Hi Rez Downloads thru NDX, Naim Streamers?

Where do you presently store your standard res. files that you feed to your NDX?  You can put the hi res files in the same place.  They are on a pc?  How about investing in a small nas?  For relatively little money you can get yourself a nas with a few tb of internal hard drive storage and put all of your music on it and use it to serve to your NDX.

But yes, you can put hi res flac files on a usb thumb drive and plug that into the NDX. It's just not all that convenient.

I'm not really sure what you are questioning.   But agree with Bart,  a USB is not convenient, plus browsing with the remote or front panel is just plain clunky.   An NDX is designed to be partnered with a pukka NAS, UnitiCore or similar,  secondary to that is a PC but is liable to carry noise.   The real plus with NAS/Core/PC is that it enables browsing with the Naim app on smartphone or tablet, far away better than the remote & USB.  A small single bay NAS is smaller than your NDX & is not expensive & ripping CD's on a PC/laptop is easy.  

I ripped all my CD's a long time ago & its a rarity these days.  I see no point in re(up)sampling a 16-bit rip,  it does nothing to SQ that I've heard.    I normally go for the highest res 24-bit download,  but that said its hard to tell if any difference between 96kHz & 192kHz & price might swing that choice.   I also look for DSD & tend to take that as 1st preference if available.   With modern recordings 24-bit is a better SQ than a ripped CD.   The only thing I'm slightly wary of is old classic's originally recorded in analogue;   tape noise is usually still present & remastering does not get rid of it all.    Also remastering can be a mixed bag,  I always look around www for reviews on these before I buy,  although I'll buy blind with a known recording engineer.

You can use USB sticks in the NDX USB ports, but much better to use a NAS on your network and use its UPnP input. This will handle large libraries easily, and is more versatile. Once set up, it is just there, always on and ready to play. Not significantly more expensive that USB storage. Setup can seem a bit complicated if you’re not used to such things, but you only have to do it once. 

Also a NAS gives you album artwork in the Naim app controlling your NDX and a USB stick doesn't.

best

David

Generally speaking, the answer to all the OP’s questions is: YES.

One can load up hi-res material on to a USB stick and play the files using NDX. But... the USB input on NDX is not designed to accomodate large-size drives. Generally it’s OK for memory sticks. 
Another thing to consider is a transfer speed limiation - the higher the resolution, the faster transfer speeds are needed.

I agree with Bart, Mike, Chris and David - a NAS is a far better and convenient solution.

Bailyhill posted:

Hello

I have read the info about the pluses and minus' of Hi Res (the resampling, the 48Khz thing, the remastering issues, analog, etc).  I suspect that there is some really enjoyable content--"the wheat amongst the chaff".  I don't think I want to buy a special unit to do that--there is one that gets high praise.   However, can I download/$ to USB drives these Hi Rez files in say FLAC and play them back at the downloaded Hi Rez (96/24 or 192/24) thru the USB input on the front of my NDX?  From the manual, it sounds like this is so.  Just wondering what the "gotcha" is?  I don't want to download to my pc, as I am an SSD guy, and don't have unlimited space.  I am willing to devote and external SSD to Hi Rez.  I guess there are maybe 100 VHQ files that I would want to listen to. 

I already have TIDAL running on the NDX and its beyond my expectations for good material.  Just wondering if there is a small pot at the end of the rainbow on Hi Rez?

Anybody doing this?  Have the same question into Naim Support for their take.

Bailyhill

As pointed out, a USB drive connected to the NDX is not a convenient solution because the NDX does nor run any UPnP server, just a renderer. You can of course run a UPnP server on a NAS but a NAS is much more than what you actually need.  Simply connect a USB HDD to a networked computer (a Raspberry Pi is more than enough) and run MinimServer on that computer. This will give you the best browsing experience and the greatest flexibility at a very low cost. 

i can easily understand why the op doesn’t want to involve pc.  In that case i would more recommend a naim uniticore or innuos zen.    The only thing to do with pc is to send the downloads from the pc to uniticore or innuos.  The ice of the cake is the straightforward ripping facility.

French Rooster posted:

i can easily understand why the op doesn’t want to involve pc.  ...

Would you mind telling us why?

nbpf posted:

French Rooster posted:

i can easily understand why the op doesn’t want to involve pc.  ...

Would you mind telling us why?

i followed recently the thread by Stephen Tate” dipping into a nas and getting rid of a cd player “.   Stephen related all the problems he had installing a nas and understanding how all is working.   For some persons it is very easy,but not all , specially not so specialized in computers.  Like me....

Hello nbpf

Yes you have hit one of the reasons.  I have not read the Stephen Tate thread, but those problems confound me.  I spend 15 hours a day on the computer for my retirement job, but never had formal training in networking.  Done lots of coding as many have.  Another reason, is that my main passion is Astronomy, I take lots of images, last night it was over 350 of them, store them on Dropbox, but it still has to sync selectively or things can overflow.  I don't want to take up a lot of storage space with my music.  I headed up advanced development for a hard drive company for 7 years, and that made me appreciate the details of a HDD, so I am a SSD guy all the way.  I currently have a 1TB SSD on my laptop.  My observatory computers are all SSD. 

I am hoping that I can download HiRez music using my laptop, but storing it to an external USB drive that I have--acting like a jump drive.  This is a short term solution, as I have pretty much decided that while my cd collection is a meager 50 disks, I will probably get a new Uniti Core when they are available, as my storage for HiRez files and for the 50 or so cd's which I have.  For the rest, I have TIDAL for cd quality music that is not available or not worth the HiRez price.  The forum has been very helpful making that decision.  Thanks all.  I also like the control that the Uniti Core would provide. 

Bailyhill

Do bear in mind that you have more control and flexibility with a nas, and that you can do more than with a Core for a fifth of the price. But of course, it wouldn’t have Naim badge on the front. 

Hello Hungry Halibut

You are right--could do the same of 1/5 the price.  However, I need to have something next to my DAC V1 to balance the looks .  I like to be consistent and the Uniti Core would give me access to Naim Support to get things going and the Naim Ap.  With the Naim Ap, I thing my wife will use the system also.  That would not happen with the pc.  While she is an RN, and does Electronic Med Records and email, she is not going to delve into an error message to figure out how to fix things--nor am I.  When that happens, I call one of my daughters.

One other reason to stay with Naim, is that I find that I can trade in gear pretty easily when I want to upgrade to a higher performing model.  Not the cheapest, as going whole hog at the beginning is the lowest cost, but still an avenue to the future.

Bailyhill

French Rooster posted:

nbpf posted:

French Rooster posted:

i can easily understand why the op doesn’t want to involve pc.  ...

Would you mind telling us why?

i followed recently the thread by Stephen Tate” dipping into a nas and getting rid of a cd player “.   Stephen related all the problems he had installing a nas and understanding how all is working.   For some persons it is very easy,but not all , specially not so specialized in computers.  Like me....

Thanks French Rooster! I actually think that one who is not computer literate will find it easier setting up a NAS or, even simpler, a Raspberry Pi than using a music server like the Core. I might be wrong, of course and my judgement very much depends on my preferences: I do not like to fiddle around with poorly implemented graphical user interfaces, I hate copying files via drag and drop, I cannot stand using proprietary tools that are not in any way better than their open source counterparts and I do not want to have to use a mobile phone or a tablet computer to setup my music server. If one does not care about these issues, then a music server like the Core or like the new Antipodes CX is perhaps a viable choice.

If you use the Core via SPDIF into a DAC, it’s price is easier to justify, as it does a very good job of this, and it’s cash you didn’t spend on a streamer. 

ChrisSU posted:

If you use the Core via SPDIF into a DAC, it’s price is easier to justify, as it does a very good job of this, and it’s cash you didn’t spend on a streamer. 

Very good point! But also keep in mind that the Core's software is far from being state-of-the-art when it comes to metadata management, data backup, restore, export and interoperability. And the time it takes to fix even the most obvious bugs does not inspire much confidence either. It looks nicer than most music servers, though and, as you point out, the SPDIF output is certainly an interesting feature.

Bailyhill posted:

Hello nbpf

Yes you have hit one of the reasons.  I have not read the Stephen Tate thread, but those problems confound me.  I spend 15 hours a day on the computer for my retirement job, but never had formal training in networking.  Done lots of coding as many have.  Another reason, is that my main passion is Astronomy, I take lots of images, last night it was over 350 of them, store them on Dropbox, but it still has to sync selectively or things can overflow.  I don't want to take up a lot of storage space with my music.  I headed up advanced development for a hard drive company for 7 years, and that made me appreciate the details of a HDD, so I am a SSD guy all the way.  I currently have a 1TB SSD on my laptop.  My observatory computers are all SSD. 

I am hoping that I can download HiRez music using my laptop, but storing it to an external USB drive that I have--acting like a jump drive.  This is a short term solution, as I have pretty much decided that while my cd collection is a meager 50 disks, I will probably get a new Uniti Core when they are available, as my storage for HiRez files and for the 50 or so cd's which I have.  For the rest, I have TIDAL for cd quality music that is not available or not worth the HiRez price.  The forum has been very helpful making that decision.  Thanks all.  I also like the control that the Uniti Core would provide. 

Bailyhill

 

 

I also like SSDs.

on a 1TB drive you can store maybe 1500 CD quality downloads or CD rips in .flac format (a lossless compression that dies not lose sound quality), and maybe half as many hi res, depending on how hi (I currently have about 1200 albums in mixed 16/44 and hi res, occupying about 800GB. The best way to download (or rip) is on a computer - anything will do, check that the metadata is right (importanf, and the one thing that sometimes can be a bit of a faff, depending in part on the style of music (xpclassical seems to be worst for incomsistencies), then transfer to the desired drive. And simply play from there.

The options for playing from our store are rather easy: networks these days take nothing other than connecting to set up, modern operating systems and plug’n’play doing all the work. So either a NAS - benefit of designed to be always on and need not be disturbed by you processing or uploading pictures, or can be any computer. However wired connection is considered better than wireless. You already are connected to the internet for tidal - if that is wired, best buy a “network switch” - a device that connects several network cables together - and plug into it the cables from the NDX, the music store and the internet router. If your store is tgen different from the computer, you can plug that in as well, so making it easy to copy downloaded files to the store. If a NAS, it could be fitted with one or more additional drives for photos,  either for main storage or backup.

On the other hand if you go for the Core, noting that you also have a V1 you won’t need the NDX for streaming from the Core because it can render the music and feed direct to the DAC - hiwever I have in mind that the Core can’t access Tidal so if, as it seems, Tidal will remain important for you this would not do. 

from what i read from you or from other threads, i feel that one needs more to use a pc for a nas than for a uniticore or other server/ nas like that.  I may be also wrong, but it is my impression.

But effectively a nas seems more flexible, cheaper, and have more possibilities of handling metadata than a core.    For myself i am very pleased with my serve and will go more for a core later, with ssd drive.