SuperUniti and B&W 804s

David,

Congratulations! You will have a wonderful Naim - B&W Christmas break!

My system was very similar: NAC-N 172+NAP250.2 with 804 Diamonds. Last year I replaced the 804 by 802 for more control and body in the lower ranges. The high end of 804 and 802 sound very similar though, as they have identical midrange and tweeter drives as far as I know.

Like you, I keep a back-up of my NAS music on my PC. I make back-ups by simply replacing the entire music directory via Windows. It can't be done more primitive than that, so I was wondering: is there any clever back-up software which only updates the changed directories? Any clue?

For now, enjoy your new set!

Bert when did you become Mahler?  Do we call you Gustav or just Gus?

ps Gus have a look at SyncToy from those lovely Microsoft people, I use it for lots of different things.  It works and it is very simple to use.  If you do use it for backing up your music then use 'Echo' rather than 'Sync'.

Bert,

Now you've gone for the 802, presumably Diamonds, you'd benefit from an upgrade in your power amp. They were OK with the 250 and sang well with the 300 but really only came into their own with the 500. 

Steve

Big Bill,

Thanks for noting For sure Mahler's music is far more interesting than my face.

Now, for a test, who is this guy?

And thanks for the tip, I will give SyncToy a try.

Steve,

Thanks a lot! Yes, my system may be a bit imbalanced, with more than half of the investment in the 802 Diamonds only. It's a matter of incremental value, savings and priorities...

I heard rumours that B&W will release a new 800 series in 2015, which is about time indeed. Looking forward to that.

We all keep on searching for the Holy Grail of Hifi perfection

Big Bill,

Installed SyncToy just now, chose the NAS music directory as 'left folder', the PC music directory as 'right folder' and clicked the 'Echo' option.

Works like breeze!! Pressed 'Preview' first to see which differences between the two folders were found. More than I thought: I like to comments to individual FLAC tracks, and these updated files are often overlooked when I do manual back-ups.

Should have asked earlier, this is very convenient software. Thanks for your tip and have a great 2015.

Thanks Bert  

Can't help with the backup software at the moment because I haven't started populating the NAS.  

To be honest I don't feel the need for more 'body' as the 804s go plenty deep enough in my room.  The room makes such a massive difference to the perceived response as I found out when we moved recently.  We've pretty much reduced the size of the lounge by nearly half.

ps.....Is it Jeff Buckley?

Hi Dave,

SyncToy works fine, although I notice that if I have changed the folder structure in the source directory (like moving a subfolder from one to another folder) this is not repeated to the back-up directory. So I still need to change this manually.

The B&W Diamonds are indeed wonderful. Only issue is that I find the treble slightly too bright and I dampened them by putting a circular piece of cloth behind the magnetic cap. Now they are perfect for me.

No, the guy is not Jeff Buckley, he's Canadian!

Rufus Wainwright?

Nooooo!

Hint no.2: It's actually an old picture, probably taken by the beautiful Kodachrome reversal film.

So, who is this?

Glad you are happy with SyncToy - it's a great example of the KISS principle.

As to your picture.  Well I am going to try a long shot because (a) you say it is oldish, and (b) I think this will be a surprise to us.  Is it Wilko Johnson being made to pose by the record company?

Not 100% sure what you mean but that is not behaviour I have noticed - maybe I never looked properly!

You can always try the sync option, the only reason I said not to use is that if you change something in the backup it will change it in the source.  ie. it works both ways.

Hi Bill,
I checked again, but in my case, SyncToy 2.1 does not synchronise a changed folder structure, nor does it delete files from the back-up location if they were deleted from the source. SyncToy is too KISS for me.

After some reviewing I found and downloaded the freeware AllwaySync (version 14.2.1), which does what I need. The interface looks a bit outdated but the functionality is great. All kind of options to synchronise, echo, include/exclude file types etc. If I have moved a folder around, it nicely indicates the move, by indicating which files are removed and which are added (which is actually the move in terms of Cut & Paste). Like in SyncToy it's easy to define some tasks, including backing up music from NAS to PC, and the Outlook *.pst file from PC to NAS. Give it a try.

Anyway, after three wrong guesses it's time to reveal who is this handsome guy: Canadian piano player Glenn Gould, probably in the late fifties.

Glenn became world famous after his revolutionary approach of Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955. If you like Bach played with an incrediable drive, pace and control, try him! He passed away in a fatal stroke in 1982, only 50 years old. A bit like the German conductor Karl Richter, who passed away in a stroke a year earlier, 54 years old. Sad isn't it?

Sorry it does not work for you Bert.  I really can not understand why because all the things yours does not do mine does OK.  I can't think of any other option that would change it - so I am lost. You are definitely selecting "Echo" because it says on screen that deletes etc on the left are then carried out on the right directory.  I am at a loss to explain.

So it was Glenn Gould - does he come from Canvey Island?  Bet he don't.  But then again I don't think Wilko's Goldberg Variations is as good as Glenn's