Software choice for NAS

Posted by: Mark Richardson on 08 June 2011

Have recently moved into streaming and naim both for the first time. Enjoying the experience, but there are a plethora of questions to be answered. I've got an NDX and a Synology DS211 NAS. The NDX can pick music up from the NAS when directly connected. That's the full extent of the testing I've done so far (as still ripping my CD collection onto the NAS using dBpoweramp). The question I have is whether the software packaged with Synology (a DLNA/UPnP media server plus audiostation music player/streamer) will do as good a job as any other music streaming software. If not what are the differences I should look out for in selecting a replacement. Thanks for any help offered
Posted on: 08 June 2011 by Tog
It has quite a good reputation but IMHO NAS drives lack the overall processing power to be long term servers, You would do better using a dedicated server with a dual core Atom with 2Gb of Ram. Your choice of UPnP software would be much wider and your system more responsive. Tog
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Jack

Ideally a one box solution would be ideal so I would give the Synology a try and see how it goes. You need to be cognisant of the ripping format. If you rip in WAV you may find you are likely to be limited in terms of native strreaming (i.e. without transcoding) - FLAC tends to be more universal when it comes to UPnP streaming - you can rip FLAC uncompressed with dBpoweramp

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Peter_RN

Hello Mark

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

I would suggest you stop ripping for now and carry out a few listening tests to satisfy yourself that your chosen file format is satisfactory for your needs. Can you hear a difference between different formats? The good thing is that you can always use dbPoweramp to convert between formats if you need to.

 

You appear to suggest that the NAS is directly connected, unusual but not impossible; how will it be connected in normal use? I would try and put your network in place and then ensure that your chosen means of controlling the stream works to your satisfaction.  At that point you should have a good idea as to whether or not the NAS you have will work for you. It may not be possible to change the server built into the NAS, I don’t know if its possible on the one you have.

 

Personally I agree with Togs point, I am not satisfied with my NAS and will be looking for a more flexible solution.

 

Hope yours works well for you.

 

Regards

Peter

 

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Guido Fawkes

I too agree with Tog and I'm thinking Vortexbox could be the answer .... 

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by jbua5150
I have been using my synology ds211j for months without issue to my UnitiQute. I also stream to many other uPnp clients without ANY issues. The synology is set to transcode all my music (flac and m4a) to wav.  I have zero problems with the ds211j streaming to 3-5 devices simultaneously. I hardly see the need for a dual core/2gb type of pc. What are you needing that processing power for!?
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Nagoya

Jbua, what control point do you use when streaming with the Qute? Thanks!

Posted on: 09 June 2011 by jbua5150
I use my iPhone with the n-Stream app mostly. I also use the supplied remote.
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by lhau
DS211 works great. I rip all to aiff format and serves to uniti and iMac no problem. Wav would have been good but no tagging so.
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by Tog
I think that reasonably powered servers are more responsive. The beauty of a Vortexbox server is the speed and quality of the software updates - almost daily. Tog
Posted on: 09 June 2011 by lhau
What are the updates for? And what does it do that the da doesn't?
Posted on: 10 June 2011 by Tog
It's a Linux thing - lots of people working on, testing, requesting new features and improving the software from OS (Fedora 14) to the individual components. Basically it provides all the advantages of a NAS with the flexibility of non proprietary software and the power of a proper server. I'm not easily impressed but seriously it is pretty superb. Tog
Posted on: 14 June 2011 by Mark Richardson

Thanks for responses - will suspend the ripping & try out the network options & see if that prompts further enquiries.