfortunately.  i-pad access (n-stream) is provided all over the house with an Airport Extreme - that's almost all it does except handle internet access and IP address (DHCP) serving.

Oh, and don't write off CD ripping just yet, while there are car boot sales, there will be CDs to be ripped !

An HDX keeps your options open, in fact mine was brought back to analogue replay life recenty when my NDS went home to Salisbury for a short holiday (I say short?? 3 weeks).

Thanks rj. 

Are you saying that the UnitiServe will play in sync with the Qute in the system you describe, and that I could have the same with an HDX and a Qute?  I have never understood that to be the case but brilliant if it is.  I always understood that you needed Netstreams / NaimNet to get an HDX to play along with anything else which was why I was wondering whether I had bought the wrong box.

It's interesting that when you go to the Naim Audio site and look at the product features for the UnitiServe and the HDX, the UnitiServe gives you a suggested "multi-room" system with a Qute etc but you don't get the same suggestion for the HDX.

There presently* exists no option by which a Naim server's audio output can be synchronized with another room, full stop, unless one uses non-Naim products to distribute the audio (e.g., Sonos). This was one of the most-asked-for features on the Naim server family.

One may use two (or more) StreamNet end points (one of which functions as the proxy "master") at 16-bit / 44.1 kHz, or, two (up to four?) Uniti-typed end points (again, one of which functions as the master, 3.22 firmware, etc.), with the signal transcoded to 320kbps MP3.

In the Linn realm, things function similarly (no server + synchronized endpoint), though there are effectively multiple proxy masters (end points) at higher sample rates / 24-bit, with two different types of master (unicast OHU, or multicast OHZ, which requires better switching) and full synchronization....

* - not a hardware but a software constraint

+1 to what Dave says, Endless - the HDX (and the U/serve) serves music to the streamers and doesn't participate in the multiroom as an analogue audio source.  So, no, I wasn't saying that, unfortunately.