HDX with MuSO?

So, you want to link you top end HDX with a "portable" hi end streamer. Why , I dare waste my saliva? And your "dealer" knows sweet FA about the "Iwonseveralhifiawardsasthebestnewstreamingproductoftheyear".

You're kidding,  right?

We do like people with a sense of humour, but c'mon!

No, not kidding, but thanks for your helpful reply.

There are plenty of Naim  dealers with enough knowledge of both streamers to help you along your journey.  I see the Muso as a hands-free streamer network player that can be positioned anywhere around the house for convenience of use unlike the HDX. Each with different strengths and environmental positioning demands. 

ATB,

Tony

No, shouldn't be any problems at all!

Thanks Dave, would this be over the network with both units connected via a router?  Would the MuSo app control the HDX also?

Tony - I'm in the US and knowledgeable dealers are a bit thin on the ground here, hence the usefulness of this forum.

And I think it would be an awesome setup. What's not to like?

I wonder if there is a half way house, keeping your HDX and speakers and swapping the amps for a Supernait2? 

If not, the HDX will send music to the Muso very happily. Your HDX is, presumably, already connected to the network and the most reliable way to get music to the Muso is via an ethernet cable. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable using an expensive server into a Muso, but as you already have it I can see the attraction. 

Just to add some flesh to the bones of the previous responses, I assume that in your current set-up you use the HDX as a store for your ripped CDs, and as a DAC to provide an analogue input to your 252.  And you have your HDX connected to your home network so it can pull down album information when ripping CDs.

If you were to keep the HDX and add a Muso then you have two obvious choices for connecting the two.  One would be to use the optical digital output from the HDX (I think it has one) into the optical digital input in the Muso.  The second would be to use the uPnP server functionality of the HDX to stream to the Muso over your home network. 

Different advantages and disadvantages for the two options.  Personally I would do the uPnP way as you don't need to have the HDX and Muso physically connected to each other and my prejudice is that it would sound better this way (though others will have different views). 

The main disadvantage of the uPnP route is that it relies on a stable home network which is not as easy to achieve as it should be.

An HDX does look like overkill for this application, but given you already have it then no reason not to use it.  And it does have the advantage of Naim's uPnP server software being very solid and you being able to rely on support from Naim (if not your dealer).

Thanks Nudger:  Yes, the HDX might appear a bit OTT in such a setup but I already have it, I'm familiar with it, and it does have all my music collection ripped and backed up on it (2x500gb).  Moreover, the HDX is not commanding a premium price on the used market over here in the US.  And, as you say, Naim will hopefully continue to support it for years to come.  I understand the server capabilities of the HDX but wasn't quite sure of its streaming potential.  But it sounds like I'm good to go over either a wireless or wired network.  Second question will be coming imminently....................

Keith

I hope you are not going to ask something really tricky like whether to have a vasectomy.

Or the proof to Fermat's last theorem.

The HDX would still be used with the n-Serve app; it has nothing to do with the Mu-so, which uses the naim (UPnP) streaming app.

Thanks Dave.  Again, my ignorance of all things streaming comes through!

Nigel:  No, far more thorny that a simple snip and clip!

Or Fermat's last theorem.................

I am all for source first but a circa 5k device streaming to an 900 quid one makes no sense

If you need to release funds I would be fingering the HDX as the first thing to go.

You can get perfectly good ripping/server solutions for a couple of hundred quid far more appropriate into a muso (IMO of course)

I think the point is that the HDX is worth very little on the SH market, as people get more comfortable with NAS-based set-ups.

OK, so here goes with the second question, which I think I've decide on.  I have an LP12/Ekos/Argo fed through a stageline into my 252.  There appears to be no way to use this with just an HDX/MuSO.  I was hoping, maybe, to find some way of connecting the stageline into a Naim component that would allow for A/D conversion and power the stageline, but I guess that was hoping for too much.  So it looks like I'll be going the simpler supernait route, as per Nigel's suggestion.  Hate to get rid of my 252/SC/250.2 but I don't think that system is fulfilling it's potential with my circumstances or my failing hearing

ATB

Keith

Dave, I don't think is is accurate.  You can't connect the HDX directly to the Muso, because the former has coax SPDIF out only, while the Muso is optical only.  So, one would use the HDX in streaming mode (or as a source for streaming, I'm not sure of the proper terminology.  Functionally, the HDX can work like an NAS drive).  I don't have a Muso, but I use the UPNP mode on my Qute to stream wirelessly from the HDX, into a second system (the HDX is connected to an external DAC in the first system).  I use the N-Serve app for the first system, and N-Stream for the second.

Whoops, I was wrong, the HDX does have optical out, so you could connect it to the Muso directly with an optical cable.  Still, the setup described above is more useful, IMHO, since the Muso can be situated anywhere in the house, far away from the HDX.

I don't see a need to connect the HDX directly to the Mu-so; wireless to the Mu-so or wired Ethernet should be fine.

At Dave's suggestion when I got my HDX, I got a couple of Netgear WNCE2001 wireless adapters and am using one with my HDX for wireless connectivity to my computer with the DTC.  The Netgear adapter is wireless-n but I see that the MuSo is listed as b/g - surely the MuSo is wireless-n?

+1 for Nigel's suggestion. I went from 252/Supercap/250 to Supernait2, partly because I moved to a smaller room but also because I wanted less cables and boxes and to release funds. The sound is not quite as good but it is still a great amp, especially with a Hicap DR. Keep the HDX for now and look at other streamers in the long term when funds permit and Dacs have gone up in quality and down in price.

SuperNait mk I gives you a fully-separate buffered record section as well as an extra DAC, so you might want to dig up an ADC for digitizing vinyl and seek out a used unit. The current model lacks these features.

Thanks Dave: 

Yes, I was aware of the recoding circuit difference between the Supernait1 and 2.  General consensus appears that the SN2 is a sonic improvement over the SN1 but it's substantially more expensive on the used market (I buy all my non-mechanical stuff used). 

Do you know anything about the wireless on the MuSo - b/g vs b/g/n or are they considered the same now on the 2.4GHz frequency band?

Keith

Mu-so is N