ND5XS SQ USB vs. UPnP

Posted by: Bowers on 26 January 2015

After a period of just streaming audio from a server (Asset) on a Windows 7 PC tried the following:

 

Copied some flac and wav files to a USB stick and played them from the ND5XS USB input.

 

Had the same experience as with UPnP :

A significant SQ improvement comparing flac to wav.

 

Also I think SQ of wav files from USB was better than wav streams via UPnP/ethernet input.

 

Using USB does not provide the nice database asset does, but 

Idea to copy my most interesting music on USB stick(s) en enjoy just for SQ reasons.

 

Anyone that can share comparable experiences ? Any suggestions on a "good" USB stick choice or even a "good sounding" external HDD ?

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by ChrisSU
Originally Posted by ragman:

So, if a NDX STREAMER does not have the same or better SQ by using upnp/dlna via a propper LAN connection this kit is not worth the money.

IMHO this ist the main application it was developed for.

Maybe we should all ditch our streamers in favour of Unitiserve > DAC with n-serve control?

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Mike-B

100% Kevin,  USB is as good as it gets - maybe some golden ears will fine tune on different USB makes/models - & I noted a Naim high end system demo'd on USB at a show recently .  

I have been more relaxed over how "optimised" my ethernet system is since comparing it to a USB-3 that I found under the Christmas tree.   Our exchange of posts this morning has underscored that - thanks.   Maybe some others will come in on the same or contradictory theories.

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Of course the elephant in the room is that not all UPnP media servers in their respective NASs or computers sound the same.

I am at a point where my USB playback is no different in overall SQ  to my UPnP media server but I use Asset on a Raspberry Pi as a media server with separate NASs. To my ears the Pi and the Unitiserve were pretty similar. Other devices have been slightly inferior.  The USB memory sticks I use are a collection of types and do sound slightly different but I couldn't say one was better than the other

I use an off board DAC on the NDX.

 

Simon

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Mike-B
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

............. not all UPnP media servers in their respective NASs or computers sound the same.

.........   thats mission creep Simon  !!! 

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Bowers
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Of course the elephant in the room is that not all UPnP media servers in their respective NASs or computers sound the same.

I am at a point where my USB playback is no different in overall SQ  to my UPnP media server but I use Asset on a Raspberry Pi as a media server with separate NASs. To my ears the Pi and the Unitiserve were pretty similar. Other devices have been slightly inferior.  The USB memory sticks I use are a collection of types and do sound slightly different but I couldn't say one was better than the other

I use an off board DAC on the NDX.

 

Simon

Hi Simon,

 

Interesting you managed to narrow/close the SQ gap between USB and UPnP.

Considering the cost of a Raspberry this is certainly worth a try at home.

 

I'm not sure what is ment with a "separate NASs"  as I imagined the HDD (with music files) is connected to the Raspberry via USB ?!

 

Could you please elaborate on this configuration ?

 

Peter

 

 

 

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Bowers
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

Hi Peter, I wonder if your PC is letting your music system down. I don't have much experience here as I gave up on that at an early stage and bought a Unitiserve, which is a great bit of kit, albeit expensive. I wonder if a NAS, and/or a dedicated music computer (Mac Mini or similar) would perform better for you than a busy, multi-tasking PC? 

Other than that, it seems that your system is set up OK. Is there any chance you might have RFI or mains quality issues that might affect SQ when streaming? If so, read this:

https://drive.google.com/file/...NVk/edit?usp=sharing

 

Regards, Chris

Hi Chris,

 

Tried to combine my own experiences with the various advices in the forum threads.

Think this link is a very useful guidance.

 

thx, Peter.

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Peter, simply my NAS's are SMB mounted over the LAN by the Pi (The Pi has an ethernet port) I simply assign the mounts a directory on the Pi, and tell Asset to scan them.. Voila a little time later all my music on my NAS mounts appear on the Asset media server.

Simon

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by Bowers
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

Peter, simply my NAS's are SMB mounted over the LAN by the Pi (The Pi has an ethernet port) I simply assign the mounts a directory on the Pi, and tell Asset to scan them.. Voila a little time later all my music on my NAS mounts appear on the Asset media server.

Simon

Simon, I try to picture it;

 

So this would mean (in my case) that during playback the music files (FLAC) are send from PC to Raspberry, transcoded by Raspberry/Asset into wav and streamed towards the (ND5XS) streamer? 

 

 

Posted on: 28 January 2015 by ChrisSU
Originally Posted by Bowers:
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

Hi Peter, I wonder if your PC is letting your music system down. I don't have much experience here as I gave up on that at an early stage and bought a Unitiserve, which is a great bit of kit, albeit expensive. I wonder if a NAS, and/or a dedicated music computer (Mac Mini or similar) would perform better for you than a busy, multi-tasking PC? 

Other than that, it seems that your system is set up OK. Is there any chance you might have RFI or mains quality issues that might affect SQ when streaming? If so, read this:

https://drive.google.com/file/...NVk/edit?usp=sharing

 

Regards, Chris

Hi Chris,

 

Tried to combine my own experiences with the various advices in the forum threads.

Think this link is a very useful guidance.

 

thx, Peter.

Don't thank me, thank Huge!