Am I insane? Minim Vs Asset

On my Qnap, I prefer the minim over asset. What's worse, unitiserv beats them both.

The SQ, if you find a variance, is in my experience caused by the media software coupling with the host's operating system and hardware. Therefore you may find the same software sounding different on different platforms. Deep down I have analyzed why this might be the case and I can see that differences between inter frame timing on media transfers of identical media can affect SQ. these interframe timings vary with different software/hardware platforms.

I do find such SQ changes relatively subtle and seem to vary on different firmware builds on the streamers.

Simon

I used to use Minim on a Synology, then switched to Asset on a Qnap. I can't say that I noticed a difference. Asset certainly didn't sound worse, but I can't say it sounded better either. If the difference is that big, it sounds as though something was awry with the Minim setup. As to what that could be, no idea. 

On my Synology I've run their native Media Serve, Minimserver & jerry rigged Asset,  I could not detect any difference in SQ.  I am back to Syn's Media Serve,  simple, no fuss & factory support.  

I run both and can't tell a difference. Both of them crushed HDX-SSD, which sounded rather poor in comparison. There are lots of variables at work, not least our individual ears, and your exact situation will be unique to you. If you can hear a difference there is one. If you prefer the sound of Minimserver, then it's the better of the two for you. In this instance, your ears are all that matters.

I can easily switch back and forth between Minim on a Synology nas and Asset on a QNAP nas. I don't hear any differences.  I seem to be preferring the Asset interface, so I use that as my primary source.  The Synology is backup.  All music is on both nas boxes for redundancy.  

I tried both and stayed with asset. Minimserver is good specially for those listening mainly to clasic music. Seems that minim manage tags better (?).

For musical result ...

What makes me stick to asset is the ability to upscale all the files to wave 24 bit. Then it is a clear winner for me. Flac files converted on the go to wave (favoured with Naim) and in 24 bit - wonderfull.

Then well installed, as i previously had an HDX, i could achieve a better result with the NAS solution.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

The SQ, if you find a variance, is in my experience caused by the media software coupling with the host's operating system and hardware. Therefore you may find the same software sounding different on different platforms. Deep down I have analyzed why this might be the case and I can see that differences between inter frame timing on media transfers of identical media can affect SQ. these interframe timings vary with different software/hardware platforms.

I do find such SQ changes relatively subtle and seem to vary on different firmware builds on the streamers.

Simon

I did notice that the minim was set to transcode to wav24 while asset is just transcoding to wav.

I wonder if its an upsampling issue? 

I've never set Asset to transode to WAV 24, just to WAV. How can it upscale and sound better if there were only 16 bits in the first place? If anyone could explain that would be great. 

If the internal architecture of the DAC was 24bit, then the DAC would have to do the upscaling. It's possible that Asset handles this better than the DAC, or vice versa.

EDIT: Actually, thinking about it some more, upsampling the bit depth would probably just involve padding with zero's, so that's not going to make any difference if done in the DAC or Asset, it would be sample rate conversion that would be more problematic and results vary by the quality of upsampling.

Ikoun posted:

 

What makes me stick to asset is the ability to upscale all the files to wave 24 bit. Then it is a clear winner for me. Flac files converted on the go to wave (favoured with Naim) and in 24 bit - wonderfull.

Probably worth mentioning that MinimServer can also do this using the MinimStreamer extension.

Upscaling 16bit to 24bit has a potential to make the output sound different. Some people's different is other people's better. Have a listen if curious. 

Hi Michael,

Sounds like you've made a series of changes:

Minim > Asset;
Laptop > NAS; and
Wireless > Wired?

My personal experience is that any changes I have made in server software have led to small variations in what I have heard.
Changes in platform can have larger effects.
I have never run wireless, but the change here is normally described as very positive.

For me, most recently a got a positive effect by moving my server software off my Synology NAS and onto a Raspberry Pi 3, powered by a LPSU.

M

Mr Underhill posted:

Hi Michael,

Sounds like you've made a series of changes:

Minim > Asset;
Laptop > NAS; and
Wireless > Wired?

My personal experience is that any changes I have made in server software have led to small variations in what I have heard.
Changes in platform can have larger effects.
I have never run wireless, but the change here is normally described as very positive.

For me, most recently a got a positive effect by moving my server software off my Synology NAS and onto a Raspberry Pi 3, powered by a LPSU.

M

It was only Minim to Asset. Everything else was the same as before. (WD drives for Qnap are on way)

I've come to the conclusion that it was because of the minim transcoding at 24bit and the asset transcoding to 16bit.

At 16 bit the music sounds more natural

I notice a SQ difference between the native Synology Media server and Minim on the same DS214play NAS. I find the Synology media server more direct,  more prominent bass and more air between the instruments. Minim has more depth in its presentation and is more balanced. (very difficult to put in words this is...) Of course we are talking details here but the difference is there. I keep using Minim because I can configure the way of browsing exactly as I like and in the long run, the balanced presentation wins.... I use native WAV files, no transcoding.