The Naim players need a server (unless you just want to use its controls and play from a usb stick etc).  If you've got something that doesn't need a server, that's different.

WIth the Naim players, having a server lets you use the Naim App.  It also lets me share the same music library with two different Naim players in opposite ends of my home.

Peter,

You haven't given any info as to what equipment you have (other than a NAS) and you don't list any equipment in your profile.

Rather than guesswork, I suggest you check out Computer Audiophile's Complete Guide to HIFi UPnP/DLNA Network Audio

I was just talking in the general sense, but I think I get the main thing. Use of control point decouples the playing from the control of the playing whereas with using NAS directly the player would also have to be the controller.

Peter Lambert posted:

I have some files on a NAS, I could either run MinimServer or Asset to serve them to a UPNP control point, or I could just point my control point directly to the network share. I know that UPNP is better, but I am not quite clear why. What are the advantages of serving the files using UPNP rather than just serving the files as files ?

UPnP is a communication protocol. A UPnP server makes files available to UPnP clients in much the same way as HTTP servers makes files available to web browsers. The reason for running a UPnP server (Asset, MinimServer, Core's internal UPnP server, etc.) on a computer (NAS, music server, desktop, etc.) is that you want the UPnP server to provide services to clients running on Naim streamers, Chromecast audio devices, TVs, etc. Control points, typically running on mobile devices, are used to control which files the clients request from the servers, send STOP, PAUSE, RESUME, etc. commands to the clients, modify the clients' queues, etc. Thus, it's not a matter of UPnP being better (than what?) The point is that if you want to use a device that interacts with UPnP servers you have to have at least a UPnP server running on a device connected to your network.

Using a UPNP server also allows you to serve files up to mutliple devices - we have Naim devices in three rooms!

Yes, the key bit is as a controller thats controls renderer(s) playing files being served by a server. I was confusing myself just thinking in very simple terms, but for arguments sake if I was installed a Control Point on a PC to actually play music on a PC  would there be any advantage in the PC playing Music served from a UPPNP server rather than just accessing the music on the network drive directly.

Amazingly no-one mentioned the most fundamental - processing / searching by different tags: artist, album, genre, composer, performer, year... Whatever metadata is attached to the files, a UPnP server will make it available.

Try doing that if you only have 'folders' to view

It's essentially a difference analogous to databse management: looking at an output of a data dump vs looking at an elegant way of presenting informaiton in various ways.

To join with Adam, pointing two different server apps at the same music files can be illuminating -- the server determines details of the way files are presented in your control app.  I run the music server app that came with my Synology NAS and MinimServer simultaneously -- the latter presents and organizes files better in the Naim app.

Nick

Adam Zielinski posted:

Amazingly no-one mentioned the most fundamental - processing / searching by different tags: artist, album, genre, composer, performer, year... Whatever metadata is attached to the files, a UPnP server will make it available.

Try doing that if you only have 'folders' to view

It's essentially a difference analogous to databse management: looking at an output of a data dump vs looking at an elegant way of presenting informaiton in various ways.

If I pointed a Control Point at a folder of files, would it not index them itself to show the metadata listed by artist, album ectera ?

Peter Lambert posted:

If I pointed a Control Point at a folder of files, would it not index them itself to show the metadata listed by artist, album ectera ?

What exactly do you mean by 'Control Point' here?

Peter Lambert posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Amazingly no-one mentioned the most fundamental - processing / searching by different tags: artist, album, genre, composer, performer, year... Whatever metadata is attached to the files, a UPnP server will make it available.

Try doing that if you only have 'folders' to view

It's essentially a difference analogous to databse management: looking at an output of a data dump vs looking at an elegant way of presenting informaiton in various ways.

If I pointed a Control Point at a folder of files, would it not index them itself to show the metadata listed by artist, album ectera ?

Peter, the notion of "pointing a control point at a folder" is unknown to me. As Adam explained: a UPnP server exposes to control points a music collection in terms of the folders and of the indexes of that collection.

Indexes are just names that can be associated with values. Examples of indexes are "Conductor", "Artist", "Genre", "Composer", etc. Example of values or tags are "Sir Simon Rattle", "Gidon Kremer", "Instrumental", etc.

With a control point connected to a UPnP server, you can then browse a music collection by navigating through its folder structure or by navigating through its index structure. You can learn the basic terminology, what UPnP servers make possible and how to browse and organize a music collection on:

http://minimserver.com/features.html#Discover

http://minimserver.com/ug-browsing.html

http://minimserver.com/ug-library.html

Peter Lambert posted:

If I pointed a Control Point at a folder of files, would it not index them itself to show the metadata listed by artist, album ectera ?

No.

A DLNA / UPnP control point is the UI for a DLNA / UPnP system.  It selects a DLNA media server, then talks to that server to navigate the tree view of available metadata tags from that server (i.e. the Artist & Album views etc., and this almost always includes a folder view in the same way).  When the user selects playable items from the tree view, it tells the DLNA player / DLNA renderer to play those items.

A DLNA / UPnP control point always talks to a DLNA / UPnP media server, it never reads the files on the drive.

Thanks for the clarification sorry I am getting two things muddled up, using a Control point on a PC, and using a music player on a PC such as Winamp or iTunes.  So maybe my question should have been if I just wanted to play music through computer speakers (heaven forbid)  is their any advantage of using a control point rather than something like Winamp/iTunes (which would directly browse the files and index the metadata in the files). But that question may be null and void anyway because if a control point is always used to control a media renderer would that always have to be a separate piece of hardware , or could the media renderer be a piece of software on the same computer that then plays though the computer hardware, are some control points also media renderers ? 

OK, there are two questions there...

"is their any advantage of using a control point rather than something like Winamp/iTunes (which would directly browse the files and index the metadata in the files)"

In the case of these local media players, they directly access the files and build their own indices.  If you're working on a computer / device with local or network file storage directly accessible, they are fine within the limitations of the the computer / device (N.B. with a really good external DAC setup, these limitation may solely be operational and not in necessarily sound quality - hence people using Audirvana Plus on Mac minis).

"But that question may be null and void anyway because if a control point is always used to control a media renderer would that always have to be a separate piece of hardware , or could the media renderer be a piece of software on the same computer that then plays though the computer hardware, are some control points also media renderers ?"

Yes you could have a software DLNA renderer as a separate piece of software on the same computer as a control point.  In this case...
You could use another DLNA control point (say on a tablet) to connect to and control the software DLNA renderer on the computer.
You could also use the DLNA control point on the computer to connect to and control an external DLNA renderer such as a Naim streamer.
You could also use the DLNA control point on the computer to connect to and control the software DLNA renderer on the computer.
It all depends on which DLNA player / DLNA renderer you select in the Control point's UI.

Great got it.