Upnp Nas device for uniti

Posted by: RM on 05 June 2011

Hi

Can anyone recommend a upnp capable Nas device which I can use for streaming with uniti? Budget max 500 but would prefer a good option around 150 to 200 that is compact and offers a good overall solution.

Sorry I don't know how to use the search function on forum so apologies if this has been discussed previously.

Thanks in advance

Rohit
Posted on: 05 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

Vortexbox IMHO - though it is more a music server par excellence than a NAS though it'll do everything a NAS will do and make the tea. You can buy a ready made one to suit your budget or make one yourself (the software is free). 

 

All the best, Guy 

 

PS - Here is the search engine in action - please click here.

Posted on: 05 June 2011 by Tog
Couldn't have put it better myself Guy x1 Tog
Posted on: 05 June 2011 by Jack
Guy

Is the UPnP server on the Vortexbox basically Twonky or is it something different?

Are you using it to stream to a Naim device, what's your experience?

Cheers
Posted on: 05 June 2011 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Guy, out of interest with Vortexbox can it stream wavs? I looked through config examples on its web site and I could see FLAC bot not WAV? Sorry if a silly question...
Simon
Posted on: 05 June 2011 by Tog
Vortexbox's. UPnP server is MiniDLNA (originally developed from ReadyDLNA) -Twonky was dropped as a supported option over a year ago.

The standard installation is set up for fac with either mp3 or alac (mirrors) - since ripit creates a wav file when it rips I believe the Vortexbox can be configured (at the command line) to keep the wav files for streaming. I think Sonore make music servers that come ready configured this way.

Tog
Posted on: 07 June 2011 by RM
Thanks Guy - much appreciated. Rohit
Posted on: 07 June 2011 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Rohit, I have just purchased a mini asus server that comes with windows home server and 500Gbyte disk (can be added to)  and no fans and very low power consumption. About £240 if you shop around, then you can run asset upnp for around £20. asset sends all the right meta data for N-stream when you play WAV files, ie album art, artist, album and track name as well as support on the fly transcoding for any FLACs you might wavify for your Naim
Simon
Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Peter_RN

Hello Simon & Tog,

 

I don’t know how relevant this may be, but I run a ReadyNAS_nvx that as Tog says is basically a miniDLNA server, similar to Vortexbox.

 

I have never been able to get the NAS server to present WAV files to the Qute for streaming; flac are fine. I don’t use wireless so no experience with the Apps, however, Kinsky DT and Asset CP never show the WAV files for selection.

 

The only time that WAV files have been playable is when I put Asset UPnP on a PC to try. Asset control point (run on a netbook) was then able to see and play the files. This was not an acceptable long-term solution to me though, not wanting to run Asset on another PC.

 

I have not found either Kinsky or Asset control points work reliably when looking directly at the NAS server, they simply stop working after a few tracks or an album if lucky.

 

I am very suspicious of the UPnP server on the NAS, it doesn’t seem to play well with other software, however, it has been virtually faultless when used via the Qute’s remote control now that I have resolved an issue of over large artwork on some files.

 

Regards

Peter

Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Tog
Hi Peter

I think MiniDLNA is indeed derived from ReadyDLNA - written in house for their NAS but MiniDLNA now has a life of it's own. Running on Fedora (Vortexbox) so far I have found it pretty faultless and very quick with flac. The issue of wav is more complex since MiniDLNA does not stream wav "out of the box" and Sonore servers can use wav via dig out or mpd. There is some discussion on the VB forums that I sparked off a few weeks ago as to the potential to transcode to wav and the available settings within MiniDLNA.

A MiniDLNA update has just been issued to Vortexbox.

Tog
Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

Is it a bird, is it plane, no it's a VortexBox. 

Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Peter_RN

Hi Tog

 

Thanks for that, I have asked the question about WAV streaming on the ReadyNAS forum but it has gone unanswered, so your information is appreciated.

 

For me the problem is not having found a control point that will work with it, both Kinsky and Asset C P’s stop working usually after just 1 – 4 tracks have played.

 

However, yesterday after months of searching I stumbled across a C P named 4u2stream, and this has played the NAS files absolutely faultlessly for the past 2 days, 180 tracks yesterday without a single hiccup no matter how I tried to trip it up. The only drawback is that it is text based; artwork is only seen for the playing track so not as easy for others to use.

 

 

Hi Guy

 

Well, that certainly looks the part. I would very happily purchase a separate music server, in fact I would prefer this option; I just need to be sure I can control it with a CP on a netbook. The Userve is the obvious choice I know, but as it’s digital out is said to be no better than the Qute’s, I don’t like the PS or the slot loading CD, I have to look elsewhere.

 

Regards

Peter  

 

 

Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Tog
Hi Peter - if you can go the IPad/IPhone route VB works well with most CP apps including N-Stream.

Hi Guy - the VB appliances are good value but if you search around you can source much better looking and quieter servers for installing your own copy.

Tog
Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Stubby

I'm currently running the Acer aspire easystore H340. This is a Windows Home Server NAS which I am running the Asset UPnP on. Works well for me and I think these can be picked up for about £350.

 

Stuart

Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Hi Peter, yes I tried ReadyDLNA on a readyNAS, it works well, but only for mp3 and not wave or FLAC. Therefore as I want to stream wave for Naim SQ, my answer was Asset UPNP which can run in WHS. wHS machines are small low power device, the Asus one has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU and is the size of a large technical text book (although yesterday Asus announced they were stopping their mini server line) can be had for around £250 new.  Now I can stream, transcode to WAV and I have album art and meta data for WAV in N-Stream and Plug Play which is important for me.
Simon
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Jack

Simon,

 

Interesting, which model of the ASUS did you buy. By the way I am now ripping to uncompressed FLAC rather than WAV (although not streaming). I would not expect there to be any SQ difference compared with WAV and indeed I can't hear any. Might help in narrowing NAS choice if you are happy to rip FLAC.

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Cpdm
I use a netgear readynas duo and it's great also has never fallen off my network yet. Hope that's usefull
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Tog:
Hi Peter - if you can go the IPad/IPhone route VB works well with most CP apps including N-Stream.
Tog

Hello Tog

 

Unfortunately wireless is NOT an option for me. Not a problem as the property is fully wired and has a 24 port Gigabit smartswitch as its backbone. Although, I would not deny the attractiveness of a small remote if it were possible, but a netbook will work well for us, as a large proportion of our music is classical with its usual long lines of text.

 

Peter

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:
Hi Peter, yes I tried ReadyDLNA on a readyNAS, it works well, but only for mp3 and not wave or FLAC. Therefore as I want to stream wave for Naim SQ, my answer was Asset UPNP which can run in WHS. wHS machines are small low power device, the Asus one has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU and is the size of a large technical text book (although yesterday Asus announced they were stopping their mini server line) can be had for around £250 new.  Now I can stream, transcode to WAV and I have album art and meta data for WAV in N-Stream and Plug Play which is important for me.
Simon

Hello Simon

 

Oh, that’s strange; I have never had problems with flac files on the ReadyNAS; that is if I disregard problems I had with some files not playing. This was sorted last week when Av from Naim asked us to check the artwork file size of these files, turned out they were up to 10Mb which is quite crazy really, a quick resizing seems to have completely sorted the problem.

 

I like the idea of the solution you and Stuart, on the post above yours have put in place. It seemed to work well when I briefly tried it on a PC. I really like the idea of a separate dedicated box just for music.

 

Peter

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Cpdm:
I use a netgear readynas duo and it's great also has never fallen off my network yet. Hope that's usefull

Hello Cpdm,

 

Its good to know. Is the Duo able to stream WAV files? I doubt that it can but it has a different OS to mine so would be interesting to know. Are you using a CP to control your streaming?

 

Peter

 

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by RM
Does anyone have experience of using synology ds 211? The reviews are quite good but it's a pain to set up apparently. Cheers
Posted on: 15 June 2011 by garyi

Get a QNAP.

 

Also this is a great resource:

 

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

Posted on: 15 June 2011 by ChrisH
I am using a QNAP NAS to stream to my Uniti, and it works a treat.
It has Twonky pre-installed on it. Some do not like it, but it does the job for me OK.
There are a lot of features on the NAS that I'm not in need of, but it seems to be very robust.
Had a few problems setting it up originally as I could not get the IP addresses set to work, but I think that was more an issue of my lack of knowledge and router iSsues rather than anything to do with the NAS.
Posted on: 15 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

> Some do not like it

 

Always the way I'm afraid - nothing seems to be universally loved by all. 

I know a dude with the QNAP as he's really happy with it. 

You and Gary seem to like yours

So ... it seems a good option

 

Possibly the next best thing to the Vortex. 

 

All the best, Guy