Dipping toes into the NAS (world) with no clue and getting rid of the CD player

Stephen do you have access to a yoof or a computer-literate person who knows this stuff? If you know it you know it and you just do it, but typing out an explanation and what to do if this happens and if something else happens do this guide is a waste of everybody's time tbh. Someone fluent in computers would have this sorted in half an hour.

An offer of payment either in cash or kind never goes amiss. For guidance I willingly accept a bottle of wine for sorting out PC problems and anything related to bicycles etc. The bigger the job the better the wine obvs...

Farm it out to someone who gets it, make sure you note down passwords and userIDs and how to reconnect it if it stops, and you're there. 

Stephen Tate posted:

Thanks IB.

If I can't the thing working tomorrow then I think I will be sending it back and getting a Rega deck instead. I just want to listen to music at the end of the day and not be faffing around with complications.

<slight rant>

Stephen , like you I found it very difficult and very frustrating when I started streaming I was working at the time and fortunately one of he chaps from the IT department sorted it for me.

When I purchased my new system three years ago I also found the dealer very helpful in sorting out a few issues I had.

I would persevere and get it up and running and enjoy the ease and convenience of streaming well worth it in the end.

Whilst a lot of people say it is easy it is only easy if you know how to do it.

Best of luck.

Richard has already provided guidance, and I’m sure will help further if required. 

It’s why I bought the Uniti Core, just plug into the network and the App finds it and my Nova or Muso.....and that’s it just play music. Yes, more expensive, but life is too short for frustration, especially when all I want to do is relax with the music.

Gazza posted:

It’s why I bought the Uniti Core, just plug into the network and the App finds it and my Nova or Muso.....and that’s it just play music. Yes, more expensive, but life is too short for frustration, especially when all I want to do is relax with the music.

Same here works for me.

Hungryhalibut posted:

Richard has already provided guidance, and I’m sure will help further if required. 

Indeed, and I'm sure it's been gratefully received but there's a difference trying to follow something parrot-fashion with little or no understanding of why, when an experienced person could just waltz through it knowing what to do when it doesn't work as expected. I can follow recipes, but cooking is harder work...

Streaming is a rewarding and efficient way of accessing music and is v pleasurable once it all works. It'd be a shame to bin the whole idea just because the techie bit can be a bit awkward.

Hi all,

Thank you to everyone for all your support, indeed i'm finding it all a bit difficult to get going but I very much appreciate this forum and all of it's members for all their help and guidance. I will get there in the end, it's just a matter of getting to know what the hell is going on. I've still at this moment made no further progress because i'm busy but i'm sure I will. I have just finished a very hard week at work and i'm (at this moment) just enjoying my CD5si for music making.

I'll be back...

Many thanks

I have just discovered a ( and probably not allowed to be discovered or discussed) tweak. My surface mount  mains back box had become loose and this is where my [now] CD player and amp are both plugged into (which is screwed into plasterboard/stud work). Before tightening the screws, I  have decided to de-couple it ( the back box) from the plaster board wall with some foam ear plugs, in between the box and wall, before re-tightening (just tight) the screws. I have found (to me) this has made an appreciable upgrade with the CD5si and Nait 5si for very little money and i am busy enjoying this moment before tackling the Qnap again. 

Thanks

Hungryhalibut posted:

Richard has already provided guidance, and I’m sure will help further if required. 

Yes, thank you HH. I have further contacted Richard for some guidance, he has kindly offered me his assistance via E-mail, which is great. I hope to be up and running soon. 

Thanks

Hi,

a quick update ; 

firstly, i have to say a very special thank you to Trickie Dickie for helping me set-up my Qnap with Asset - it took Richard well over a good hour of his time!  I have to say that he went way beyond the call of duty and thanks to his expertise i'm now up and running, I can't thank him enough, what a guy!

I shall have a play around with it all tomorrow and try to become familiar with everything and then report back. I have lots of learning to do and hopefully I won't be making too many mistakes along the way.

How exciting!

Cheers all

Pcd posted:

Gazza posted:

It’s why I bought the Uniti Core, just plug into the network and the App finds it and my Nova or Muso.....and that’s it just play music. Yes, more expensive, but life is too short for frustration, especially when all I want to do is relax with the music.

Same here works for me.

This has crossed my mind and I think with hindsight I should of done the same, but i'm here now and with some help/ guidance from some this forum's amazingly helpful members, especially with the wizardry skills from Richard (aka Trickey Dickey), it can be done. I knew I was going in too deep for my own good as I have no computer background skills whatsoever but 'ho hum' here I am...

I just need to wait for Naim to release their new ND5 XS 2 network player now. I would like to of stretched myself and try to go for the NDX2 but it's just too financially challenging for me at this present time!

At least, in the meantime, I now have some time to rip my CDs and get used to navigating my way around a NAS device.

Thanks all

Glad it’s working out for you. I think the ND5 XS2 will be fine, and when funds permit you can always add a DAC to improve it further....perhaps taking its performance to the NDX2 level.

Pcd posted:

Stephen Tate posted:

Thanks IB.

If I can't the thing working tomorrow then I think I will be sending it back and getting a Rega deck instead. I just want to listen to music at the end of the day and not be faffing around with complications.

<slight rant>

Stephen , like you I found it very difficult and very frustrating when I started streaming I was working at the time and fortunately one of he chaps from the IT department sorted it for me.

When I purchased my new system three years ago I also found the dealer very helpful in sorting out a few issues I had.

I would persevere and get it up and running and enjoy the ease and convenience of streaming well worth it in the end.

Whilst a lot of people say it is easy it is only easy if you know how to do it.

Best of luck.

Yes, things are easy to a person who does these things day in day out, a bit like a professional snooker player who makes potting balls look stupidly easy and it probably is albeit with years and years of experience!

As Winston Churchill once said: " the key to success is to go from one failure to the next with the same amount of enthusiasm". 

Hi,

One question I do have is - how do I play music from the NAS? Do I have to wait for the Naim streamer?

Thanks

Yes, you have to wait. 

Ok, thanks HH.

Stephen Tate posted:

Hi,

One question I do have is - how do I play music from the NAS? Do I have to wait for the Naim streamer?

Thanks

Your computer should be able to find the NAS on your network, so you can play your music from there into your existing DAC until you have chosen your new system. You could use one if the many free audio apps such as VLC on your computer. No complicated setup required!!

Indeed, Chris is right, all a NAS is is a set of hard disk drives connected to your home network with a tiny little computer for management functions, and fashionably these days running little media servers and other little applications. Most consumer NAS by default are set to advertise their presence on your home network so other devices such as computers can find them without you needing to get too involved with configuration. Therefore your computer might show your NAS as network storage on your file manager or equivalent... if you have stored music files like FLAC or WAV there, you can play these back from your computer with its media player... just like the file was stored in your computers disc drive.

All your streamer will be doing when it comes will be (with its app) is looking for a UPnP media server on your home network... which you may indeed run on your NAS as many do on this forum. Internally your NAS media server is simply reading the media files as described above like a regular computer would, but your UPnP media server is using a specific set of protocols that help a streamer spool and play the media files as a stream of data rather than as a data file.

Sorry folks, another question - how do I copy music from my laptop to the NAS?

I can't see anything obvious...i'm really starting to think I should of got a Core, i'm finding  all this just too complicated. It's one of the reasons why I have never owned a smart phone, I just can't get on with them, i'm starting to feel the same with a NAS.

Thanks

Find both folders on your computer, and just copy & paste or drag & drop from one to the other. Simple. If there are a lot of them, I usually do them in batches as it can take a while. 

ChrisSU posted:

Find both folders on your computer, and just copy & paste or drag & drop from one to the other. Simple. If there are a lot of them, I usually do them in batches as it can take a while. 

Not sure what OS you’re using, but you may need to start by opening  ‘network’ or somesuch.

Hi Chris,

Do I just drag the music folder to the Qnap drive?

I don't really understand what you mean.

Thanks

I have Windows 10.

Stephen Tate posted:

Sorry folks, another question - how do I copy music from my laptop to the NAS?

I can't see anything obvious...i'm really starting to think I should of got a Core, i'm finding  all this just too complicated. It's one of the reasons why I have never owned a smart phone, I just can't get on with them, i'm starting to feel the same with a NAS.

Thanks

for sure, the core is more elegant and simple to use.  Like you i hate computers and would never go for a nas.  It is ugly, make noise, and you need to go to your pc with it.

But if you can put it in other room, it’s better.     But it saves you some cash vs the uniticore solution.

Try perhaps to be patient, wait some days more and after you will decide if you keep your nas.

The guys in this forum who advised you the nas are computer friendly. For them it is very simple.    But the core will give you also some difficulties at the beginning, but overall it is simpler.

I don't think buying a Core would necessarily make life any easier. Some level of computer know-how would be required to get yhat going! Stephen, if you can drag and drop files from one place to another it might be best to get a portable USB drive (basically a big USB stick) and use that to manually backup your music stored on the NAS.