Itunes Streaming Question

Are you storing music on the phone, or just using it as a controller for music stored on the computer or elsewhere?  

As a first step, you can instal a UPnP server, or Roon, on the computer, and that will play music on the Nova, controlled by either Naim or Roon app on your phone. You might consider moving the music to a NAS, but the server and control software would remain the same. 

Hej hej,

• So you have your iTunes library on the Mac and a sync/copy of it on your iPhone.
  -> Go to iTunes, select your iPhone as a device, and check the "Options" part on the main screen for the iPhone.
  -> There's an option to convert (higher bitrate) music towards AAC (with selectable bitrate), which by default is "on/checked".
  1. If it's checked, all music is "downsized" to lossy AAC codec if applicable.
     Background for this option is, that traditionally the phones had (way) less space than the Macs and if you use the built-in speaker or most headphones you won't see a difference between an ALAC/... and an AAC when played from the phone. (And this option helps save plenty of space on the mobile devices, especially for large lossless libraries.)
  2. If it's unchecked ("off"), you'll have 1:1 copies of your iTunes library on the phone.
     -> Then you can stream Airplay with the same quality as from the Mac.
• Remote app - yes, exactly: let's you remote control iTunes on a Mac.
  
  • This way you stream the quality stored in iTunes, irrespective of which copies you have on the phone.
  • It saves quite some battery on the phone.
  • However, the Mac must be switched on, of course.

Hope this helps.

AirPlay always transmits audio using Apple's own (mathematically) lossless ALAC codec (pretty much like FLAC) with 16 bits and 44.1 kHz, e.g. CD quality. So there is generally no degradation in quality. All audio files that macOS iTunes can play are also syncable to/playable on iOS devices. You only have to make sure that the audio files are not transcoded to AAC when syncing to the iPhone (http://www.ilounge.com/index.p...to-ipod-as-aac-files).

Philipp VH,

That's exactly right, thanks.  My files are saved on my Mac, and while my iPhone is cloud-linked to the Mac, I have not downloaded all the files to the phone; while the titles are visible, most are in the Cloud and not (as far as I know) physically on the phone. I assume this means that when I use my phone to stream music to the Uniti, I am getting nothing more than Apple's 256 size for any file that is not losslessly copied to my phone.  If, however, I merely use the phone as a remote to control my desktop, I assume that via Airplay I can stream any file from my Mac to the Uniti at its actual file size.

Unfortunately I do not see the Device/Options/conversion option in iTunes you describe - would I need to connect my phone via a cable?  If I understand you correctly, I suspect that if I were to do as you suggest, my iPhone's 128GB would immediately be used up by my music files, which are around 1TB.  

Thanks again.

Yes, you have to connect the iPhone via cable. You can the set the option to sync via WiFi (to be able to sync w/o a cable) and set all other device options. Size-wise, I would recommend ALAC as storage format inside iTunes. It is mathematically lossless but compressed so it is a good compromise between quality and file size. You can recompress your uncompressed CD rips to ALAC by setting the import settings to Apple Lossless Encoder (in General Settings > Import Settings button > Import Using: Apple Lossless Encoder) and then use the File menu > Convert > Create ALAC version (select the files to convert first) and then removing the uncompressed files.

If you use the iTunes remote app or the music app on your phone and select home sharing, then you can access your music on your Mac and select the Nova as the Airplay destination.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Until I can sort out a wired connection, I’m thinking of copying my iTunes library to a USB drive and plugging that directly into the Nova. Yet another question: will I need any software in order for the Nova (or my phone/remote) to “see” what’s on the USB drive?  How would this show up on the Naim app that I use to control the Nova? Thanks again.

Really the most basic of answers is that when you move fully to nas-based music replay, you need to be DONE with iTunes.  There is ZERO reason to try to incorporate its use, and it'll only cause you issues.

You mentioned your current iTunes library.  What format are the files in -- AAC or Apple lossless or some of each?  Because even your humble Nova will be handcuffed if you're using AAC files as they are "lossy" and a good bit of the musical goodness has been stripped away to make the files smaller.

I speak from experience.  I had a decent iTunes library, but when I bought my first Naim system I started re-acquiring all music in a lossless format. My old iTunes library still lives online, but it's not been updated in about 5 years now.

Bart posted:

Really the most basic of answers is that when you move fully to nas-based music replay, you need to be DONE with iTunes.  There is ZERO reason to try to incorporate its use, and it'll only cause you issues.

You mentioned your current iTunes library.  What format are the files in -- AAC or Apple lossless or some of each?  Because even your humble Nova will be handcuffed if you're using AAC files as they are "lossy" and a good bit of the musical goodness has been stripped away to make the files smaller.

I speak from experience.  I had a decent iTunes library, but when I bought my first Naim system I started re-acquiring all music in a lossless format. My old iTunes library still lives online, but it's not been updated in about 5 years now.

If you are not updating your iTunes library, how do you accommodate listening when “on the move”?

I would install MinimServer on the Mac and use the Naim app on the phone to control what is playing on the Nova.  This will approximate the experience you will have with a NAS.  

Continue using iTunes only if you sync songs to your phone for playing the phone while offline into headphones or a dock-speaker, etc.

I have been a Mac and iTunes/AirPlay user since dawning days — MinimServer is the way to go, on a Mac or on a NAS, playing on a Naim player.  There are other options, but this is where I have settled, happily.

Nick

I agree 100%, but that's a project that will take a while in light of how much music I have.  In the interim, just looking for an easy non-wireless way to access that library (which is  a mix of Apple lossless and AAC) and send not to the Nova, and wondered about the practicalities of simply plugging in a USB drive that houses my iTunes library and what I might need to do.  Thanks. 

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

ynwa250505 posted:

Bart posted:

Really the most basic of answers is that when you move fully to nas-based music replay, you need to be DONE with iTunes.  There is ZERO reason to try to incorporate its use, and it'll only cause you issues.

You mentioned your current iTunes library.  What format are the files in -- AAC or Apple lossless or some of each?  Because even your humble Nova will be handcuffed if you're using AAC files as they are "lossy" and a good bit of the musical goodness has been stripped away to make the files smaller.

I speak from experience.  I had a decent iTunes library, but when I bought my first Naim system I started re-acquiring all music in a lossless format. My old iTunes library still lives online, but it's not been updated in about 5 years now.

If you are not updating your iTunes library, how do you accommodate listening when “on the move”?

I just listen to the music I've had access to all along . . . there are a few hundred albums in there and I dont do a LOT of listening 'on the move' via my phone, so those are there, plus internet radio, which suffices for me.

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

Yes, depending on the metadata associated with the files on the USB drive.  Wherever your files are, absent a service like Roon that substitutes its own metadata for yours (if you want it to), no system will report more info than is contained in the metadata itself.

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Until I can sort out a wired connection, I’m thinking of copying my iTunes library to a USB drive and plugging that directly into the Nova. Yet another question: will I need any software in order for the Nova (or my phone/remote) to “see” what’s on the USB drive?  How would this show up on the Naim app that I use to control the Nova? Thanks again.

The Nova should work just fine playing from files copied to a USB drive in the front or rear USB port. You don't need any extra software. Just make sure you use a drive formatted in Fat32 (many drives are pre-formatted in Fat32 when you buy them). 

If you open the USB input on the Naim app, you will see your music, but sometimes the metadata is not readable. A better solution is to open the settings menu and enable 'server mode' and then find the USB drive in the server input. 

kdl6769 posted:

 If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? 

In the Naim app, on the remote control, or on the front panel of the Nova itself, you select USB as the input. Then, probably easiest from the app on your phone, you just navigate the file tree and pick something to play. The local storage just shows up, you don’t have to do anything (in fact if you choose USB input with no stick or disc connected, it tells you there is no media).

It is also possible to enable UPnP streaming from your Nova, and then the attached media (USB stick or disc) is scanned and made available just as if you had a UPnP server because that’s what it is... only here, you aren’t really “going” anywhere (as the Nova is “serving itself”)... but your navigation options on the app (only) are nicer since the metadata is there to help you view things. This is a very easy way to see how your future streaming solution might work.

Lots to try, and much of it is easier to do than to write, to be honest! Have fun.

Regards alan

ps - if your Nova is running on wifi and your internet streaming from Tidal or radio (eg Radio Paradise) is working okay, you should not hesitate to install Minim on your Mac, point it at your iTunes directory, then see how different things are between streaming local content from Nova to itself vs almost-local content from your Mac in the office... also easy, also a worthwhile experiment.

edit: ninja’d by ChrisSU!

Thanks to all for the very helpful answers.

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

I have never heard that anybody has been satisfied doing this.  Because you are presenting  files directly to the player, without using a server app to make the most of your metadata, navigation is crude, at best.

I do recommend copying a lossless AIFF or WAV album or two to thumb drives, to use as a baseline for best possible sound quality from the Nova.  Your other methods should be held to this standard — if SQ falls short, you can then decide if you care, and take steps to close the gap by eliminating problems and compromises in your particular setup.

I wish I had learned earlier precisely why iTunes is not the ideal ripper (album cover is not embedded to metadata).  I have had to transcode all of my old AIFF rips using the XLD app to fix this, album by album.  Not a huge deal, but it takes some time and care, especially since I have to delete and re-add each album to iTunes, to continue to support syncing to phones.

Enjoy the journey.

Nick

NickSeattle posted:

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

I have never heard that anybody has been satisfied doing this.  Because you are presenting  files directly to the player, without using a server app to make the most of your metadata, navigation is crude, at best.

Ah, well, maybe it's just me: but I did exactly that: copy my iTunes (music) library (mostly ALAC and AAC, some MP3) to an external drive (now: a 500GB SSD, more on the "cheap" side than "expensive") and use the inbuilt "local media content" view.

The metadata is sufficient enough for all the normal stuff in navigation.

Only thing messed up: my Atom does not evaluate the "disk x of y", which mixes up sequence of titles on a multi-CD album. (I have mixed them into 1, without using separate titles.)

Works pretty well - and you don't need server mode for that. (You only need that, when other devices shall access the music on the Nova when it's sleeping.)

Bart posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

Bart posted:

Really the most basic of answers is that when you move fully to nas-based music replay, you need to be DONE with iTunes.  There is ZERO reason to try to incorporate its use, and it'll only cause you issues.

You mentioned your current iTunes library.  What format are the files in -- AAC or Apple lossless or some of each?  Because even your humble Nova will be handcuffed if you're using AAC files as they are "lossy" and a good bit of the musical goodness has been stripped away to make the files smaller.

I speak from experience.  I had a decent iTunes library, but when I bought my first Naim system I started re-acquiring all music in a lossless format. My old iTunes library still lives online, but it's not been updated in about 5 years now.

If you are not updating your iTunes library, how do you accommodate listening when “on the move”?

I just listen to the music I've had access to all along . . . there are a few hundred albums in there and I dont do a LOT of listening 'on the move' via my phone, so those are there, plus internet radio, which suffices for me.

Understood - thanks ...

NickSeattle posted:

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

I have never heard that anybody has been satisfied doing this.  Because you are presenting  files directly to the player, without using a server app to make the most of your metadata, navigation is crude, at best.

 

Except that with the new Naim streamers, they have server software of their own which you can point at the USB drive to enable you to navigate the metadata properly. (It also allows other UPnP streamers on your network to access these music files.)

ChrisSU posted:

NickSeattle posted:

kdl6769 posted:

Thanks. I am asking a sightly different question (I think!). If I copy my music library to a USB drive and physically attach that drive to the Nova, how do I see and control what's on the USB drive? At this point my Mac is out of the picture. Will the Naim app see what's on the USB drive?

I have never heard that anybody has been satisfied doing this.  Because you are presenting  files directly to the player, without using a server app to make the most of your metadata, navigation is crude, at best.

 

Except that with the new Naim streamers, they have server software of their own which you can point at the USB drive to enable you to navigate the metadata properly. (It also allows other UPnP streamers on your network to access these music files.)

Interesting, and good to know.  I still prefer a network solution, myself; but I can see why the USB approach appeals to some.  I assume you would need to move the drive connector from the streamer to a computer when adding or changing music on it.

Nick

Yes, you need to remove the drive and use a computer to add or edit music. Also, I'm not sure how well it would handle a very large library compared to a NAS. Still, it works well, and could potentially be all you need. Nice that it makes the files available over your network too, and being UPnP, other (non-Naim) streamers can access it too.