Minimserver question

Sorry, I think I'm confusing things. I meant finding it in Explorer, and converting with Poweramp. That is probably what you are already doing. 

HH, were the files your US converted from WAV to FLAC complete with data that MinimServer and Naim App were sorted properly, i.e. full albums and could play the entire song list and not fragmented like I've experienced with the unconverted WAV files? My guess is yes but need to confirm.

Thx...M

Yes, absolutely. I set the unitiserve to convert all the WAV files to FLAC. Of the 2,000 or so albums, 10 or 20 did not get converted for some reason, and stayed in WAV. When I tried playing from the Synology, all the FLAC albums were perfect, whereas the WAV albums were shown as separate tracks, without proper metadata. So, if you can get the serve to do the job, you will save loads and loads of time. 

The manual indicates just seeing the US to rip in FLAC and the conversion will take place over time. I tried this and nothing happened. Could be a product of the malfunction. Is this the correct method?

HH, got the US back but still to test online with the USA distributor tomorrow for some more testing to see if the issue is corrupt shares folder. I'll be able to convert to FLAC. Curious, does the FLAC on my NAS played via NDX served by the US transcode from FLAC to WAV as MinimServer does?

The Serve can certainly transcode its own files. As to whether it transcodes files picked up from a NAS I don't know, but I imagine it would. You will have to try it!

Yes it does...

Phil

Thanks Phil.

HH, Conversion compete... took 4.5 days 24/7. Thanks for the instruction.

Will the WAVE file transcoded from FLAC by Minimserver sound different that  WAVE ripped from CD to NAS?

FLAC is a lossless codec and as such the audio data generated by unpacking a FLAC file *SHOULD* (assuming the MinimServer codec is correct) be exactly the same as the source WAV file and - as the file wasn't unpacked on the playback device - *SHOULD* sound the same.

Probably also worth having a read of this too:

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...r-software-affect-sq

Cheers

Phil

Thank you Phil,

My question was a little bit provocative or senseless... WAVE 96 or FLAC 192 is my rip from CD. I can hear no difference (it is normal as files are generated from the same source). In one of the threads it was stated that WAVE is the format better for NAIM than others (or I missed the meaning of the message ). Then I got the impression that transcoding FLAC to WAVE by Minimserver will bring advantage. I am not too enthusiastic to install this server on my Synology NAS as I am not familiar with this kind of software. That is why I asked this question

Are you ripping CDs to 96kHz or 192kHz files?If so then there really is no point in doing so as you're not going to get anything better than 44.1/16 from CD ... you're just putting the same data into a bigger bucket and wasting space.

Phil

i have already ripped around 700 CDs. I will give up upon your suggestion

Excellent. Yes, it does take ages. Now you can ditch the Serve, use Minim, bank some cash and get better sound into the bargain. 

As far as MinimServer and transcoding, this function is undertaken by the MinimStreamer component. The actual encoder/decoder for many of the conversions is user configurable and will depend on what is loaded on the OS. MinimStreamer can use FFMPEG or Libav(avconv). Libav got forked out of the FFMPEG  build a few years ago. Both are extensively used and embedded  in many software applications. I personally use Libav(avconv). 

Simon

Do I understand correctly (?)    you have ripped 700 CD's (that should be 16/44)  as 24/96 & 24/192 ??.  

That is a lot of wasted space - 16/44 is typically 500MB  -  24/96 aprx 1800MB  - 24/192  2800MB 

Does anyone know if its possible to block reformat / convert back to 16/44 ???

You can do it in dbpoweramp.

Now i know that i was silly Further ripping will be done 44.1...

Hi supermario,  maybe worth thinking about converting back to 16/44

As HH suggests - it can be done to convert all the rips as a batch (all together) it might be worth investigating 

I have looked at what can be done with dBpoweramp & it looks easy .........

Open dBpoweramp Batch Converter, select your music folder, then click 'List', you will have to enable the Bit Depth column to 16 bit, wait for the info to load then sort on that column. 

If you have a mixed music folder of CD rips & genuine 24 bit download files,  you will need to separate these & place in a separate folder first.  Then put them back after the conversion.  

if you do try it,  good luck, I would imagine 700 albums will take a long time ......... Ciao

Just thinking quickly - how has the ripping sofware done the conversion from 16/44.1 to 24/192 and is it really as straight forward to convert back to 16/44.1. It may just be bit stuffing and subsequent truncation on sample depth but sample rate conversion at a non multiple of 44.1 and then back... Do you end up with a bit perfect copy of the original file ?

James

Upsampling and downsampling in dBpoweramp is always done by transforming the signal into a higher frequency domain and back, even if downsampling 44.1KHz to 22.05KHz, as it is needed to remove any aliasing.

Frequency transformations are a lossy process, but realistically if you went 44KHz to 192KHz and back down, I doubt you could hear the difference.

Thanks for confirming the process