To add a Unitiserve / Unitiserve ssd to my system

Tony, as a uServe owner, let me comment.

The rips via dbpoweramp should be just fine.  Assuming you've ripped them to a lossless format (flac perhaps??).

On the contrary, the uServe by default rips cd's to a somewhat proprietary format -- the files are .wav format but the metadata / tags are done in a proprietary database style that will not be useful other than on the uServe.  With the most recent software update, the uServe can now rip to flac, and in doing so will embed metadata in a much more 'industry standard' way.  But if you've ripped your cd's to flac using a good ripper, such as dbpoweramp, you should have that already.

The uServe's benefits are in it's robust UPnP server abilities and the fact that it meshes seamlessly with the Naim players such as your SuperUniti and control software (n-Stream).   If you've been using the server built into the 212J without problems, you may have little to gain from buying a uServe.

Hope this helps,

Bart

uServes ability to pole your entire network and scrape all music it finds and present it as one library is its winning gambit.

Yes another great feature.  If you have music in various spots, it can be viewed and served as if it's in one big library. 

I've found significant SQ improvements from storing all my music on the 'Serve and powering down my NAS. It's worthwhile comparing a WAV on a local USB stick with NAS off, to the same from the NAS.

Hi 40 below,

Your comment has 'thrown me' as I had sort of got my head around the fact that software ripping programs were as good as what the Unitiserve does natively and serving music up from a Nas (as a source) shouldn't introduce any issues as I am connected by a 1gb router and my connections are via audio quest cables but I don't disbelieve you. I guess it is all very subjective but as you say in your opinion it is sonically better then I am bound to 'try it'. Oh, well - here goes.

Thanks for your input

Tony

Hi tonym182

I've just made one follow-up discovery that may help put my experience into context!  As we've temporarily relocated and renting, we don't have control over our current home.  Mystified by the degree of interaction between the NAS (in the laundry) and the living-room audio (which I'd tried to keep on a dedicated circuit) I carefully checked out the power distribution from the switchboard.  

Unexpectedly, the laundry (NAS) was on the same circuit as the audio!!! Might explain some of the 'degradation via NAS' I'd been experiencing. Even the NAS onto a TP PSU along with its local switch wasn't enough to prevent a hardening of tone/edge and loss of musicality!

I went down the UnitiServe-SSD+NAS path at dealer's recommendation, and have then gone through quite an optimisation process to get to where its sounding musical and effortless.  In retrospect a UnitiServe-HDD would have been a simpler solution, and probably given much benefit 'out-of-the-box'.

Eliminating electrical noise is an absolute key to good digital reproduction.  That's why I suggested a 'test' replay from a local USB stick (as a baseline), versus from the NAS.  If you find it significantly more open, dynamic, supple and flowing - that will give you an idea of the benefits to aim for.  If you don't perceive any significant difference, then your current environment is probably isolating the audio from the digital systems quite satisfactorily, and you could probably spend your money better elsewhere.

PS.  Ferrites clipped onto mains feed of all noisy household electrical appliances - eg: fridge, microwave, printer, cordless phone, DSL modem, TVs, chargers, alarm clock ...  also work wonders in reducing the noise floor and letting the full music flow.  Attacking these areas is cheap and easy, and offers big payback.  To ensure something else isn't masking your system, a simple test by turning all else off in the house can be very informative too.  I prefer noise reduction at the various sources around the house, rather than trying to filter noise on the system cabling.

In summary, it isn't just noise down the Ethernet cables that degrades audio, be wary of noise in the power supply and in the groundplane.  With a naim system you can end up spending 40% of your budget on power supplies ... so any other improvements you can make yourself all count.

When it comes to ripping, the Unitiserve is a ripper.  I had 500 CDs ripped/indexed in around 7 days...