Help with UnitiServe and file formats

I need to do some listening tests!

How do I set the NAIM to transpose to WAV on the fly?

Hungryhalibut posted:

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. 

That is not strictly true. With WAV files Minimserve will see the folders created on the NAS drive (that is why advocate ripping all music to an external drive, rather than internal), will recognise the artists and display the artwork and more importantly will stream to a streamer.

Good idea Mike, it's worth listening to a few albums in both formats and deciding for yourself which sounds best, if any. I would suggest that it's only worth sticking with WAVs if you never intend to use non-Naim devices for both playing and storage of your files. 

I never did discover exactly which setting to use for transcoding FLAC to WAV on playback. When I changed my entire library to FLAC, I was surprised to find that it was already set to play them back as WAVs. Maybe someone else will be able to tell you, as it's not clear from the way the settings are described in N-Serve how you do this.

Hi Mike,

I've had my UnitiServe SSD for many years and have always ripped to my Netgear ReadyNAS in WAV.  If required, iTunes will convert WAV to files that can then be copied to your iPod etc. to maximise space (if necessary) and WAV files can also be read by most car CD players (unlike FLAC).  This is important for us as my wife only has a CD player in her car and regularly becomes fixated on a particular band/album that she must be able to play at every available opportunity!  As HH has mentioned, the US can be a fragile item and break; mine has been back to Salisbury twice in the time I have had it.  However, the pre-installed server software on my NAS has no problem reading my Naim tagged WAV files.  It would seem from comments made above that other server software is less able to do so.

I also have the 'serve set to transcode so that downloaded FLAC files are presented to the NDS as WAV but in all honesty, I find very little difference between them SQ wise; I do it because that's what Naim recommend!

Cheers,

Ian

Mike Woodcock posted:

How do I set the NAIM to transpose to WAV on the fly?

There are two settings under n-Serve on the Mac. I believe it to be this one :

Or is it this one ?

Can someone confirm which of the two is the correct one for transcoding FLAC to WAV on the fly? Perhaps both have to be set?

I've left mine at 'Native' and have no issues with playback of FLAC files.

I have no idea. I think Naim could do with some help from the Plain English Society on this.

Quite. Referring to the manual... 'Decode' seems to be the option for converting FLAC to WAV on the fly, but it is unclear whether the format has to be further specified. At any rate, as mentioned, no issues here with leaving mine on 'Native'.

(From the manual) :

Compatibility: Select Compatibility to specify the audio data Stream Format that the UnitiServe will stream to the UPnP™ playback device and to switch CD artwork transmission to the playback device on or off.

The Stream Format options available are Native, 44.1kHz WAV, WAV Decode, 24bit / 96kHz Max and Best Compatibility: Native: Streams audio files in the same format as they are stored. 44.1kHz WAV: Converts streamed files to CD format. WAV Decode: Converts files to WAV format while retaining their native sample rate and bit depth. 24bit / 96kHz Max: Converts very high sample rate files (>96kHz) to 96kHz to ensure they can be played at the highest possible sample rate on playback hardware that supports a maximum of 96kHz. Best Compatibility: Enables the UPnP™ playback device and the UnitiServe automatically to negotiate the best compatible format.

Note: Native stream format offers the highest potential audio quality. The appropriate choice will depend on the capability of the playback hardware. Select Native initially and check that the playback hardware operates correctly with all stored file formats. If it fails to operate at any time select WAV Decode. If it still fails occasionally select Best Compatibility, 24bit / 96kHz Max or finally 44.1kHz WA

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all who have posted and helped me with not just the original issue, but also general advice about setting up my US.

I've reconfigured my US to rip to my NAS, I am sticking with .WAV, and thanks to the forum, I have full knowledge of the pros and cons of .WAV vs .FLAC, especially in the event of the US going kaput!  

The NAS in turn is backed up overnight to another NAS at a different property.  I still have the issue of the 400 or so files that I ripped to my US - If anyone knows of an easy way to delete them, that would be great!

It does beg the question, what do I do with the 2TB of storage on the US...Answers on a postcard maybe?

Mike

If you want to delete files from the internal drive, you can do it on the DTC. Alternatively, if you use N-Serve for Mac, you can control-click on an album and you'll see a delete option.

What you mustn't do (this is buried somewhere in the manual) is use OSX finder to delete anything, apparently.

Do you have to delete these files? You can never have too many backups!

Good point! No need to delete them really, just my OCD neatness trying to fight to the surface! :-/

I find that playing back the locally stored WAV files (i.e., those on the US hard disk) sounds better (more engaging) than playing back the same files from a NAS. 

Since you have the files in the two locations, you could compare for yourself and see if you find a difference. 

To my ears, the closer the file resides to the playback software in the US, the better it sounds. Playing back from a NAS, then a USB key on the US, and then from the internal disk, I hear subtle but musically meaningful gains at each step.

Jan

That is quite possible. It may fuel a debate on bits-are-bits / zeros and ones.... Etc.
But since I hear a difference between streaming cables, I can understand why local vs NAS playback may result in subtle nuances.

As I understand it the transcoding option to decode flac to wav is only relevant for external downloads that has to be placed on a nas or a usb stick. I am not even sure if the usb files will be transcoded if they are in flac format.

The  really cool feature if ever there will be future development of the server platform, would be to have the internal rips on the servers in wav format, but to specify that the automated nas backup should be converted to flac. In this way you  you would have the best of both worlds. Wav that may be just a tiny bit better than flac, and a flac library to play in the event of a server  trip home to Naim hq.

I have tried to live with a wav bacup and a squeezebox receiver in about 6 weeks, and it is not the optimal solution.

After  that experience I changed to flac on the internal hd and of course now the backup is also in flac format.

It is funny that many people is almost desperate not to use the internal disk or disks in the servers. In that way you  have some of your music locally if you play spdif or analogue out from the server, and no network breakdown or instability interrupts the music. You also have one automated backup to the nas, 2 for the servers other than Userve. With ssd both these features are gone.The problem with the limitted space on the internal disk, is not really a problem. When you run out of space you just setup a store on  your nas, where new disks are ripped to, like using a SSD model. But at least you have 500 often more albums depending on the size of the internal disk in the servers, on the servers internal disk.

Claus