Idiots' guide to setting up a NAS as music server

Such a guide would be contrary to the IT workers' code of conduct in making things as incomprehensible as possible.

I used to own a Qnap 209 II, now I run a Synology 209 +.

There should be a number of native stores (folders) on your Qnap, one of which ought to be music.

Install Qnap Finder on your Windows Computer (available on the Qnap website). Then log into your Qnap through Qnap finder. You will need the generic administrator name and the generic password (find that in your documantation). Change the password to your own password. On the Qnap server you may need to install some sort of streaming software (packages). I used Twonky and Squeezebox software. There are other possibilities depending on what hardware you are going to use for streaming/playback.

As far as I remember Qnap has made some guides that you may refer to. They are probably available on their website.

Ripping: Media Monkey worked fine for me as a ripper, tagger. It may also be used for computer playback, although I believe JRiver Media Center provides better SQ playback through its memory playback function. You can rip to a location on your computer or on your NAS once you have it all set up. I rip with "Artist - Album - Track number - Track title" and store in folders under Artist. My Music Playback programmes (Squeezeserver + J River Media Center) have no problem finding track and artist info.

I hope this helps. I'm sure that other good people here will chime in as well.

Best wishes,
Peter

quote:

Originally posted by Rosewind:
...
Ripping: Media Monkey worked fine for me as a ripper, tagger. It may also be used for computer playback, although I believe JRiver Media Center provides better SQ playback through its memory playback function....
Peter

Hi Rosewind -

Am using the same software tools as you, and in the same way!

MM works great for ripping 99% of the time (EAC is my backup for the rare "problem" CD). MM has all of the tools I need to keep my library properly tagged and well organized. JRMC's import facility is quick and easy to use, and as you say, its playback sound quality is excellent!

Hook

Does MM support tagging of WAVs? I just think that if/when I ever get around to doing this properly, I'd want to rip in WAV rather than FLAC as my ears have told me on more than one occasion that FLAC doesn't sound as good. But the only ripper I know of that supports tags in WAV is dbPowerAmp.

Hi Frank.

I once tested whether I could hear a difference between Wav and Flac playback on my livingroom set-up by listening on and on to the same song ripped in Wav and Flac (Blumfeld, "Der Sich Dachte"). I was unable to detect any SQ difference. However, this may be due to my mullet system (Logitech Touch into Aune Dac + old speakers with Nac 252 + Nap 200). An extensive test together with friends would perhaps be in order. And somehow I would expect the major Audiophile communities to pick up this challenge?

As for tagging in Wav, I don't know if this is supported as I have not had any use for it yet. That may change, however, if it becomes conventional wisdom that Wav sounds etter than Flac. Then I will simply batch-convert my entire Flac collection with a program that will tag Wavs. A pain - yes, but it is possible.

Best wishes,
Peter

1. Stick you music on the NAS
2. Tel the NAS to share that music.
3. Enjoy

There are a number of built in "share folders" that come with the QNAP - they are named something like Qmultimedia and Qrecording plus some others. These are basically storage areas for computer data be that music or whatever you like. You can also create and name your own "share folders" via the Access Rights Management menu - do this if you can.

These share folders should appear on your Windows7 machine under "My Computer" as additional drives e.g. F: / G: etc. You may have to map these drives manually via "My Computer" or the QNAP Finder may help you if they don't appear automatically.

Once the share folder is mapped as a drive (e.g. F you can create your own file structure as you would do normally on any PC.

So from a ripping perspective you just need to tell DBPoweramp to write the resulting rip to the drive on your NAS e.g. F:

The format your rip to comes down IMO to how fussy you are about tags (as I can't tell the difference bettween WAV/FLAC although accept some people can) - I rip to FLAC also because FLAC supports tagging very well - you can store the artist and cover art etc actually in the file. I didn't know you could do this WAV files at all but it seems this may be possible (according to one of the above posts). Once ripped I use a separate program (MP3Tag) for writing tags to the files and making sure that are all labelled correctly etc. If you don't sort the tags out then the correct information will not display when you play a track on the streamer.

For the streamer to see the NAS you must be running a UPnP server on the NAS. Twonky is such a server and comes built in to the QNAP NAS. So as long as Twonky is running your Naim streamer will see it once connected - may be some minor config work to do. One key thing is that you have to tell Twonkey which share folder you have ripped all your music to e.g. F:

I wouldn't image your Naim dealer will do this setup for you although you never know - I guess they would want to supply the NAS etc to even consider the config work.

Hope this helped a little - it does help to understand network shares etc - worth a google to get a basic understanding

Jack

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Abela:
Does MM support tagging of WAVs? I just think that if/when I ever get around to doing this properly, I'd want to rip in WAV rather than FLAC as my ears have told me on more than one occasion that FLAC doesn't sound as good. But the only ripper I know of that supports tags in WAV is dbPowerAmp.

Hi Frank -

Just converted one of my FLAC files back to WAV, then used MM to auto-tag it via Amazon.com. Seems to work just fine!

Hook

quote:

Originally posted by ghook2020:

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Abela:
Does MM support tagging of WAVs? I just think that if/when I ever get around to doing this properly, I'd want to rip in WAV rather than FLAC as my ears have told me on more than one occasion that FLAC doesn't sound as good. But the only ripper I know of that supports tags in WAV is dbPowerAmp.

Hi Frank -

Just converted one of my FLAC files back to WAV, then used MM to auto-tag it via Amazon.com. Seems to work just fine!

Hook

Hook

Are the tags actually stored in the WAV-file or 'just' in the MM database?

You could check this with file properties / tab audio properties if you've got dBPoweramp installed.

-
aleg

quote:

Originally posted by Salmon Dave:
Such a guide would be contrary to the IT workers' code of conduct in making things as incomprehensible as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by Jack:
These share folders should appear on your Windows7 machine under "My Computer" as additional drives e.g. F: / G: etc. You may have to map these drives manually via "My Computer" or the QNAP Finder may help you if they don't appear automatically.

Jack

This seems to be the sticking point for me. I don't have any "mapping" option visible from the PC's menu, although the QNAP folders appear on theWindows7 PC Network as shared folders in "another computer". I don't seem able to assign them as Drives with letters from the Windows7 machine. How do I "map" a drive from My Computer?

thanks for all the info so far.

Hi Malcom,

I am at work at the moment where the OS is Windows XP. Here you simply right click on "My Computer" and the map option is then available.

Cannot remember if Windows 7 is different.

Gerry

Not different just orrible

Tog

Doc

On my Windows 7 machine (just horrible as Tog says) I get what you describe. My NAS appears in File Manager as a networked computer. When I click on it the Folders listed on the NAS are displayed as network folders and can be opened as normal to view contents.

regards
Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by Aleg:

quote:

Originally posted by ghook2020:

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Abela:
Does MM support tagging of WAVs? I just think that if/when I ever get around to doing this properly, I'd want to rip in WAV rather than FLAC as my ears have told me on more than one occasion that FLAC doesn't sound as good. But the only ripper I know of that supports tags in WAV is dbPowerAmp.

Hi Frank -

Just converted one of my FLAC files back to WAV, then used MM to auto-tag it via Amazon.com. Seems to work just fine!

Hook

Hook

Are the tags actually stored in the WAV-file or 'just' in the MM database?

You could check this with file properties / tab audio properties if you've got dBPoweramp installed.

-
aleg

Ooops. Sorry Frank, and thank you Aleg. The WAV file's attributes were only stored in MM's database.

Started fresh by ripping a song from a CD into a WAV file. Used MM to auto-tag from amazon.com. Can see the tag info inside of MM, but not when I look at the file using Tag&Rename. If I repeat the process and rip to a FLAC file, all of the tag info is visible using Tag&Rename.

Must try a bit harder to think things through more carefully before posting....

Hook

LOL, thanks for trying anyway Hook.

Jack, you said:

quote:

Once ripped I use a separate program (MP3Tag) for writing tags to the files and making sure that are all labelled correctly etc. If you don't sort the tags out then the correct information will not display when you play a track on the streamer.

I've often wondered how this kind of thing can work. Example: if you have ABBA's Arrival and then ABBA's Greatest Hits and Sounds of the 70's where you also have, say, Waterloo, how does MP3Tag know that Waterloo in each should be tagged differently? Or does it? How does MP3Tag recognise an album from a bunch of tracks in a folder?

If this is too in-depth to spend the time please just say so. It's just that I used iTunes ages ago to rip a lot of discs to a media player (iomega screenplay) and would now like to use that as a drive only but I don't believe there are any tags in the files.

A good UPnP (open source of course) would immediately activate a quality control alarm ...

Tog

Frank,

When you rip the CD it knows which CD the Waterloo track belonged to (it does an Internet look up against the information contained on the CD to identify the album) - the ripper will often create the basic tags, therefore the tag written to the file includes the song title but also the album details. I use MP3Tag to add additional information that may not be added by the ripper e.g. album artwork. So when I open the particular folder with the ripped tracks it shows all the tracks and the album details, therefore it's straight forward to determine which album the particular track belongs to.

However, if you just had a folder with 3 versions of Waterloo and no tag information in the files then it would not be able to determine which album the track came from. The other way that often helps get round this is if you have structured your folder names to reflect arist/album then MP3Tag will display the path to the file and from that you can determine which album it belongs to - you then added it yourself manually.

Hope I got the gist of what you were asking - just give it a try and see what tag information comes up.

Cheers

Jack

If you had three versions of Waterloo you would also be insane. Tagging would be the least of your worries.

Tog

"My, my! At Waterloo I did surrender!"

Frank
To my ears Wav sounds fuller and simply better than Flac. I tried both formats streaming to Uniti.
Bobby

quote:

Originally posted by dzambolaja:
Frank
To my ears Wav sounds fuller and simply better than Flac. I tried both formats streaming to Uniti.
Bobby

+1 Agree with that description of the difference

I tried WAV files via USB stick versus FLAC files delivered from RME 9632's S/PDIF (BNC) to Naim DAC/555PS, and could not hear any difference.

"Fuller" usually translates into better bass articulation, correct? I tried specifically to focus on standing bass lines from some jazz records I know well, and was unable to pick one versus the other.

Could it be that my speakers are not full range (Harbeth C7's only go down to 46hz), and that this fullness is being communicated at lower frequencies than I can hear?

I have no doubt you guys are hearing differences, so am trying to think about what is unique in our setups, and may be contributing factors.

Thanks.

Hook

Hook

My Wilson Benesch Square Two speakers goes from 40 Hz to 24 kHz, so only a little lower than yours.

It is always difficult to communicate a difference in sound. But fuller is the correct term, it gets a bit wider and rounder, a bit more body, where flac is a bit narrower, a bit squeezed together.

I experience a similar difference, but even more pronounced, when switching to Pure Audio on my Oppo when listening to SACD. This setting switches off display and all video electronic components in the Oppo player. The effect is also a rounder, warmer, fuller sound.

-
aleg

quote:

How do I rip to the NAS? What file should I store rips to?, How will the streamer "see" the NAS do I have to install "streamer" software on the NAS?

As you can see my computer skills are minimal. Any idea where I should look for help/instructions?

Also, would setting this up be considered by Naim to be part of the dealer's normal home installation requirement for Naim gear? Or would I be expected to have the network up and running first?

thanks

malcolm

I doubt it would be completely included in cost but certainly your dealer should be able to completely set you up if you purchased a Naim Dac from them and then make sure you knew how to run the darn thing.