set up MacMini as streamer

Should not if using the optical cable out of the express.

> should I be connecting something like a mac mini to the UnitiQute? 

That will definitely work - use a Wireworld Supernova 6 optical cable to connect the new Mac Mini to the UnitiQute and it'll sound great. Much better than you can achieve through Airport Express. 

Install the Bit Perfect app (under £4) on iTunes and it will make sure the settings are optimal for each track you play irrespective of its bit rate/sampling frequency - saves any messing about. 

There are other ways, but this is a very good way to do it. 

Superb album 

This is a different way but now your talking setting up a new computer and third party apps to a guy that says he's new to computer music. I was trying to keep it easier and less intimidating by suggesting the airport express route.

thank you both for your replies.  Here is my situation.  My router (time capsule) is upstairs in my library where it is plugged into my cable.  In my living room, I don't have a cable outlet.  So, I understand how to use the airport express but I have new questions:

1.  If I buy a mac mini and plug it into the uniti as suggested by Guy, how does the music get to the uniti?  My laptop/phone/ipad is the controller, I understand that, but will the mac mini "communicate" with these devices through wifi?  Does it have built in wifi?  And is this no different than just using the airport express?

Use SPDIF to connect to the Qute. Yes the Mini has built-in WiFi.

The difference to using an AE is that the music data now don't travel via WiFi, just the control data.

"Remote" app and the built-in screen sharing work great to control iTunes.

Get BitPerfect app on your Mac for on-the-fly bit-rate changing.

If you really want to go this way, you might be better with a SuperNait, as you are not using the Qute as it was really intended.

also, what format should I rip in?  AIFF or WAV?  Sounds like apple lossless isn't the best choice for me.

You said earlier that your router is a time capsule so you must be a Mac guy, so I would use apple lossless.

The Qute is intended to stream music files from a NAS using UPnP. These are then "played" by the Qute. This is technically different to playing on iTunes and sending the music stream to the Qute via SPDIF. In practice, the differences in operations are actually fairly subtle if everything works well. I much prefer iTunes as a player over everything else I've seen but others disagree. My setup with a Mini is very reliable and trouble-free. The "Remote" app on the iPad is freakin' awesome, and you can also use screen sharing on a Laptop to control iTunes.

> And is this no different than just using the airport express?

Using the new Mac Mini is different from using Airport Express, it will sound much better because of the quality of the two devices. 

You would connect the Mac Mini to your network wirelessly. This is for getting internet services such as iRadio, YouTube and so that your iPod/Phone/Pad can control it. When you rip a CD, iTunes will use this wireless connections to get track details and artwork. The WiFi is present out of the box - you just need to type in your WiFi WPA2 password. 

Download the Remote app so you can control it from your iPod/Phone/Pad. 

You use a Wireworld Supernova 6 optical cable to connect the headphone socket on the Mac Mini to the Qute. In  Audio Midi on the Mac Mini set the output device to optical (this may not show up if you try to use its HDMI port at the same time, this can be overcome, but for now don't use HDMI). 

Now anything you play on the new Mac Mini will go to the Qute as a low jitter stream of bits free from electrical noise along the Wireworld Supernova 6 optical cable. 

You could use any Naim device with a digital in in the same way - SN, SuperUniti, Naim DAC, ND5, NDX. The Mac connect this way will play 24 bit as well as 16 bit recordings. However, iTunes does not automatically configure itself for different bit and sample rates. If you just set it to 24/96 in audio-midi then this works well enough, but Bit Perfect will automatically set it right for you for each individual track. 

If you go for the Mac Mini with SSD then it does everything quickly and is silent. You can attach a Firewire Disk for iTunes (2TB) will hold around 5,000 CDs in lossless format. I would not recommend playing from a Music folder access over WiFi. It will work after a fashion, but negates the main reason for using the Mac Mini. 

As I said previously, this is not the only way to do it, but it works really well. 

The way I use my UQ is with a Vortexbox, but I have a wired connection for this. The sound quality is slightly better than than the Mac Mini, but you have to listen very intently to discern between them. The speakers I'm using with the UQ are very revealing (TD 150s) and other speakers may not show a difference. I wouldn't do it over WiFi. 

My Mac Mini feeds a Naim DAC in my main system because I do not have a wired network downstairs. So I wanted a non-networked way of playing 24 bit recordings. 

It is hard to gauge how difficult/easy somebody else will find this. I work with computers and networks so it comes as second nature, but ask me to assemble flat packed furniture and I'm totally lost (I have with advice from forum members worked out which end of screw driver to hold so I'm improving). 

I hope this is of some help, but a good dealer to supply and install a UnitiQute would be better. 

All the best, Guy

Ken,

My music is now on a 2TB USB drive directly attached to the Mac Mini. I used to have the files on the Mini's own HD, but ran out of space. The same external drive also does backup, so I need to change this soon. I'm thinking of getting a new Mini with a larger hard drive (and get the low-jitter SPDIF stream as a bonus) so I can keep the music on the Mini again and and back-up to the external drive. My ultimate backup is the CDs themselves. I have relatively little downloaded music.

All CD rips are Apple lossless with error correction enabled.

Cheers,

Winky

Don't know about the Uniti and Apple Lossless. Sorry.

If you are an expert at this, then this may be old news.  If you are new to streaming (like me), then this might be helpful for you.

I have been in touch with the people at Naim with the following question:

"The vast majority of our family music listening is via itunes on mobile Apple devices.  I am looking for a solution that works seamlessly with itunes.  It is also essential that the music is lossless, as the main music system will reveal the shortcomings of any compressed music format.

I understand that there are 4 options, each with its pros & cons:

1. WAV: highest sound quality and ideal for the unitiqute.  However, itunes won’t pick up the metadata
2. FLAC: very good sound quality, more compact than WAV and ideal for the UQ, but itunes won’t recognise it
3. AIFF: very good sound quality and ideal for all itunes connected devices, but the UQ won’t recognise it (or so I thought...)
4. ALAC: compatible with all Naim & Apple devices but lowest sound quality

Given the above, is there any way that I can make the Unitiqute and the Apple devices all work off the same shared music folder on the NAS drive with WAV, FLAC or AIFF?"

The reply has been:

"... all our new units including Qute (you need to specify the 192kHz/ALAC/AIFF version when ordering) can Stream ALAC/AIFF so your problem is solved, you can then use one folder and all your Apple products will see the music."

Hence, so long as I buy the 192kHz/ALAC/AIFF version of the UnitiQute, I can rip all CDs to the Synology NAS on AIFF format, then stream them to Naim devices and Apple macs & mobile devices happily from one, common shared music folder. 

This seems to be rather good news.  Apologies again to those streaming experts who may have already known this.

Best regards

FT

If the answer to my (all) streaming and codec issues was to use a Mac, I wouldn't hesitate.

I really don't understand why some people wont simply build a tiny, cheap PC and avoid most if not all issues. 

-Patrick

Many of us do and use linux on server for UPnP music streaming and Plex on the Mac/Linux for video streaming. :-)

Tog

That is also a completely viable solution.... and I would call that a PC regardless of the box i is housed in.

-p

Hi Patrick

Could one answer be that they have endured 25 years of crashing, unstable, unreliable PCs (I started with Windows 386 in the late 1980's!, then went through Windows 3.0, 3.1, 98, XP and now 7) and simply want something that is fully mac compatible?  

No one can justifiably claim that I haven't tried to get on with Windows...

It's really nice these days to have the choice.

Best regards, FT

FT,

you are the one posting a litany issues, shortcomings and pros/cons above.  Not me.  All I am saying is a non-Mac solution would alleviate much of your frustration.

I haven't had any problems with XP and dont remember using a PC for things this complicated on any OS previous to XP.  But that is just me.

I cant help but take your "25 years" comment as hyperbole.  There are enough issues to go around for available operating systems.  There have been plenty of issues with multiple Mac OS.  Not that you will care to recall any of them.  How is Snow Leopard???  From what I hear, from VERY loyal Mac users is, "it is the Vista of Mac OS's".

If I was in your shoes I would buy a cheap ass PC, load J River on it and jam it in a dark closet or basement.  Forget you even have it.

It will stream everything you want (audio, pics, vids) to any device you want.  You can set-up multiple servers, connect to as many zones as you want, and easily stream any codec to your Naim gear.

Or you can enjoy using countless USB-to-Digital converters, strange background programs to make iTunes change sample rates automatically, and constantly wonder if ALAC is really giving you best sound quality.  All the while waiting for Airplay support, then hires Airplay support then....

Just sayin'

-Patrick

Thanks Patrick.  You are evidently more IT savvy than me and I wish you enjoyment from your music, whichever technology you use to deliver it.

The 25 years is not hyperbole.  I really have used Windows PCs for that long and it's a scary thought.  It doesn't make me an expert though, just someone who fancies trying something other than Windows for all home network related tasks.

Is MAC and IOS the right way to go?  Is a Linux operating system based pc better? No idea.  
I don't know a great deal about either, but fancy a crack at going with the mac, which won't feature a USB connection as far as I can tell.  It will be a bit of fun learning about how to make it work too.

Why not Linux?  I wouldn't even know where to start to do it this way.  A friend of ours writes operating systems and application software for smart phones and says that Linux is an excellent way to go.  However, I find dabbling with ethernet cables daunting, let alone building a Linux based machine. I don't have the knowledge to even start.

After a fair bit of reading, I've pulled together a system design that "has everything under control" according to a member of the Naim team, and it is a fun little project to get it working.  The hardware architecture is quite simple really and navigates around many of the man-traps with solutions that others such as Guido Fawkes have been generous enough to share with the rest of us.

Is your pc based solution less expensive and/or better sounding than the mac approach that I have chosen to follow?  I don't know and really don't mind.  If it works for you, great because that's what is important.  What mattered for me in the post above, was the realisation that the AIFF codec can work for both Naim Uniti and Naim ND products, as well as for Apple devices.  I didn't know that it would work with the Unitiqute until today and thought that others, perhaps less knowledgeable than you, might also want to know.

So, I have no desire to knock those who follow the Windows or Linux server approach.  I just wanted to share a key piece of information about the AIFF codec for those who elect to stream music via the mac.

Best regards, FT