Time for NAS. How much Power needed

It's RAM you need and you can rarely have too much.

A QNAP NAS will allow you run asset on it.

SJB

This is my first post and I am by no means savy on streaming 101, but for what it is worth I spoke with a very knowledgeable tech who recommended a Qnap NAS and the Asset for Qnap to accompany the Qute.  I am in the throws of ordering the peripherals so I would be interested in any feedback from those already up and running on Naim Streamers with a NAS configuration.   Also, feedback is that processing speed is more important the bigger your library gets.  if you are sub 1T of music a smaller processor..1.2 ghz may be fine but if you have a big library you should be considering the 2.4ghz processor.....feedback please?

I'm a very happy Synology user. It's been flawless and isn't expensive or noisy.

Loading Minimserver is a bit of a faff - messing about with Java, Minimwatch, etc - but once running it's dead easy and transcodes to WAV, plus gapless. It's worth making that effort. That said, the standard UPNP on Synology is good too, but I prefer Minimserver.

I use the Synology for lots of things and it's never run out of juice yet, even playing movies and music at the same time. I have 512mb RAM. That said, you can never have enough, and if there's a cheap way to add RAM then it's a sensible move.

Hello,

i used a Long time Asset with QNAP, in the beginning Asset was performed on a Bearebone pc with data on the Qnap. In 2013 when Asset released the QNAP Version i switched to run the QNAP only.

However, i had to say that the combination Baerebone/Asset runs smoother and the respond was more likely.

After all i decided to make a complete break in buying a RipNAS from HFX http://www.hfx.at/

This Systems is made for Music Streaming. And  i have to say ripping, indexing from Music runs like a charm.

Mike

I'm a happy Synology user, easy to set up & use,  they have their own media server that is so simple its really plug & play for dummies,  they send emails about updates (if you don't bother to go on your own personal units webpage & look yourself) & with my other UPS unit I even get e-mails if I get a power cut (yes I know easily pleased) 

The package includes all you need for music, photo video, security & much more,   I really don't know anything better or simpler or more user friendly.

Hi, the pinch points in the NAS with mutiple concurrent streaming activity is I/O (input output) bandwidth. The NAS might simply congest up, whilst it's RAM and CPU are fine. This really is more likely to be a concern if there are multiple hidef video streams and hidef audio.

i personally like to keep my NASs simply for storage, and run my apps such as a media streamer on a seperate little server.. I actually use a USB powered Raspberry Pi at the moment. This way I have had no issues. I use SMB mounts on the NAS with Guest read only access for the streamer, thereby avoiding accidental deletes.

With Naim I have also preferred the SQ of using media server on the Pi and before that a WHSv1 server, than those I have loaded on the back of a NAS. I have used various NASs but use two Netgear devices currently (Prime, Backup). I think the SQ might be be to do with TCP network window parameters and network overhead.

Simon

I really don't think I/O bandwidth is necessarily the issue for music, there's plenty of bandwdith even on 100Mbit ethernet... which will deliver around 10MB/s, and Gigabit ethernet 10 times that. My NAS can happily do around 100MB/s over the network and 24-bit 96KHz audio requires a fraction of that bandwidth.

In my opinion, what matters is concurrency and to deliver that requires a bit more processing power in the NAS and some sensible disk options.

I wouldn't buy a NAS now with anything less that 1GB RAM and a dual core processor of some description. How fast a processor will depend on how much your are going to try and get the NAS to do, video and audio transcoding spring to mind, along with a uPnP media server.

Multi-core and multi-disk are important to get a NAS to do multiple things smoothly. Single disk, single core NAS's will struggle here. I personally don't think RAID5/6 is a good option for home unless you spend a lot of money on a big NAS and even then I'd question why you would want RAID5/6.

I would have thought any recent NAS from Synology, QNAP, Netgear that meets the above will work fine, the harder choice will be what software to use as your media server as much of this is going to be about your individual preference. It might be worth playing with a few of them on a PC first to see how well you get on with them or not, and then find a NAS that will let you run your preferred choice or as Simon says, run a small separate server for it.

I personally don't buy into the timing thing on TCP much as one would hope that the Naim streamers with their buffered reclocking were pulling data asyncronously from the data sink and not allowing the source to push it to them at it's pace, in which case tcp windows and buffers etc should not matter... one of the reasons I went for Naim was the buffered re-clocking, and that seems pointless to me if you don't pull the data for a network stream. But you live & learn I guess, so you never know...

Qnap HS251, wIth 2 x 2 Tb western digitalis. you can get it supplied with Asset loaded. Mine has been Up for 3 months without dropping any connection. Absolutely silent , no fans , no overheating and Asset is as good on this as it was when I had a separate pc loaded with asset hosting  the streaming.

Ripcaster uk will totally preconfigured it for you ... A doddle to install.. up and running in no time.

i have nothing but good to say about this one

regards

ing

Everyone, thank you for the informative feedback.  Getting input from those with first hand experience saves me a lot of research and uncertainty if my set up is going to actually perform the way I like.  Ingenius, I am leaning toward getting your exact set up with the Qnap TS 251, a couple of WD reds and Asset for Qnap.  I am in the US so I am unable to deal with your vendor.  I will install the software myself and then do a bit of head scratching through the set up as this is my first experience with a NAS.

Great feedback everyone. I am grateful. 

g

Hi there,

believe me you won't be dissapinted with the HS251, I would have configured it myself, nothing difficult. Install Assset, set your preferred raid mode, create a share called multimedia, and point Asset to it and your ripping software ( presumably Db poweramp). Need any help give me a shout. I can send you screenshots of my configuration. It auto updates its firmware and antivirus in the background.. And keeps a log of everything.

regards

ing

I hope I don't have to hit you up for set up help but a generous offer none the less.  I am new to the qute as well as NAS systems so I am sure I will hit some speed bumps.   

Only too glad to assist if you need it

regards

ing

Ian, I was referring to I/O bus bandwidth, not network etc. As I said this only likely to be a limiting function  with multiple Hidef video transfer and file transfers whilst doing audio streaming... as of course you can see when you load management software onto the NAS.

NY-G hopefully you have some ideas, I certainly recommend trying running your media server on different devices, if you have a revealing system you may be pleasantly suprised.

Simon