Overcoming hi res buffering with new NAS

Posted by: Nagual on 31 October 2014

I've never been able to hi res downloads without the constant buffering which, quite frankly, was ruining the enjoyment of some great recordings I've paid high prices for from my NAS. USB works well but the 5 year old ReadyNAS whether sitting next to the HDX or in the other room - wired through the wall CAT5 - wouldn't play smoothly.

Having spoken to my very knowledgable dealers in N1 i was advised my elderly NAS might be the problem with these large FLAC and WAV files. So, I decided to invest in a QNAP TS 451 with some 4TB WD red books and 8G of RAM and a Vodka(lead) thrown in for good measure. Hey presto HI RES delivered as i was meant to be at last! All I need now is now is my freshly DR'd 555 back from HQ and i will be return to audio heaven. All I need to sort out now are the Rolling Stones albums i stupidly bought in 24/176 which the HDX don't like one bit. Better trawl back through the forums for that one.

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by dayjay

Wifi or wired? If the latter you shouldn't get buffering

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by Nagual

It was always wired but always been a problem

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by Nagual

Standard rips played effortlessly but anything Hi Res and it was stop start all the way

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by dayjay

Originally Posted by Nagual:

It was always wired but always been a problem

A wired network should be easily fast enough to stream 3d hires video, music is easy in comparison, if its buffering for music something isn't right

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by Harry

I've never had such issues up to 24/192 wired. Something is wrong and it's not the file size. I've used a ReadyNas with 512 RAM with an HDX no problems. Now using a QNAP with a single core and 512 RAM running Minimserver. No issues. Although I use a quad core NAS with 4GB RAM for streaming videos, they go across the same network and I don't get issues. Sorry I can't point at anything specific, but I don't think it's a case of your files being too big.

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by Aleg

Originally Posted by Nagual:

...

All I need to sort out now are the Rolling Stones albums i stupidly bought in 24/176 which the HDX don't like one bit. Better trawl back through the forums for that one.

I would downsample those tracks to 88.2/24

You won't notice any difference IMHO.

Posted on: 31 October 2014 by Simon-in-Suffolk

I use ReadyNAS's for hidef, and streaming video, and one is several years old.. No problems, and to be honest the data transfer load is trivial. It might point to poor disks or damaged disks in your NAS. Have you checked them, and are you able to check data throughput.

The other consideration, though unlikely that there is a fault with your connecting switch or ethernet patch leads such that the LAN connections are being downgraded to 10MBps and/or half duplex links. (Like single lane country roads)

Thetefore if disls on the NAS are ok, then replace patch leads to switch and replace switch as a temp measure to see if things improve.

Simon

Posted on: 01 November 2014 by Nagual

Thanks all plenty of food for thought. Aleg can you recommend some down sampling software for Mac please?

Simon, I will try the patch leads and see where that takes me. Disks were barracudas twin 2tb. They've worked perfectly for non hi res. One did crash recently when I tried to perform a backup. It still won't perform a proper back up job which was another reason to think of replacement. The QNAP seems like different world and is working like a dream so far.

Posted on: 01 November 2014 by Hmack

Nagual,

Can I just check that by 'wired through the wall' you mean an 'end-to-end' run of CAT5 or later Ethernet cable, with no Powerline components in the chain?

I used powerline adapters for a while with my network streaming system (using a Synology DS212) and had no problems until I began to attempt to stream hi-res files. The bandwidth of the powerlines should have been more than enough for the hi-res stuff, but I consistently experienced similar buffer to th eons you are experiencing. I replaced the powerlines with lengthy runs of CAT6 cable, and have had no problems at all since then.

Posted on: 01 November 2014 by Nagual

Hi hmack

The flat was built with CAT5 cabling in the walls and a patch box in the cupboard to hook things together. Last year I moved the ReadyNAS duo into another room because it was quite noisy and the cleaner seemed to regularly pull the plug out of the wall while it was on.

The problem of hi res buffering was prevelant in both locations. I've got some new patch leads lying around so will try those today.

Posted on: 01 November 2014 by Aleg

Originally Posted by Nagual:

Thanks all plenty of food for thought. Aleg can you recommend some down sampling software for Mac please?

Not being a MAC man, but I believe dBPowerAmp for MAC is in Beta or has just been released

Posted on: 02 November 2014 by Nagual

Thanks Aleg that beta version worked a treat and the files now play in 24/96 WAV and sounding much better.

Posted on: 02 November 2014 by Aleg

Originally Posted by Nagual:

Thanks Aleg that beta version worked a treat and the files now play in 24/96 WAV and sounding much better.

Nagual

i would reconvert the original files again and then to 88.2kHz as I suggested.

going from 176.4 to 96 is not an exact integer divider, so this will cause an approximation of values and most likely a degradation of the music.

going from 176.4 to 88.2 is exactly half so can be created from the original samples without approximation, and should sound better.

Posted on: 02 November 2014 by Nagual

Thanks Aleg. I didn't seem to get the choice of 88.2 in the beta version but i will have a play around and see if i can find it.