Help with UnitiServe and file formats

Can the US be be accessed by the Desktop Client? This will allow you to parallel transcode your WAVs into MP3, keeping both.

Might be mistaken but I believe your internal HDD on the US will not present itself to the network. If your music was stored on a NAS (which I would personally recommend) you would be able to see it across your network.

Thanks Harry.  My US is visible by my iMac and I can access all directories on it.  I also have a WD My Cloud Mirror NAS (backed up to a remote model at another property).

The US can be accessed by the N-Serve desktop client, how do I parallel transcode the WAVs into MP3s? Can I do it after ripping?  

@ Harry - By the way, intrigued as to why you recommend using NAS over US?

You can set the serve to make an MP3 copy at the same time as ripping to WAV. I think you can do this retrospectively but if you've only ripped a few albums, doing one at a time won't take long. If I were you I'd set it to rip to FLAC and then transcode to WAV. If you leave it as WAV and the serve breaks down at some point, you won't be able to play the WAV backup from the nas, due to the way the serve does the tagging. 

You can only see into the serve MQ folder via the DTC - it's a closed environment that you cannot access via dbpoweramp. 

Wow! Lots to get to grips with!...

 - Being unable to play .WAVs from NAS if US goes belly up! Interesting

 - Record in FLAC and transcode to WAV?  What does that mean? Do I of that thru n-serve?

My experience comes from owning an HDX so may not drag over to the US exactly in every respect. It started life with two 500GB internal HDDs and was later converted to SSD.

Sometime into its life a FW update allowed me to parallel convert all my HDX ripped WAV files into a separate repository of MP3s.  I had ripped about 900 albums and the process took 8.5 days. It was set up and run using the Desktop Client.

As for internal storage versus NAS it’s a personal thing which I would recommend but wouldn’t push hard at anybody. When I got my HDX it occurred to me that its internal HDD would fill up quickly. I was also worried that if the internal HDD went down it would be a dealer of factory job to recover it. This was in the days before you could back up the HDX externally. I was nervous about my music collection being stored inside the HDX and I did listening tests to establish if I could hear a difference between playback internally versus from NAS. I could not.

This freed me from the limitations of proprietary internal storage and gave me scalability, maintenance and disaster recovery facilities which the HDX did not. Less of an issue nowadays with an external backup available, although I find it much more flexible and convenient to run and tender my music collection, in all its different resolutions, from a NAS which I can monitor, maintain, back up, upgrade, etc. rather than from inside a Naim box.

WAVs are easy enough to tag. But if you can’t hear a difference between WAV and FLAC the latter is probably more convenient to live with and tag. I can hear a difference. But WAVs can be tagged well enough for my needs and storage space is inexpensive. The great thing about storage, servers, streamers and formats, providing you don''t mind being a little bit technical, is that there is enough choice and flexibility to suit nearly everyone.  And if you don't want to get technical, something like a US or HDX (to name but two of hundreds) will get you going with little or no head scratching. And Naim dealers tend to be good too.

Mike Woodcock posted:

Is there an easy way to mas convert them to MP3 (for a car USB)?  I have downloaded DBPowerAmp, but it doesn't "see" my UnitiServe on the network, and I can't select anything other than the User/Mike directory of my Mac.  

Using n-Serve on the Mac, you can batch encode the ripped albums to MP3, as shown below, except that you would select all the ripped albums.

The Unitiserve will create MP3 copies of existing CD rips as well as new discs. In the desktop client, go to  System > Music Stores > MP3 Library to turn it on. Or do it in N-Serve for OSX (Not on iOS.) Personally, I don't bother because I think MP3s sound crap.

An alternative, which gives you a wider choice of formats, is to open the Unitiserve Music folder in OSX Finder. You can copy/drag and drop music files from there to other devices, and you can use XLD or similar to convert them to different formats, including MP3, ALAC, AIFF etc. For example, I use this to put   FLACs onto a Sony Walkman and WAVs onto a USB stick to play in my car. At £20 for a 128GB USB stick, I don't see the need for lossy formats.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice:

@Harry - Interesting re NAS.  It did cross my mind to go down that route, if nothing else because replacing a drive on the NAS would be cheaper than on the US.  Re WAV vs FLAC, on my system, I struggled to hear any discernible difference, but I chose WAV because if in the future I upgraded (which I will) I wanted the best copy - Also my friendly NAIM dealer recommended WAV, and they've never let me down!  Is there a preferred NAS for use as a music server?

@Jan-Erik - Perfect, that worked for me.  Thank you

@Chrissu - Fait point re cost of portable storage.  I will check out XLD

Very helpful everyone - Still learning in this streaming space!!!

The NAS of choice is either Synology or QNAP (I run a silet NAS version, with two HD bays).

There are two schools of running a nas (both with a dual hard drive):

1. Set up in RAID mode - this prevents against a hard-drive failure, but is not a copy
2. Set up in a way that one drive is used, the 2nd one is hidden and used for incremental copies

Your new Uniti Serve has an option of ripping musing to either it's internal drive or to a network drive. 
It can also access music stored on either the internal or the external one. 
There is no 'end-user' difference where the music is streamed from.

Thanks Adam - I will check out QNAS & Synology

What is the best user interface to use for managing, playing, setting up playlists etc?  Being a Mac user, I obviously have iTunes, but I am currently ripping everything in .WAV - However, as commented on by HungryHalibut earlier, It isn't readable by other programs.  I obviously would like to use my US for ripping, ideally I would like to stick to .WAV, but I am wondering whether .FLAC would have been a better choice - I am only 50 or so albums into ripping so far, its not inconceivable to start again...However, with storage space so cheap, I see no reason no to use .WAV unless it severely restricts the use of user clients

Mike Woodcock posted:

 Is there a preferred NAS for use as a music server?

 

NAS - Naim did and possibly still do publish a list of NASs which they have tried and liked. I expect the truth of it is that anything will do if it is working properly. QNAP, Synology and Netgear seem to be the popular choices. 

Music Server on NAS - Naim recommend Asset. I use Asset and Minimserver (on QUNAP). 

What is more interesting than which NAS/HDD array sounds best (none IMO) and which NAS embedded software server sounds best (none IMO) is what happens if you run a streamer from a US or HDX (or something else) and take that out of the chain, feeding it with a NAS based software server. Different systems and ears will yield different results. Taking the HDX-SSD out of our system and feeding the NDS with Asset on QNAP made a big and positive difference. I sold the HDX. However, we ran the HDX for many years and it not only fulfilled an important function but it sounded good - better than our CDX2.  If you run a dedicated streamer it's something worth checking. The proceeds of our HDX hepled to fund our SL loom.

The only problem with Unitiserve created WAV files is that other non-Naim devices can't read the metadata. If you want to use the rips on other devices, storing them as FLACs on the US solves this problem. This then has the advantage of smaller file sizes. (I don't find this a problem in the car as I'm not going to look at metadata while driving. The album, artist and track titles are there, and that's enough.)

The downside of this is that most people hear a small decrease in sound quality with FLAC vs WAV on Naim streamers. The simple solution to this is to set the US to transcode back to WAV on playback, as HH mentioned. 

I redid the tags when I retired the HDX. Not the sort of thing you can do in a day or a week but I found it stimulating. I also cleared out some hundreds of errors in the tags. Not Naim's fault.

I now have a music collection which is tagged exactly how I want it - with obvious indexing knock ons. If Naim could find a way of providing an option for users to put their essays and images into the streaming app instead of ROVI (or similar) it would be perfect. My Orange CD catalogue is full of reviews, reminisces, links, images, dates etc. If only I could link or import.

Mike Woodcock posted:

What is the best user interface to use for managing, playing, setting up playlists etc?

n-Serve is probably the best choice for managing (editing data etc) and setting up playlists.

For playing through the UQ2, the Naim app is your best choice as it includes volume control.

n-Serve's play function will only work if you feed the US digital output into the UQ2 via a digital cable. 

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

Mike Woodcock posted:

What is the best user interface to use for managing, playing, setting up playlists etc?

n-Serve is probably the best choice for managing (editing data etc) and setting up playlists.

For playing through the UQ2, the Naim app is your best choice as it includes volume control.

n-Serve's play function will only work if you feed the US digital output into the UQ2 via a digital cable. 

I agree, you really need both apps on the same device. It's a minor inconvenience having to switch from one to the other, but not really a problem.

Mike Woodcock posted:

Thanks Adam - I will check out QNAS & Synology

What is the best user interface to use for managing, playing, setting up playlists etc?  Being a Mac user, I obviously have iTunes, but I am currently ripping everything in .WAV - However, as commented on by HungryHalibut earlier, It isn't readable by other programs.  I obviously would like to use my US for ripping, ideally I would like to stick to .WAV, but I am wondering whether .FLAC would have been a better choice - I am only 50 or so albums into ripping so far, its not inconceivable to start again...However, with storage space so cheap, I see no reason no to use .WAV unless it severely restricts the use of user clients

Mike

I use QNAP HS-251 (Silent NAS) with 2 x 6TB WD drives. When purchasing the drives, makes sure they are compatible with NAS and multimedia.

NAIM has prepared a manual for setting up the QNAP wih the Uniti Serve - it should be on the website. If not, I have a copy on my Mac and can email it over (my email is in my profile). I am sure there is also a version for Synology.

iTunes will come in handy for editing some unrully files. However for the actual management of your Uniti Serve and the NAS you will need n-Serve app. It is available both for the Mac as well as for the iPad. The full Mac version has the entire functionality. The iPad version focuses on music management and ripping / playback.

I recommend sticking to WAV and letting Uniti Serve do its job. You will wind you may need to edit some of the album names and covers as well as genres. Make sure your Uniti Serve is connected to the internet - it is needed for it to function properly. You can set it up so that it creates both WAV and MP3.

With the setup as above you will actually not have to run any additional software on your NAS (e.g. Twonky or Minim). Uniti Serve will handle all your streaming.

Adam

Mike, if you rip to WAV and later decide to switch to FLAC, you can set the serve to convert the files in bulk. I would urge you to rip to FLAC though, and then transcode to WAV. It sounds the same as 'original' WAV files but does away with potential tagging and compatability issues. 

iTunes on Apple Mac and other iDevices will not accept FLAC files, so I would suggest keeping WAVs instead. 

Adam Zielinski posted:

iTunes on Apple Mac and other iDevices will not accept FLAC files, so I would suggest keeping WAVs instead. 

Apple devices won't be able to read metadata from Unitiserve WAV rips, so I think you'll still be better off with FLACs. Either way, you'll still need to convert them to use ALAC or AIFF on an Apple device.

ChrisSU posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

iTunes on Apple Mac and other iDevices will not accept FLAC files, so I would suggest keeping WAVs instead. 

Apple devices won't be able to read metadata from Unitiserve WAV rips, so I think you'll still be better off with FLACs. Either way, you'll still need to convert them to use ALAC or AIFF on an Apple device.

Correct on Unitiserve WAV rips. 

But no need to convert to AIFF, to play via iTunes. But then again, why play via iTunes if UnitiServe iz in da hauzz?

Adam, you would have to convert to something to play in iTunes, otherwise you'd have either no music, or no metadata. Why play via iTunes? I agree, there's no point, unless you use an iOS device for music, then you would probably need to.

Thanks everyone, lots to mull over. 

Jury seems split on WAV vs FLAC.  I will probably stick with WAV, I'm a bit of a purist, as long as the tagging doesn't wind me up!

I think the issue of ripping to FLAC later is that there will be not metadata in the converted files?  I'f happy with using N-Serve and Naim though.  I actually have an old iPad that is dedicated as a music controller.  It only has on multimedia apps!

Mike

Mike Woodcock posted:

 I will probably stick with WAV, I'm a bit of a purist, as long as the tagging doesn't wind me up!

The tagging will only wind you up if you try to play the files on non-Naim kit, or if you try to serve them from a non-Naim NAS in future.

Exactly so. If (probably more like when) the UnitiServe breaks down, you'll be without music for weeks while Naim fix it. Whereas if you have your backup in FLAC, you just load a upnp server on your nas and off you go. This was the reason I swapped to FLAC when I had a UnitiServe.