UnitiServe won't play my WMA lossless files?

Posted by: Jeff105 on 09 November 2016

Hi everyone,

I'm a first time Naim user and also new to streaming. Bought a Unitilite, initially with an Innuous Zen Mini until I discovered this would not play Windows formatted files. So I decided to upgrade to a UnitiServe. Having ripped my CD collection I decided to load up the U/S with a couple of files from my laptop ripped using Windows Media Player into WMA lossless format. On advice from Naim support I did this via Windows Explorer, copying two albums initially, into the Downloads folder.

When I try to play these using the Android app I get a message "Can't play. Track skipped". Using the UnitiLite handset to navigate to the same folder I get the slightly fuller message "Can't play. File format not supported". I have double checked the sales blurb on the Naim site and sure enough it states that the U/Serve

"Supports a broad range of music formats: WAV, FLAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF, AAC, Windows Media-formatted files, Ogg Vorbis and MP3"

I have also double checked by playing the same files directly from the laptop using the U/Lite, rather than via the U/Serve, which it does just fine.

Any advice and insights gratefully received.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by hungryhalibut

I would contact Phil Harris at Naim and ask him directly. Less helpfully perhaps, I'd suggest sending the US back if you can, and just using a good nas running MinimServer or Asset. A fifth of the price, better sound (in my experience) and massively increased flexibility.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Jeff105

Thanks for your reply.

Sounds better than a Naim? Are you allowed to say that on here?

Before deciding on a 'proper' music server I had read through reviews of various NAS drives and tentatively chosen the QNAP TS-251 with 2TB WD Red drives, £370ish from amazon. Against that, I seriously doubt my ability to set up computer hardware and software so that everything runs seamlessly. Foolishly perhaps, I thought that buying kit from a renowned manufacturer would absolve me from all such headaches. Also, I had assumed that a passively cooled (and cool looking) black box would be far superior to a plastic box with fans. Also also, I have already spent three days ripping cds onto the U/S.

Phil Harris has already been a great help, taking over my laptop to get through firewalls and such. I'll see what he advises tomorrow.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by hungryhalibut

Don't forget that you still need a nas to back up the serve. And as the nas sounds better, the Serve becomes pointless. It's great for ripping, but in terms of sound quality and flexibility, no.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Jeff - there is nothing wrong with US and QNAP. That's how I run my UnitiServe and QNAP.

From your description it would appear that there is some sort of problem with a file itself.
I have had problems with AIFF files - Phil traced it to a very simple problem. In my case there was a dot (as in . ) at the end of a file name. This confused the server.

Adam

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Jeff105

Hungryhalibut posted:
Don't forget that you still need a nas to back up the serve. And as the nas sounds better, the Serve becomes pointless. It's great for ripping, but in terms of sound quality and flexibility, no.

I wondered about that. So you choose a hifi quality server, then still need to buy, set up, download software and permanently run an NAS to back it up. This does seem to make just sticking to CDs and playing them individually almost a more attractive proposition than all this streaming stuff. *sigh*. It also makes the U/S one very expensive ripper.

Meanwhile Phil has seem my earlier email cri de coeur and replied to it at 21:16 (does the man never decide he is off duty?), advising that although the U/S can recognise and play WMA lossless files the streamers cannot. Specifically Phil advises

"...the streamers do not support WMA audio files in the same way that a UnitiServe does. In this case it may be best to set the Unitiserve UPnP server to "Decode" (under the Tools -> Settings -> UPnP Server settings in Desktop Client then the UnitiServe UPnP server will decode the files to WAV format before sending them to the streamer."

I assume this change once done can be a permanent setting which would not need to be reversed when playing a ripped CD in WAV format from the internal CD Collection. Because if not this once again cuts across the attraction and utility of an easy and seamless experience in playing files from server to streamer, and would soon become tedious.

It is also extremely perplexing to be advised that the U/Lite will play these files directly from the laptop, but not directly from the U/Serve unless transcoded on the fly.

What a tangled web this has quickly become.

Posted on: 09 November 2016 by Jeff105

Adam Zielinski posted:
Jeff - there is nothing wrong with US and QNAP. That's how I run my UnitiServe and QNAP.
From your description it would appear that there is some sort of problem with a file itself.
I have had problems with AIFF files - Phil traced it to a very simple problem. In my case there was a dot (as in . ) at the end of a file name. This confused the server.
Adam

Thanks for your reply Adam.

From Phil's advice quoted above it does seem to be a format wars situation rather than a faulty file description.

I take it you do not prefer to cut out the middleman and just use an NAS?

Posted on: 10 November 2016 by Jeff105

Just to round this off, this morning I followed Phil's guidance and ventured into the settings area of the U/Serve Desktop Client and found that files can be transcoded, or not, according to type. So I changed the entry for transcode WMA from false to true and now listening to Carole King telling me that I've Got a Friend.

Many thanks to Phil.