Downsizing to Uniti Star

Posted by: statman on 09 September 2018

We are about to downsize from a large house to a condo in another state. I
currently have a 1998-vintage system: Rotel components including a 200 w/ch
power amp driving B&W Nautilus 803s. Also have approx 750 CDs, mostly
classical. None of this will fit in the condo. Solution: I can get comparable
or better sound from a Uniti Star and well-chosen smaller speakers, and
enjoy streaming music as well. Rip the 750 CDs to a USB drive and all will
fit. Before reading this forum I knew nothing about ripping/storing or
streaming, and my knowledge is still shaky. I would greatly appreciate
your help in avoiding blunders.

I will buy the Star when we are settled in the condo. I don't want to take
the CDs with us, so must rip in advance, using dBpoweramp on a PC as
recommended on this forum. This is also necessary because Naim's ripper
cannot handle multi-disc sets, of which I have many. Thanks again to this
forum for telling me that. My plan is as follows:
      1. Use a Western Digital Passport 1TB external USB drive for
          storage -- and another for backup.
      2. Verify that format is NTFS and remove all WD software.
      3. Using dBpoweramp in Secure mode, rip CDs to FLAC files.
      4. When the Star arrives, plug the drive into a USB port, skip
          the format step, and designate as Music Store. Ready to go.

Q1. Is this plan OK? Have I overlooked any pitfalls or left out any steps?
(The CDs will be gone, so I had better do this correctly.)
Q2. Using the Naim app, what ways will I have to organize the FLAC files?
Composer? Performer? Etc. Some on the forum note that the Naim app
does not do well with classical collections. At least one member suggests
that choosing UPnP server mode in Naim input setting gives better
categorization, even though I will not be streaming to other devices.
Is this a good idea?
Q3. Suggestions for speakers would be appreciated. I have a pair of B&W
602 S2s now used in BR. Can I do notably better with newer speakers
of about the same size at a reasonable price (say < $3000)?

Thank you in advance.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by Dan360

If you don't need the CD player, Nova sounds quite a lot better. You should demo both. However if that's a budget buster, I suggest not listening to the Nova :-).

There are lots of experts here on ripping who I'm sure can advise. I have a Uniti 2 in one place and a Nova in my other. Almost never played CDs in the Uniti 2.

FWIW I think if you have Tidal, there's not much practical difference between the CD and the stream (others will disagree strongly YMMV). As long as you have a good bandwidth network connection to the internet.

I ditched all the CD boxes and put all mine in a series of lever-arch files 12 per "page" six slots on each side of each folio. Haven't missed not bothering to rip them as FLAC. I couldn't bring myself to toss them though - they are in the basement.

I do have almost all of them as MP3 which I did over the years for mobile music/itunes. But I can tell the sound difference very clearly if I play those vs Tidal (very inferior). I ditched Apple and went android. I just use spotify and download the tracks I want to my phone for mobile tunes. I use Roon because I like the UI and tidal access. The Naim app is still a bit rubbish and I find it hangs on Android fairly regularly. Spotify works very nicely too, but there is a quality difference. I much prefer that UI, but the sound is better with Tidal/Roon. I can't tell any difference between Roon/tidal and Naim App/tidal.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by hafler3o

"The CDs will be gone". Without them your copies will be illegal (not sure about US law but definitely in Europe). Don't dump the discs as that's your final line of backup.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by ChrisSU

With a classical music collection, I would suggest that once you start ripping with DBPoweramp, you may as well continue to use it rather than changing to a Naim ripper, which has limitations in terms of tagging classical music that you may find frustrating.

A My Passport drive should work fine on the Star, and they are cheap. A 'proper' NAS such as a QNAP or Synology is the traditional approach, but will cost you £250 or more. The main advantage is that you can access it and add files to it on your network without having to unplug it from the Star, and it has other potential uses, but the My Passport will be fine.

If, as I'm suggesting above, you don't need the ripper in the Star, you could consider a Nova or an Atom depending on your budget and needs. Try to get a demo from a decent dealer.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by Bob the Builder

I like the idea of storing CD's less cases in box files I wish I had thought of this perhaps I would have fallen off a ladder and broke my heal whilst lifting a heavy box of CD's plus cases into the loft.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by ChrisSU

Bob the Builder posted:
I like the idea of storing CD's less cases in box files I wish I had thought of this perhaps I would have fallen off a ladder and broke my heal whilst lifting a heavy box of CD's plus cases into the loft.

Not a bad idea, I really hate those tacky plastic 'jewel' cases, and the pile of boxes in the loft is getting bigger.

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by Erich

Don't get rid of the CD's. After ripping, get rid of the boxes and store the CD's in holders including the artwork and liner notes. 750 CD's is not that much. I did this with about 300 CD's when I had to work in different countries while stored the rest of my collection. 300 CD's are stored in 5 holders in about 50 cm in the shelf ( look in the river: cdProjects Faux Leather Zippered CD holder) .

Posted on: 09 September 2018 by Erich

This one stores 400. (from the river: go2buy Disc CD DVD Bluray Storage Holder Solution Binder Sleeves Carrying Case (400 Capacity))

Posted on: 10 September 2018 by Olek_K

I compared atom with star and on classical (say Mahler) difference was big. Atom was struggling with masses of instruments and sound was becoming slightly "confused". I'm rather happy with my star now. But after I rip all my cds I will maybe upgrade to nova

Posted on: 11 September 2018 by gramophone

I bought Star. Great bit of kit though currently upgrading to separates (new Naim streamer NDX2 +Naim pre and power amps).

I agree with the suggestion that you should look at the Nova. If you're gonna rip via PC then no need for Star's CD transport.

Regarding rip storage then integration with new system, of course if you buy Star before move and use that to rip then there shouldn't be any headache. Sure you've considered this.

I found Spendor A4 speakers a v.good match