Naim HDX

RF, firstly, have you tried calling or emailing Naim support on this?

Hi Richard, Thank you for the reply and yes… have had a few interventions recently. And the unit has only just returned from base.

Do you have an HDX with an internal deive as well as the NAS, or is it the SSD version? If it's the former, does the problem apply to music on the internal drive too? 

Hi Chris,

Yes to the split between internal 500gb and external NAS. The artwork is visible in the NAS system and on the Naim desktop app but not on the player and N-serve app.

What is the file format and the name of the cover art files?

Hi Adam,

Thank you for getting back to me.

The file is the one that the HDX creates when ripping into the system, I believe. jpg for the artwork with wav files for the tracks and AMG report and log docs.

RF

So just to be clear, your Music Store (for CD rips) is on an external drive. Have you ever edited these files using a computer rather than N-Serve or the DTC?

Hi Chris,

The HDX rips the cds... it was an original box and the capacity is 500Gb. Full now and the remainder of the music is on an external NAS.

Hope that helps.

RF

It's fine to use an external drive for CD rips if the internal drive is full. Just checking that you haven't edited any CD rips using a non-Naim interface, as this would damage the database and probably cause problems.

Hi again Chris, 

No to that - only quality Naim kit used…

On the few occasions when my HDX couldn't rip a CD, or when I added a download or ripped DVD-A to my collection, the HDX didn't have any trouble reading and displaying my home made tags (made in dBpoweramp). 

There is nothing special about the way Naim tags files. In fact, it's an inferior method to the universally adopted model. 

Try editing one of your Music Store CDs with a proper tag editor, referencing folder.jpg as the cover art (placed in the same folder as the album tracks). It won't ruin the Naim database. because there isn't one. And if it doesn't work you've only "lost" 1 album. Not that you have really. The HDX can read real tags just fine.

Harry, you may be right, but that seems to be a direct contradiction of Naim's view, as in the manual, and as asserted by Phil H on the forum on several occasions. Hopefully this doesn't matter to the OP, as he says he hasn't edited the database on a non-Naim interface, but I'm curious!

I can only speak from personal experience Chris. Your mileage may vary!

We got a lot of use out of our HDX and loved it. It was one of the first (if not the first) HDX to be retro converted to SSD. If I had known the SSD version was on the horizon when I bought my HDD HDX, I would have waited.

We ran it alongside a CDX2 for a year and to my surprise (but in retrospect predictably) the CDP ended up being a dust collector. What I hadn't foreseen was the potential of HiRes recordings and remasters, which opened up a whole new world to my ears. It was when I started downloading HiRes stuff, some 16/44 stuff, and ripping DVD-As, that I had to learn how to do my own tags. Which turned out to be easy.

It also proved to be rather therapeutic for me, because I gained control of exactly how the tags went in, which tags stayed out, and the correct cover art. It worked reliably and was indexed by the HDX instantly.  Unlike the rather clunky and unreliable DTC or front screen routines of the HDX. There was one album and one 6 CD collection which the HDX refused to tag with anything other than nonsense. In desperation, I went in and found no tags! The HDX doesn't tag files as such. It writes an external tag file and to put it rather bluntly, it doesn't always work properly.

There was, as it turned out, nothing special about the HDX in this regard. It is a rather Micky Mouse model based on a proprietary method which appears to be different, just because it can. There is no logical reason for Naim's model. It doesn't do anything better or more accurately. Nor does it rip more accurately than other applications. Again, dBpoweramp can rip to several levels of selectable accuracy, measured against benchmarks, including bit perfect (claimed). There are many other rippers that will do this.

The HDX is a splendid, if eye wateringly expensive one step solution for ripping, storing, serving and iRadio. It will even play CDs as an X level player. But it doesn't do anything better than anything else. Some things it does less well. Don't be fooled by the marketing.

I have been in similar situations to the OP with the HDX. Rather than waste hours and days trying to get to the bottom of how to fix it, dragging the album to NAS, deleting the Naim tag file, writing my own tags in dBpoweramp and asking the HDX to scan it and index it, always produced perfect results.  When our HDX was converted to SSD, all our music lived on a NAS. The HDX was set to rip to NAS. But the errors still came up from time to time. The Music Store and external tag file system just isn't necessary.

Another blanket solution for bad tags, particularly cover art, is to convert WAV to FLAC. FLAC files are less clunky about cover art (not that a properly tagged WAV file should be problematic). People like FLAC. Some heretics think FLAC sounds inferior to WAV. Me among them.

My HDX is there to play stuff out to SPDIF to NDAC. I wouldnt use it for ripping. I had hoped to move the whole solution forward to Core so bought one back in December/January, but so far that has failed to reach an acceptable level of performance and operation for me. 

From what I understand, the shiny new range still uses the old, proprietary Naim tagging system. An opportunity missed - but not for the marketing department.

Harry posted:

From what I understand, the shiny new range still uses the old, proprietary Naim tagging system. An opportunity missed - but not for the marketing department.

Surely only if you use WAV? If you use FLAC, then all the metadata is embedded in the file itself.

Or did you mean something else?

Hello again...

The proper tag editor you mention. Is there a Mac friendly version or is it a PC only item.

Cheers for all the notes.

RF

Just a thought... have the folders on the external NAS been properly assigned as a store / share etc?

roywferg posted:

Hello again...

The proper tag editor you mention. Is there a Mac friendly version or is it a PC only item.

Cheers for all the notes.

RF

There are probably loads of different ones available, but on Mac I use Metadatics.  It costs a small amount (about £7 IIRC), but does everything I want it to in a way I find easy to use.

^ what he said.

There is a Mac version of dBpoweramp. I don't know but I believe it's a more cut down version of the Windows one.

jon honeyball posted:

Harry posted:

From what I understand, the shiny new range still uses the old, proprietary Naim tagging system. An opportunity missed - but not for the marketing department.

Surely only if you use WAV? If you use FLAC, then all the metadata is embedded in the file itself.

Or did you mean something else?

If you use WAV the metadata is embedded in the file itself. 

Unless you use a Naim ripper. Then it isn't.

Or so I thought. Have Naim finally adopted a proper WAV tag embedding model like the rest of the world uses?

Hi Harry,

Many thanks for the info and yes the NAS is set up as store. Shall ate a bit of time this weekend and see what happens!

Happy Saturday to all…