Connection ND5 XS ans Airport Extreme

Posted by: OlivierB on 13 August 2015

Hello everybody, 

I recently purchase a ND5 XS to play the music stored on my IMAC. To do so, I'm trying to connect to the IMAC through the AirPort Extreme using WIFI. Unfortunately, the streamer does not recognize my local network. The airport is directly connected to the Internet without any additional router provided by the Internet provider. Previously when using the router provided by the Internet provider, I managed to connect the streamer to Interent, however the flow is not  sufficient.

 

I would really appreciate your advice and guidance to understand how to proceed to the connection to the Airport Extreme without additional software. Thank you in advance for your help

Posted on: 13 August 2015 by Bart

Hi Olivier.  First, the Airport Extreme cannot perform many of the modem functions typically needed.  Have you determined whether, in fact, you can omit the ISP's modem/router?  That's a key first step.

 

Second, how do you propose to play music to your ND5XS?  If you're looking at a networked solution, then you need to be running a UPnP server to serve the music.  You're not doing that -- I take it you're trying to use iTunes to "play" the music and then 'send' it to the ND5XS over your home network.  That's not how the ND5XS works on an ethernet network.  Have you gotten some help from your dealer?  Have you read the user manual?  Plenty of help here on the forum, but it will help if you read up (or get your dealer to help you) on how a network player is designed to work.

Posted on: 13 August 2015 by johnG
A forum member wrote a guide to audio networking but it is no longer available at the original download link so I have uploaded a copy here-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7x8m...0Simplified.pdf?dl=0
 
The first 3 pages show how to set up the network with a switch and the streamer.
 
Posted on: 13 August 2015 by OlivierB

Hi Bart, I do run Asset UPnp on my IMac.Iif connect the streamer to the Airport using a cable, then everything works perfectly, but unfortunately, because of the distance between my computer and my streamer, I need to use the wireless connection.

 

The problem is that the ND5 XS, do not see my personal Network when browsing the networks from the streamer, as opposed to what happened when using the ISP's Router. I tried to configure the Airport in accordance of the recommendation from the user's manual but not success so far. This is really frustrating, may using and Airport together with the streamer is not possible, but I'm not sure sure about this.

 

thanks for your help,

olivier

Posted on: 13 August 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Olivier, ok reading this I think you are saying your ND5XS can't see your wireless network? if so make sure the Apple device is creating a wifi network of of the 'b' or 'g' type. These should also be on 2.4 GHz wireless band. These are the wireless protocols and frequencies the ND5XS understand, so if your apple device is doing this your ND5XS should see the wireless network name, so you can select and then connect to it on your ND5XS. 

But as said above your dealer will help with this initial setup... Do ask them as that is usually a great part of the service of buying through a Naim dealership.

Simon

 

Posted on: 14 August 2015 by Bart

Olivier, another configuration that you may find helpful is to add an Airport Express.  You can hardwire the little Airport Express to your ND5XS via a short ethernet cable, and use it in place of the wifi on your ND5XS.  Once configured properly, the ND5XS will behave just like it's wired directly to the Airport Extreme.  The two Apple devices will provide a nice robust wifi connection; a number of people have found this setup useful.

 

(This assumes that the root of your issues is the wifi connection. Please do what Simon Says(tm) first, and get the connection going directly to the ND5XS.  If it then proves insufficient (if you get dropouts), then think about adding an Airport Express.)

Posted on: 14 August 2015 by ChrisSU
Bart's suggestion above of using an Airport Extreme/Express setup is exactly what I do, and it works very well. I always found the Naim WiFi module incapable of reliable performance and bypassing it in this way solves that problem. However, if you have locally stored music on your iMac, I would suggest transferring it to a NAS with a wired connection (via a switch) to the streamer. This should give a more reliable connection and better sound quality.
Posted on: 14 August 2015 by Camlan
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:
Bart's suggestion above of using an Airport Extreme/Express setup is exactly what I do, and it works very well. I always found the Naim WiFi module incapable of reliable performance and bypassing it in this way solves that problem. However, if you have locally stored music on your iMac, I would suggest transferring it to a NAS with a wired connection (via a switch) to the streamer. This should give a more reliable connection and better sound quality.

+1 for this. Exactly what I do for my second system and it is absolutely rock solid. Will stream 24/192 on this connection that won't on WiFi only.

Posted on: 14 August 2015 by Bart
Originally Posted by Wat:

Please also try the old trick of unplugging the Airport from the wall, counting to 20, and reconnecting - surprising how often this works. 

 

 

Another, 'when all else fails' trick, is to reset the Airport to factory default settings.  My home network was totally unreliable for music last year . . . and in a casual conversation Chris West suggested this. It's been rock solid ever since.  Some 'bug' had worked its way into the Airport Extreme, and a reset (not merely a reboot) did the trick.

 

But this is not the O.P.'s problem.

Posted on: 18 August 2015 by Kevin Richardson
Originally Posted by Bart:

Olivier, another configuration that you may find helpful is to add an Airport Express.  You can hardwire the little Airport Express to your ND5XS via a short ethernet cable, and use it in place of the wifi on your ND5XS.  Once configured properly, the ND5XS will behave just like it's wired directly to the Airport Extreme.  The two Apple devices will provide a nice robust wifi connection; a number of people have found this setup useful.

 

(This assumes that the root of your issues is the wifi connection. Please do what Simon Says(tm) first, and get the connection going directly to the ND5XS.  If it then proves insufficient (if you get dropouts), then think about adding an Airport Express.)

I also use this setup and believe it is nearly perfect.

Posted on: 19 August 2015 by nudgerwilliams

Agree with the Airport Express suggestions.  I don't have an ND5 XS, but I have SuperUniti and Qute and IMO the wireless implementations on those is pretty poor.  I suspect ND5 is similar.  Wireless implementation on the mu-so seems to be very good however.  Possibly reflects that Naim intend the main streamers to be used wired and did the wireless implementation as a bit of an afterthought in order to tick that box. 

 

Also worth checking your firmware is up to date, as the most recent versions seem to offer more stable / reliable network performance (though I doubt they make a difference to basic wireless network connectivity).

 

David

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by OlivierB

Thanks a lot to all of you. I have followed the recommendation to use a 2nd airport express connected to the Naim through a cable. Now I can see the UPnP server (Asset UPnP) and the music on my Imac, ..., but the streamer still does not read the music, despite the directory is shared ... A more small extra effort and I will be able to enjoy the system using Wifi. Thansk again to all of you. Olivier

 

Posted on: 01 September 2015 by dzambolaja

make sure your AE 2.4 and 5GHz networks have distinctly different names.  If these are the same or even similar chances are your ND5 will get confused.  I had this problem myself.