AssetUpnP 4.2 running on a QNAP

Hello Iver

I am interested to run the Asset UPnP server on a NAS, too. Unfortunately, they have a QNAP version, but not a Synology one...

So I would have to buy a new NAS first. The new silent fan-less ones from QNAP look tempting. Product comparison: HS-210 / HS-251

http://www.qnap.com/useng/comp...&pro=22027,20295

Since you already have a QNAP NAS, why don't you try it and report back?

All the different Asset Versions are upgraded to 4.3 by now:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/asset-upnp-dlna.htm

(scroll down for the installation packages)

cheers

Adrian

Hello Iver - I have nothing to add to your question, but I was just thinking again the other day how I had not noticed you on the forum lately - good to "see" you!

Hey guys,

I am currently installing and testing Asset as it runs on the QNAP. Update and results will follow later.

@Paul: Hi Paul, thanks for asking ! I am doing very well but lots of travel the last few months caused me from spending time on the forum. I also movers houses last week: I had to re-setup the Naim, but the living space is way bigger now (12m * 7m). Apparently my XS series love space, because the sound is excellent. In my previous house there was a wall directly behind the listening-position, causing sound-reflections. Now there is a few meters open space behind the listening-position and that helps: the sound seems to be a bit more relaxed and fluent. Next month I'll buy the XP5XS psu for my streamer. 

Cheers,

Iver

Hi Adrian F. 

You could run Asset on a Raspberry Pi for very little outlay. This is fanless and can easily be accommodated in a streaming setup. I have it under a dresser/sideboard along with a small switch at the side of my main HiFi components and completely separate from the various NAS units, switch, internet modem, wireless AP and UPS for them all.

Works very well, with the NAIM streamer and n-Stream.

Simon.

Hey DrMark,

... my "@Paul" was ment for you and should have been "@Mark" ... stupid me :-)

Hi Iver

I tried the beta version of this some time ago and it all worked fine. The interface wasn't as nice as the Windows version but that may just have been down to the beta version. The main issue I had was the speed of the server when using n-stream to browse. I'm using the TS-419 which is not one of the latest processors, I think Spoon (dbPoweramp guru) said the slow browsing was down to the processor. I switched back to the Windows version on my laptop.

So your results may depend on your QNAP but will be interested to hear your results, please let us know which QNAP model you test with.

ATB

Hi fJack,

This is very valuable input, thanks you ! I already had a look at the interface and it is indeed even less than the Windows interface (which by the way also doesn't "impress" with functionality and user friendliness:-)). It is now scanning the library but that takes a lot of time. I can see on the system monitor that it hits the processor quite intense. I couldn't check browsing-speed in nStream yet, but will do tomorrow. As yourself, I keep the Windows version running in parallel. Nevertheless I hope the QNAP Asset version works well (it also has the "convert to Wav in the fly"), since I could get rid of the pc. I keep posting my findings.

iver

Iver

If you find the Qnap is underpowered you could consider adding a Raspberry PI instead, I have one working well pointing at my Netgear Readnas 104, The scan took ages though on 1300 albums but it now works nice and quickly so you may find that once ths scan has finished all will be well.

Richard

Hey Anton,

Thanks for your reply. I indeed look forward to the XP5XS. I auditioned the combintaion of XP5XS/ND5XS A few times, and this is the sound I am looking for. My last upgrade were Naim Allaes that will probably stay for a very long time. I am a big XS-series fan :-)

My library composes of 5.000+ albums all carefully ripped onto Wav or Flac with lots of HighRes. I spent two years getting it right. This is no joke and not meant to scare people of, but I am 100% convinced that setting up a decent library, just tales time and concentration. For me it was also a way of relaxing after work.

The requirements I had when starting with the library is that I wanted a tool that allowed:

• Search functionality and search "anywhere"
• tagging of basic info like album, albumartist, year, genre, etc ...
• good handling of albums with different artists
• unlimited sorting and filtering
• customizable field tagging: i want to be able to define tagging-fields myself. For example, I created a field that flags whether the album is high-res or not. 
• Being able to manage Genre with multiple hierarchies. For example various sub genres like ClubJazz, BigBand, VocalJazz etc. All roll-up to Jazz
• i wanted to add more than 1 Albumart to an album
• I want to create simple reports on my collection that I can print
• the tool needs to have an iPad-version
• intelligent playlists
• automatic tracking of ommissions (i.e. I want to be informed when albumart is missing etc ....)
• etc ....

you may find me a bit weird, but I expect quite some stuff from my software :-). In the end I thought iTunes (very good tool) lacked some of the functionality. This left me choosing between JRiver and MediaMonkey. I choose the latter and use the free version. It took me a few hours to completely understand the tool, but it works very nice. The only odd thing is that MediaMonkey does not have an iPad nor iMac version which disappoint me.

i can recommend a library tool to everybody. If requirements are not to high, I'd consider iTunes. If you want to do a little extra, opt for JRiver or Mediamonkey.

hope this helps,

iver

Hi Richard,

Could tou explain a bit more on the RasberRyPi? I did some googling but do not exactly understand how it "solves" the processor capabilites of the QNAP. I have a 219PII which indeed is not the fastest on earth :-)

iver

Iver

The Raspberry PI is a small computer about the size of a large, matchbox.  It runs a stripped down version of Linux which you can install Asset onto.

Used as a dedicated media server, it can point to your library of music on your NAS drive and access it.  The Raspberry PI has ample power to do this and would take a load off your QNAP if it isn't powerful enough to run Asset adequately as the load is shared, i.e. files on the QNAP, media server running on the PI.

Richard

Hey Richard,

Chrystal Vlear !:-) .... This might be a very nice and cost-effective solution for me !! Tx for the tip. I might buy one.

iver

I've had Asset for QNAP up and running for more than a month now.  No problems other than it taking a few hours initially to recognise the whole of my nearly 3TB of FLAC files.  Download and installation from the Illustrate website was fairly simple.

Nice not to have my PC actually on when listening, and if I hadn't got it, I'd have had to download the Mac version to replace the Windows one.

Hey Dungassin,

which type of QNAP do you use ?

kindest regards,

Iver

219PII with 2 x 4TB drives in it.  Please don't ask me to go through the installation procedure.  It was all very easy apart from configuring the multimedia directory as the Asset source.  Can't remember the exact details of that except that it involved a little bit of bad language (on my part), and had to do with Linux (on the QNAP) using / rather than \  ... or was it the other way round?)

Hey Dungassin,

Thanks for you reply. I have the same 219PII and installing or maintaining it is not an issue at all. Works perfectly well, though not the fastest NAS out there.

My AssetUpnP is now running on the QNAP. I will test performance this week and let you all know my thoughts.

Iver

WARNING – QNAP HS210 and High Temperatures

Hi there, I have used a QNAP TS219PII with two 3GB WD RED disks which never ever let me down for years. Although very, very quiet I was still able to listen to the fans (neaver herad the disks) – didn't want that "noise".

Bought a new QNAP HS210 which is – as many of you know – fanless. I installed the REDs the HS210 and ran into several issues which I didn't understand in the beginning. Dropped file transfers, repeated drop outs of music and finally several all-of-a-sudden restarts of the QNAP.

Finally figured out the reason: the disks are ok to operate up to 70° C whereas the QNAP HS210 is certified only up to 40°C – during summer temperature of the HS210 (as per web status page) did go above that and the errors occurred every time :-(((.

My solution was simple – and costly – I installed two SSDs (Samsung ECO 840 1TB) – temperatures of the HS210 are well below 40°C and everything is working as supposed to be.

Your mileage may vary – especially if you have some fancy airconditioning – but the gap between 40°C and 70°C might be a tough riddle to solve...

Regards, Lorenz

As I said, it took quite some time for Asset QNAP to do an initial read of the multimedia directory on the NAS.  No idea how long it actually took, but after 2 hours when I stll couldn't access my music files via nStream, I went to bed.  Next looked at it the following afternoon,and all my music was by this time accessible.

The raspberry pi intrigues me.
Where does one purchase one and what do you have to do to get to work?

Can they be bought somewhere preconfigured to do audio duties?

I realise I may well be asking something as simple as how to play music on iPod, but I do find my QNAP is at its limit and can often slow things down to a crawl

You need the main board, i.e. the Pi, a case to put it in, a power supply and an SD card. You also need a cable to connect to your TV (HDMI).

I got mine all from Amazon. There are some kits available that save you picking the case etc. but I bought them separately. I git the clear case as it seemed well regarded and didn't skimp on the power supply as I would prefer to buy something that didn't burn my house down.

You download the software from the Raspberry website and copy it to the SD card.

The Pi just snaps into the case, you insert the SD card and attach a USB keyboard and power. Connect it tempoarily to your TV using an HDMI cable. When you power up the Pi then boots from the SD card and you need to choose the operating system. The installation is mainly automated thereon.

This gets the Pi up and running, then you need to choose some software.

If you want to use Asset, Illustrate have a guide, and Simon of this forum has also prepared a guide which is easy to find and follow.

If you are OK following instructions and have some computer literacy it's pretty straightforward and there is always this forum and the Illustrate forum to fall back on.

Richard

Thanks for that comprehensive reply I think I see what's going on now.

As it turns out I downloaded asset for my qnap nas and all my tracks have been scanned and it's working perfectly. 

Obviously spoon has done something remarkable with the implementation of this as currently I am listening to flac converted to wav I was screaming to my uniqute and sounding pretty good. 

Just playing around with the few features like dynamic browsing. 

All looking very good!

For all QNAP users out there: try MinimServer. With transcoding enabled, it is the best sounding and most flexible UPnP sever available. Rescans are fast and installation relatively straightforward, especially with the latest QNAP builds.

www.minimserver.com

MinimServer is a good UPnP server. Since it's based on Java, it's not a special QNAP App, but runs basically "everywhere" Java runs.

Obviously, QNAP has recently integrated Java and Minim in their App Center, which makes it easy to install. A few months ago, e.g. on my Synology, it took quite some time and tinkering. There's a separate MinimWatch App, to remote control the server, which is highly recomended (updates).

Has someone compared Asset vs. Minim in sound quality?