Moving digital files

You're only moving files, no conversions involved so no degradation in sound quality. 

If the original files were ripped by the UnitiServe, you cannot add them to the MQ folder on another UnitiServe (with hard drive) yourself. This is because the MQ folder is not writable. Naim will need to log into your system and do it for you. You can copy to the Downloads folder yourself though. There will in either case be no reduction in sound quality.

It's staying in the digital domain - it's just a file copy. So yes, whilst Ethernet cables can make a difference to the end result where digital to analogue conversion takes place it's going to have no effect here 

That's not true, if the store on the NAS is detached from the UnitiServe SSD (i.e., remove the .ini file from the store), it can then be mounted from the HDD-based UnitiServe as a store and music moved onto the internal storage (space permitting). This will keep all of the existing metadata intact.

This is also a good strategy if you are transcoding an existing library to FLAC (or to WAV), by the way.

...during playback, upon the audio electronics–if not playing, no effect.

I'm not sure I follow that, but I probably don't need to know. What I was getting at is that a UnitiServe ripped cd cannot be put into another UnitiServe by the user. Maybe that only applies when both unitiserves are HDD versions.

I think Dave is describing the *Move* function that allows, well, moving of music files from one US to another, on the MQ folder.

The SSD is supposed to sound a teensy weensy bit better, but probably only detectable if you have ears like a bat.

A thought strikes me - why not just copy from your NAS backup to another NAS and take that with you. It doesn't seem worth having a second US if you are not ripping on it. Make sure the files you copy are in FLAC though.

I dont think the copied files need to be In FLAC.

My backup NAS is a Synology. When my Serve went in for repair, I just streamed from the Synology to the NDS via NStream (.wav files) without any problem.  Just set up the folder in the Synology as music folder and it should work.

Interesting.... Anyway, all my files are FLAC and I can fit a lot more into my unitiserve.

It also makes the files easier to shuttle from one place to the next - with Transcode to WAV enabled, it's really a pretty smart option.

I think it's the best option too -- save files in flac, and transcode to wave for playback.  This is more future-proof, and there is no better product to convert Naim wave rips to flac than the uServe itself! 

To the point above, you can ONLY use the Unitiserve for this function if you wish to maintain metadata. Naim does not store metadata in its own wave files for reasons I assume only Naim knows.. It  stores it in a seperate database. When the Unitiserve creates the FLAC files, it extracts the metadata from its database and writes the metadata into the Newly created FLAC file.

Simon