Asset

Congratulations on the new toy(s)  HH  .............   what QNAP did you get ??  Do you know if QNAP provide regular updates as do Synology ??   I ask because I need to advise a friend as he is moving from US to a NAS,  he is in no rush & will probably get done around the end of this year.  I am pretty well up to speed on Synology but I don't know much about QNAP.    So my friend - I'm looking forward to some progress reports (please)

I've used Asset on friends systems but only facing the app control. I really liked it & apart from art (which I'm not fussed about anyway) so much so I would use it in a heartbeat.    ITR  I'm really disappointed with both Synology & Illustrat (Asset) in that they seem to be at war with each other.  Synology have now dropped Minim as an installed 3rd party option & although Minim can still be installed I wonder if thats going to change.

Qnap seem to update quite regularly, if I recall correctly there have been 2 this year.

It was interesting setting this up for HH as I hadn't seen the Synology interface before. Both are quite similar but on balance I think I preferred the Qnap but this could be down to familiarity.

On balance I would recommend Qnap, just so you have a choice between Minim and Asset which are both very good.

Richard

It's the 253A. I'm sure it's over specified, as it has 4GB of RAM, and can do all sorts of things, like connect to the telly to play 4K movies. My thinking was that if it can do that, it can play my choons. It's certainly a lot easier to find one's way around than it is in the Synology. It's also made of metal rather than plastic. It certainly feels solid, though the drives seem a little noisier, maybe because it's metal. 

Whereas my Synology would never sleep no matter what settings I applied, the QNAP seems happy to go to bed. I just enabled the 'wake on LAN' in the power settings, which I hope is right. 

Music is certainly sounding really good and yes, I am using the Lindy, which now points in the wrong direction...

I have the QNAP fanless HS-251.  While it's fanless, one or both hard drives is 'clicking' or 'clunking' more than I want to hear.  The QNAP OS reports that all hd's are OK, but I wonder.  I could record sound and post it . . . but the sound kinda bugs me.  I do have Asset running on it, but have to admit I've been playing with Minim much more.  The MinimWatch settings process, while powerful I suppose, does have a bit of a learning curve.  I should give Asset a chance; I did pay for it a while back.

I expect I would choose the same if I was playing 4K movies,  but I don't believe its so out of spec even for just audio.  Interesting about the QNAP sleep;  I see its got HHD sleep & Deep Sleep,  nice.     I've pretty well figured out the Synology hibernation,  its simple enough if you are only using it for audio, but lets say its a light sleeper & if you have it with other stuff running,  it does not sleep at all.  I have mine wake up 06:00 to check for updates,  plus it seems to have 3 or 4 other wakeups for reasons I can't track down.     Lindy sell two versions "Up" & "Down"  

Trickydickie,  thanks for info on the regular QNAP updates - useful info 

I only use my Synology for automatic backups, yet it rarely shuts up. Quite annoying really, I suppose I should take a deep breath and hunt for some settings to fiddle with.....or buy a QNAP?!

Chris, as I said, I have managed my Synology to sleep for most of its unused time. I have it set to look for updates each day & on top of that it starts for no reason (that I can diagnose) but now only a few 10 minute periods per day; this I can live with.  That said Synology have been very unhelpful on both hybernation & transcoding when I've raised these issues with them, they seem to not recognise or appreciate the needs of a simple audio only replay requirement, & are more interested in the requirements of business & security users where hibernation is not a requirement or even desirable.  However if anyone is interested I'm happy to share my settings to minimise wake up periods over e-mail. 

HH, congratulations on your new purchases. I have a QNAP HS-251 running Asset and am not very far away from you (Hedge End), so if you need any assistance with either, I would be pleased to help as far as my knowledge will allow.

Mike-B, if I recall correctly QNAP provides updates about once a month.

Thanks, that's really kind of you.

Been using QNAP 251 for almost a year. Good and stable. Software updates - approximately 1 / month.
If any help needed - just fire away - email is in my profile.

I've also got a QNAP HS-251. I only use it for storing movies & music that I can access remotely over 'T internet, via PLEX, but it seems to do the job well enough. I can access it from the Melco, but the music doesn't sound nearly as good as it does from the Melco's own storage.

HH -- have you figured out how to get Asset to sort with the "The" in the Artist field at the end, a la The Beatles under B?  I haven't even tried but thought I'd just piggyback off of you

*EDIT* Ok I'm not THAT lazy; it's the very first setting.  "The' Artist & Album Handling"

What a shame you've found it, as it means I cannot demonstrate my extensive knowledge... It's odd to just select from a drop down rather than pretending to be a programmer, which is what Minin makes me feel. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

What a shame you've found it, as it means I cannot demonstrate my extensive knowledge... It's odd to just select from a drop down rather than pretending to be a programmer, which is what Minin makes me feel. 

The need to use a bunch of { } and [ ] in Minim must mean it is more powerful.  Or that the customer is more powerful after finally placing them in the right place.  Artist.ignore.sort.index={The} seems much more fulfilling.

Sorry to but in HH, but Mike-B I wonder if I could check your sinology settings, I have a DS212+ and it wakes quite regularly even though I think I've disabled/uninstalled most unused items. In fact it was awake when I just went in to check the model number.

Back on topic I use Asset on my Pi and I love it....except I always have to get my wife to install the updates as she is mush more savvy on those Raspberry things than I. 

maccaa posted:

...........   but Mike-B I wonder if I could check your sinology settings, I have a DS212+ and it wakes quite regularly even though I think I've disabled/uninstalled most unused items. In fact it was awake when I just went in to check the model number.

I'll add my e-mail adress in my profile for 24hrs,  contact me & I will forward you a .pdf with my settings & also what might & what I know will keep it awake.     But keep in mind all I use the Synology for is music replay & all I have installed is Media Server & Hyper Backup,  if you have more packages installed the wake ups are liable to be more frequent.    But whatever,  you are more than welcome to see what I have.

maccaa posted:

Sorry to but in HH, but Mike-B I wonder if I could check your sinology settings, I have a DS212+ and it wakes quite regularly even though I think I've disabled/uninstalled most unused items. In fact it was awake when I just went in to check the model number.

Back on topic I use Asset on my Pi and I love it....except I always have to get my wife to install the updates as she is mush more savvy on those Raspberry things than I. 

Butt away, it's fine. I've worked out how to do a differential backup to my USB drive using the button on the front of the nas, and now have two copies. Its just so easy, which I find a bit odd, compared say with backing up a UnitiServe to a nas, which is a bloody nightmare.

It's a bit odd to think that if one assumes that each album is 'worth' £10, my 2,600 albums, worth £26,000, are sitting on a tiny drive I can fit in the palm of my hand. My Golf SV cost only £1,000 more, and it's a lot bigger! 

Thanks HH, Mike has provided a very comprehensive set of suggestions that I will work my way through, hopefully over the weekend. It is,as you say, scary how much music we actually own, but thankfully have never thought about the total cost.....until now .... "Butting in" now officially finished

Mike-B posted:

Chris, as I said, I have managed my Synology to sleep for most of its unused time. I have it set to look for updates each day & on top of that it starts for no reason (that I can diagnose) but now only a few 10 minute periods per day; this I can live with.  That said Synology have been very unhelpful on both hybernation & transcoding when I've raised these issues with them, they seem to not recognise or appreciate the needs of a simple audio only replay requirement, & are more interested in the requirements of business & security users where hibernation is not a requirement or even desirable.  However if anyone is interested I'm happy to share my settings to minimise wake up periods over e-mail. 

Mike, thanks for the offer - if you don't mind sharing, I'd be interested to see what you have discovered. I've put my (doctored) email address on my profile. There's no rush, as I won't be at home for a couple of weeks to change anything.

Hungryhalibut posted:

My old Synology nas has been getting a bit clunky lately so I've treated myself to a new one. I thought I'd try a QNAP for a change, which I set up yesterday - or rather, Trickydickie set it up while I made coffee and looked pathetic (thanks Richard!!) I then paid the princely sum of £21 for a copy of Asset. Unlike MinimServer which took me about two hours of head scratching, it was up and running in about five minutes. 

Unlike Minim, it is really easy to set up to transcode, and it even rescans automatically when you add albums or change anything. And the best thing is that you can tweak it from the iPad without needing to load up the infernal MinimWatch. You can also find your recently added albums, which is great as I'm a forgetful old duffer.

The downside is that it's not so good with album artists and I've needed to tweak a few albums to get them showing properly. 

The QNAP is very speedy, which is good, and it has a button on the front that you can press to back it up to a USB drive, just like the Melco. 

It certainly doesn't sound worse than Minim, and may even be slightly better, I'm not sure. It's certainly louder for some reason, and I need to listen a couple of numbers lower. 

Anyway, it seems jolly good, and thanks again to Richard. 

HH a few have commented including myself that Asset tends to sound better than Minim on network media transfers to Naim. Now the latest version of Asset on the RPi supports DSD then I can now retire MinimServer. Yes the meta data handling is better on Minim but performance wise I prefer the sound of Asset, albeit subtlety.

Simon

ChrisSU posted:

Mike, thanks for the offer - if you don't mind sharing, I'd be interested to see what you have discovered. I've put my (doctored) email address on my profile. There's no rush, as I won't be at home for a couple of weeks to change anything.

OK No Probs ...............  but per above & its late & David Gilmour is playing nice toons .......... manana   

I can't really do a vs. b vs. c comparisons easily, but Asset and Minim sound at least as good as my uServe, to answer Jan's question from a few days ago.  Asset sounds fine.  I'll do some Asset vs. Minim comparisons.  Asset-served music was sounding REALLY good today on my Qute, but I did just realize that the speaker choice was not set to "off" as it should be given that I run a NAP100 with it.  Changing from "large" to "off" made an immediately noticeable difference for the better.

As to the Synology nas sleeping, mine only sleeps when the UnitiServe is off the network.  I don't know what, but the uServe must send something to the nas (which serves uServe backup duty which should only be active once a day) that keeps it from sleeping. 

Is letting the WD Red drives power down the best thing for them however? 

Bart posted:

................     Is letting the WD Red drives power down the best thing for them however? 

As I understand it - from IT colleagues a few years ago w.r.t. laptop care - all HDD wear mechanically & will breakdown eventually.   AS to best practice with running, sleeping/hibernating & off is a matter of balance.   A sleeping HDD has a soft start up whereas a HDD powering up from off involves a start that goes through numbers of passes/sweeps that does involve more stress.  & most drives fail at start up ....... We were instructed to always sleep (close lids) on laptops when not in use & turn off when travelling.   But like I said,  its what I was told & was required to pass the same on as part of my service team & dealer/distributor training.  

The QNAP seems to be sleeping happily following my enabling of wake on lan. That seems to be the only option, whereas the Synology had more complex arrangements for stopping the drives and processor, which never seemed to work anyway. 

If the wake-on-lan is activated then can't the NAS only be woken by either Qfinder (PC) or Qmanager (App)?

If you want to stream media it won't it require an extra action either using Qfinder or Qmanager?

Else I don't believe the control point by itself will be able to wake up the NAS, can someone comment?