What to buy-- Unitiserve SSD or 1TB?

I use the 1TB US. 

Works beautifully.

I chose to deploy my Mac Mini for other dedicated duties.

US made sense - not cheap but then Naim often isn't. Serves the other Qutes running in the house.

Ease of use, plug and play - probably the best advice from my dealer was to add US into my system.

Try it for yourself - seem to be way too many negs about it here.

Love my Unitiserve 1TB now with internet radio its got even better,

Not sure why people & so down on on Unitiserve I think its a great product with room to grow,

Yes it is expensive but for easy of use, bullet proof build quality, lovely Naim sound, and

it looks cool next to other Naim kit its worth the outlay, 

Lily I had that same debate with myself and bought the 1TB version and am happy I did.  It works flawlessly (other than occasionally not finding the right album art on the internet database, but that is easy to fix), and I am very happy with it.  I am happy that I could just hook it up and immediately start ripping cd's and listening to music.  I will eventually add a NAS to the system, but at my own pace.  If you get the SSD version you have to add a NAS pretty much right away, as the internal drive has very limited storage capacity.

Also it is very easy to back up the internal hard drive if you don't have a NAS -- just 'copy' and 'paste' (or 'drag and drop') to the destination drive elsewhere on your network and that's it.  (I use a large external hard drive connected via usb to my Macbook; very simple backup.)

Try running an HDX. A "Village Idiot" badge comes free.

Purely on principle and not connected to any real world US experience, I would look at going SSD because the absence of a HDD thrashing about and the comparative simplicity of restoring a failed NAS compared to sending the US back to base. Admittedly this does assume that the SSD will be more reliable - which may be an unsafe assumption. But all things considered I prefer the scaleability, contingency and disaster recovery options of running a NAS. All IMO of course.

> Some claim to hear a difference with wav rips, but FLAC

And some people claim the moon is made of cheese, but I agree with you identical things are the same. 

QNAP, Vortexbox, new Mac Mini/S-PDIF and Naim US all work equally well with the UQ.  They all have their pros and cons, but set up properly will provide a bit perfect stream of music which the UQ will play magnificently. Some will even up-sample and this can sound even better.

When running bit perfectly, the SQ is the same as it is determined by the UQ rather than where you store the music provided, which it is in the case of those mentioned. However, they don't all necessary sound identical because of RFI/EMI considerations, but the difference is imperceptible to me. There are far more significant variables. 

I have no down on the US, it is fine device that does what it say is the manual. It produces rips that are as good as gets, just like XLD or CD Paranoia or dBPowerAmp and other other similar programs and it acts as a trouble free UPnP server. However, as I have a limited budget I prefer to spend it on the DAC/amplification/speakers all of which have more drastic effect on SQ.  I also like to control album art and other data, which is easier for me with an alternative; I can't run a Desktop Client as requires a Windows PC, which I don't have and never will. 

The negative comments on the US probably came from a few with vested interests, not Naim I might add, who claimed its rips sounded better, which of course they don't assuming we believe identical things are the same. 

All the best, Guy

I'm confused - the Serve is server, it serves music, it doesn't play it (unless you are using it S/PDIF out - my understanding was that preferred folk to stream over Ethernet from it to the UQ), the other devices will do exactly the same - honestly. The US doesn't have a linear PSU either which would have been a differentiator to those of us who don't like SMPS.

However, if you like the Serve then go for it, it is well built and has Naim's legendary support and easy to set-up to assure it gives SQ every bit as good as a Vortexbox or Mac Mini. Also your dealer will be installing all Naim components so that is an advantage. 

So given you'd like the Serve then is 1TB enough - a CD on average is about 500 MB (650 when full with around 70 minutes of music). Some of the 1TB is used for system, so you'd get around 1,000 - 1,500 CDs on it so if that is enough then go for HDD. HDD has slightly more mechanical noise than SSD (which is silent) - does this matter? If the slight noise matters and you could put a NAS in other room then SSD is your answer. If you have more than 1,500 CDs then SSD. If you have already ripped all your CDs then SDD. 

I don't think you need a NAS for back-up, hasn't it got a USB port that you can connect a drive to for back-up. 

All the best, Guy 

SSD always costs more than HDD - have a look at Apple Store and you'll see the price goes up when you replace 750 GB HDD with 256 GB SSD in Mac Mini. I think Naim is just charging the difference between SSD and HDD. 

I can understand the need for the Unitiserve if you want a high quality S/PDIF transport to directly drive a DAC but as a UPnP source its rather wasted - something like the Vortexbox will do the job at a quarter of the price. Apart from looking nice next to your UQ, it seems a bit of a waste of 2k albeit it's a plug and play solution.

James

Lilyliu,

I think I understand your feeling well.

Some people are simply naturals at digital (that is, at informatics), so they do not find it exasperating to have to understand, memorize and apply a new knowledge; others would have things as simple as they were with the CD, so they go for Naim's one box solutions instead of following the Pc/Mac route.

I feel a mild curiosity about the new digital world - let's call it the Second Digital Republic - because I have heard that an HD-based system can sound almost as good as a good CD-based one; and I am slowly learning about protocols and formats and connections.

I have recently moved from PC to Mac, which probably means that my mind is slowly adapting to the new horizon by itself; my idea is to continue enjoying my present level of technology until either things will decide for me (CDs and/or CDPs disappear) or new machines will more or less spontaneously find their way into my system.

Many say, and have said, that CD was never a real sonic improvement over LP, and only convenience prompted the market; in this new phase, I find that the differences between CD and PC or streaming audio is much lesser, so I don't think that the future will be too distressing from a purely aural point of view (if such a thing exists).

I am 58 now, have never regretted vinyl, and am reasonably ready to learn a few new things if this will allow me an old age with still a few interesting toys to play with.

What's more, I rely on Naim to continue producing great gear.

Cheers

Max

> I have a MacBook pro, I keep being told a serve will sound better.

But it won't - that is simply not true.

Don't believe all you are told. 

The Vortexbox is 100% fiddle free - it will just work. 

Using it is no different from the serve 

If you've been told otherwise then the person has never used a Vortexbox. 

A good Toslink connection can sound better than a coax with computer audio applications because it eliminates RFI and EMI being made out of glass rather than copper. I have never heard a coax connection sound better than Toslink in a computer audio application. 

The Naim approach works very well and if that is what you want then go for it, but it will not sound better than using a Vortexbox (Ethernet) or new Mac Mini (Toslink S/PDIF). They will all sound as good as each other and that is very good. 

This is different from the vinyl vs. CD argument; but there is complete mythology growing up around digital replay. If you supply your DAC with a very low jitter stream it will not know where this comes from, it will just play it - any differences you hear are from noisy components injected RFI/EMI or polluting the mains through Switched Mode PS.  Check out the PS that are used on Mac Mini, serve and Vortexbox and you'll see which is better; however all of them are fine if connected away from your hi-fi. 

The reason for posting this is I feel you may have been misled, it is not to discourage from buying the excellent Naim UnitiServe. It will look nice with the rest of your kit, is very wel built and has the best guarantee. 

All the best, Guy

+1 to Guido, while digital it does not matter where or how it is stored. It only starts to make a difference when it actually gets transmitted (optical/coaxial) or, more importantly, converted (DAC). Since the UQ plays it by itself, it will not make any difference where it comes from. Providing the network speed is good enough.

And if you do go for a Serve (probably aesthetics? but also easy ripping CD's), go for the SSD version since it will be quiet. Put your music on a simple NAS (with RAID1 set for backup!) somewhere in a closet.

Do know that the UServe is not much more than a well configured MacMini...

"while (in) digital it does not matter where or how it is stored. It only starts to make a difference when it actually gets transmitted..."

Well, yes, because we don't use these devices to back-up data but to playback music, there will be sonic differences. I had found significant differences for the same music file copied/pasted between storage locations in my home and reported this earlier on this forum. UServe, Vortexbox, and macmini, they are all neat solutions, and they will all work fiddle-free once you get used to them; but there will remain sound differences between them.. because of RFI and EMI interactions, which Guido mentions, or because of transmission packet size parameters mentioned elsewhere on this forum, or possibly because of factors not yet mentioned on this forum. Interestingly, differences may fall in favour of different devices in different systems. I admit the differences will not be drastic, but we wouldn't be on this forum, if we did not care about them.

Lilyliu,

you should listen for yourself and decide; and certainly consider other options mentioned here; do not assume UServe will sound better. But if you decide for the UServe, it is certainly advantageous to connect it to your UQ through ethernet than through dig-out.

You say you have a UQ, but you mention NDX twice. Does NDX stand as a prospect purchase for you? I understand that you were told the HDX would not be as good as UServe+NDX. This is not true to my experience. On the contrary, HDX sounded better than this duo in my system (paired with nDAC). The internal dac of HDX is a bit outdated compared to the newer dac designs from Naim, although much better than that of UQ. However, if you insist on a Naim ripping/server solution, then HDX may be on your list, instead of UServe.

Guy and all,

I have googled for Vortexbox and found the site - if I don't go wrong, in its software version it is a dedicated, Linux-based OS that can be installed on an unused PC and makes it a ripping and replaying machine.

Looks interesting, but given the special design of a MacMini it would be nice to use it - can the Vortexbox be installed on Mac, too?

I think that while the US is a charming route to follow (I have one shelf with just a HiCap on it and another half box would fit perfectly...), a MacMini/Vortexbox solution could be a nice way to make streaming audio enter my audio habits and see how it goes.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on this or similar threads.

Max

I can confirm that they sit nicely next to each other.

James,

I suppose Playback is software, I'll go and check with it, thanks.

Keith,

I think that a Naim streamer (are we talking NDX or ND5XS here, aren't we?) will be my source/hub in the future, but t's still the future so far. An NDX will probably substitute for my CDP. Since I do not entirely like the idea of having two different replay systems for digital files (CDP and HD/Streamer), which might engage my time and attention in comparisons, I'd only test a cheap but flawless solution such as a MacMini into my SuperNait's own Dac, using my MacBook as controller - if it can be done. This is why I'd find a MacMini/Vortexbox solution interesting for now. Hope this all makes sense.

Ideally, what I see in my dream future is a machine the like of an NDX that connects directly to the Net where it can receive HD streams of music and directly manage downloads to a HD. A computer made for music with a browser for the Net, and built by Naim. I hope that by then music will be available as live streamings of concerts in CD quality at least, in pay-per-hear formats or something, and that the by then Naim Streamer will not need to use an external PC to reach the net and access music only available to it as stored files.

Nice Sunday to all,

Max