What UPnP server do you use with your Naim streamer?

I use something completely different - Songbook for Mac.  It's absolutely brilliant streaming my itunes library to my Uniti

Logitech Squeezebox Server running on a QNAP NAS - > Transporter - > Naim DAC.

Peter, this seems to be more a stability issue you're experiencing. I haven't used Foobar for long periods to comment on its stability, but have you tried it after you have done the software update on NDX?

Normally, you should be able do exactly what you describe with no problems, using Foobar, as well as using JRiver. (i.e. using them not only as server, but also as control point)

Plenty of UPNP servers can "push" audio to your Naim Player.  The one potential pitfall is gapless replay.  I have only used a few upnp servers and have (obviously) firmly landed on JRiver, so I cant speak to Asset or others.

Give J River another shot.  It will cure all of your ills.  Plus it has the most developed tagging, serving and database functions I have seen.  It only needs to be as bloated or complicated as you desire.  For what it is worth it is nothing in comparison to iTunes regarding "bloat"

Every server will have different functionality, and typically this is where all power lies.  It isn't required to control everything through your Naim player.  I cant speak to Foobar but with J River you can certainly, and easily, send audio wherever you want from within the GUI of the Media Player.

A few methods

1) Right Click on file/album/artist/playlist and "Send to xyz"

2) Select Zone then use the player as you normally would.

3) Use a control point like JRemote and select the zone first, then browse away.

I use 2 and 3 constantly.  Works perfectly.

J River also has a "Library Server" (with sync if desired).  This means you can install J River (no need for additional licenses) on PCs throughout your home and office.  Then you can access your Main/Home library on all PCs.

For example, you could have a NAS at home with all your music that your main PC with JRiver has imported.  Then you can share that to all PCs in your house along with remote computers at work or vacation home.  At work you could then serve those files to a Qute or whatever.

Very nice.

You can even tag, move files, and create playlists and sync changes (or not).

-Patrick

Morning all

iMac (20,000+ tracks Apple Lossless), Apple Airport Extreme, Updated UnitiQute, UnitiServe, CAT5 wired to router, NAP 150, SBLs, iPad as control device of choice.

For streaming iTunes library to 'Qute i found Majestic to be the streaming application of choice. Worked straight off, never drops out, resolves artwork.

Why iTunes when I have a Serve?, well, family with 2 teenagers, assorted iPods plethora of (legal) downloads and requirement to play music 'on the move' it works for us even though all new CD's have to be ripped twice - once to serve and again to iTunes on the iMac.

Incidentally, many, many thanks to Naim Customer support in helping me configure my Buffalo Linkstation Pro NAS (all done in 10 mins using a family netbook due to no (current) availability of Mac desktop client.

Happy!

Morning..I wonder if someone could direct me to Majestic..I can only seem to find a free (old) version which does not work too well. ....thanks.

How do you mean it doesn't work too well ? What's it not doing ?

James

When I tried the free version it would display / play albums ,however all the track listings were in reverse..I could not find a way of correcting this

Strange i don't remember having problems like that - worth trying Yazsoft Playback (again available in a trial version).

James

I had the Twonkey in use, but switched to the much more comfortable Asset UPnP with AssetControl.

Nice.

I stream from my PC using these cool thingys:

And NOPE, I can not hear an influence on the sound.

The sound is utterly stunning, via these boxes or via USB-sticks.

Controlled by n-stream on the 8GB IPOD-Touch.

Hi

Most bizarre - I originally used the free version which worked fine on my iMac/Qute setup and then bought the app when a later version appeared on the App Store. Just checked and its gone!

I think you can still download a free version from the majestic Software web site

Hello TJ,

so would you have some recommendations for us now?

I would be most grateful for further advice on the most suitable UPnP server software for Mac, in particular on:

- Playback (seems to be most recommended software for Mac),

- eyeConnect (is rather slow on my qute and ND5XS, but ok on aother streamer),

- Allegro (is this recommended and up to date?), and

- eLyric (by PS Audio: works fine for me so far)?

Many thanks,

Stefan

Stefan - Depends what you want to do. As a Mac user with an NDX and a library managed by iTunes, Majestic or Playback work the best for me. The only difference between them is Playback sneds higher resolution album artwork to nStream. Unfortunately Majestic seems to be no longer supported by its makers - the link has gone from the app store. I tried E-Lyric but found it wasnt for me. Allegro and Eyeconnect were just awful.

James

Many thanks, James,

if we discard Allegro and eyeConnect (your 'awful'), then Mac users are left with Playback and perhaps eLyric as most suitable server software. The folks at PSaudio (who make eLyric) were very receptive to my email (with eLyric my qute cannot play AIFF, but with another server it can do), so I am having hopes for the next version. Why was it not for you, James? (what am I missing out on, NOT using Playback?)

TJ, what would be most helpful is a comparison chart showing the pros and cons of Playback, eLyric and some others - I am still hoping for your words of wisdom, one month after you started this thread...

Many thanks,

Stefan

I've used playback and twonky on the Mac. Playback seems to have the best iTunes integration and their support was good, when I found a compatibility issue with our products they responded very fast. Twonky is an option too, as far as I remember it was pretty fast albeit with fairly basic config options. I think Twonky is free these days so might be worth giving a go.

(I agree, a comparison chart would be a handy resource. )

Hi Stefan - My problem with eLyric was that it didn't integrate well with my iTunes music library and when started up it wanted to spend a lot of time indexing my library. I like iTunes for its music management and the control it gives me over managing all the iDevices we have in the house (XLD used for ripping). Playback and Majestic just read the iTunes library xml file and are available to serve music about 2 seconds after startup. It's the same when i add a new CD, it's just there once its been ripped, no rescan needed etc. The only thing they lack is transcoding but since i'm running AIFF it's of no concern.

I did try Asset via Crossover Mac but what a faff. Keep it simple is how i like it.

James

Many thanks again, TJ and James!

James, interesting that you use XLD for ripping - did you find iTunes problematic for this?

(so far, I innocently ripped with iTunes to AIFF...).

Regarding eLyric: yes, after new ripping (e.g., via iTunes), eLyric needs to sync with iTunes again, otherwise the new album does not appear. Not too bad, I thought, but I'll tell PSAudio!

Best,

Stefan

Stefan - nothing wrong with iTunes ... nearly every rip with iTunes that I checked against XLD gave the same PCM in the file. XLD was better at recognising my more obscure recordings and it is reassuring to get feedback on the quality of the rip. However, unless you have ripped without error correction in iTunes then I'd stick with the AIFFs you have. Give XLD a go and you'll see the bells and whistles it has.

Lastly if you have any HDCDs then get somebody with dBPA on a PC to rip them and you'll get the full 20-bit resolution. Unfortunately, you can't rip HDCDs in this way on a Mac thanks to Microsoft not putting HDCD.exe source code in the public domain. 

All the best, Guy 

Thank you, Guido - this helps!

My temporary Mac-based streaming system takes shape now! It sound great anyway: Mac running eLyric (or later Playback) and streaming to ND5XS / 282 / 200 (at other times I just play the AIFFs directly from my iPod).

Until a fully SSD-based HD5XS comes along...

Best,

Stefan

I'd agree that iTunes does a good job on pristine discs but I tend to buy a lot of used discs and prefer the security that XLD gives on these discs - on a less than pristine disc, XLD may take 10-15 mins where iTunes will breeze through in a few minutes. Call me paranoid 

Plex Media server.

Even in Beta state, it works like a charm. Pretty fast, good iTunes integration.

I've switched from Playback because I wasn't able to get the album cover on the N-Stream app.

I'll take a look at Plex. Playback artwork issues are normally down to artwork not embedded in the music files.

James

The Qnap software annoyed me enough so I've gone to a Synology NAS. Got the 212+. Much better software. Works splendidly with my squeezebox. :-)