'Audiophile' server into naim amps

quote:

I'm thinking of finally binning the piles and piles of CDs littering the house ..

Which CDs have you got?

Sit and wait for a couple of months, or go to the Summer Sounds and hear what the DAC does. Amazing.

That leaves the front end. Not sure on that at the mo, until Naim start launching new products, or show a roadmap. The HDX is not for me.

In the mean time you can have a play around, rip stuff, 150 quid will get you a SqueezeBox for playing around while you wait.

HTH

John

Step over to distributed audio. HDD replay can be extremely good and now Naim are finally releasing a DAC i'm sure it will gain more acceptance by those who are stil doubting that HDD / Computers can make music equal to CD replay.

Plenty of options depending on budget and what you are looking to finally acheive.

Cheers

James

Simon, I moved to a server based system in early 2007 when I heard that Slim Devices had launched an audiophile version of their Squeezebox, the Transporter. At this time there was not much competition as the traditional audiophile brands had not really entered the market yet. I have been very happy with this decision as the Transporter performs well against some more expensive competition, although I suspect the new Naim DAC will get the better of it. I will continue to use the Transporter as a streamer as I like the UI and am familiar with the Squeezecentre server software.

Simon-C

I've done it exactly what you're siggesting, well Accurate DS, Netgear ReadyNAS and very impressive it is too. I now have my entire CD collection (and some) on the NAS and as an added bonus I can also stream this to the kitchen where we have a Sonos amp.

We control ours using a Nokia n810 tablet, but my son has bought an Itouch which arguably is better.

I've had a few issues, generally minor networking problems and one serious issue when the Twonky software balls-up the NAS, but these have all been sorted.

I can thoroughly recommend this as a course of action. If you have any specific queries, ask away or email me if you want (address in profile)

Gary

Hi Gary and thanks for your comments.

I'm a complete IT numpty and thus am probably going to get a company who specialise in this type of thing to set it up for me, and get them to rip all my cds as well.

They are coming to do a home demo with all the kit and a Majik ds and akurate ds at the end of the month. The plan is to use an ipod touch to control the system as I don't want a laptop / screen. The ripnas appeals as it is silent.

I want it to be as simple as possible and simply play music, with minimal fuss. I may well add a sonos as a kitchen source as well.

I suppose the question is whether the ds source will match or outdo the 588. I might also replace the 82/Hi/180 eventually with a supernait eventually.

Regards

Simon

and an HDX music server is "wrong for you" for what reason ?

From what you have discribed I think it is perfect ?

It manages your ripping, it stores music, it plays back music, it is upgradable, it is one box, it plays network stored music as well...what's not to like ? the price ? for what it does it is great value for money IMHO.

But then what would I know...

quote:

Originally posted by PureHifi:
...what's not to like ?.

In the interests of a balanced argument, lets see:

1. Price. 2. Internal HD. 3 Low capacity internal HD. 4. Does not natively play Apple Lossless. 5. Does not rip to external source. 6. Does not transfer to external source (easily). 7. Quirky & 'unfinished' software. 8. PC & Flash dependent interface & user software. 9. Plastic & screen-less remote. 10. Software & firmware updates dealer dependent. 11. Uses proprietary network protocol - cannot even 'talk' with a same brand NaimUniti using UPnP. 12. Audio bettered for less money in Naim's own range.

I've really wanted one since launch, but points 4,6,7,8 & 10 just keep preventing me from reaching for the Visa...

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Simon-C:
Hi Gary and thanks for your comments.

I'm a complete IT numpty and thus am probably going to get a company who specialise in this type of thing to set it up for me, and get them to rip all my cds as well.

Very wise. I would not have wanted to set ours up from new, even having had it since September it still throws up the odd problem which we need help with. I would also strongly recommend you buy everything through one dealer and have him set the whole thing up for you. We didn't initially realise our dealer offered this service and were considering buying just the DS from our dealer and getting the NAS & N810 elsewhere. Thank goodness we didn't becuase, when we had a problem which was caused by the software, it meant there was no arguing about who's fault it was, our dealer just dealt with it without question.

quote:

They are coming to do a home demo with all the kit and a Majik ds and akurate ds at the end of the month. The plan is to use an ipod touch to control the system as I don't want a laptop / screen. The ripnas appeals as it is silent.

Good, it's fun having a home demo and you should be able to hear the differences. Presumably, you are going to install a basic wired network, so the NAS can go anywhere. In our case it's upstairs in the study where noise is not a problem.

quote:

I suppose the question is whether the ds source will match or outdo the 588. I might also replace the 82/Hi/180 eventually with a supernait eventually.

I can't answer that having never heard a 588, but that's where your home demo will help.

Good luck with it all.

Gary

Its a good idea to get the nas into another room, I have never heard a silent harddrive

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
I have never heard a silent harddrive

And you never will.

Agree . Our Neatgear Ready NAS is nearly as loud as a Sky DH box and that's really saying something!! Not quite as bad as an Xbox mind.

quote:

Originally posted by SC:

quote:

Originally posted by PureHifi:
...what's not to like ?.

In the interests of a balanced argument, lets see:

1. Price. 2. Internal HD. 3 Low capacity internal HD. 4. Does not natively play Apple Lossless. 5. Does not rip to external source. 6. Does not transfer to external source (easily). 7. Quirky & 'unfinished' software. 8. PC & Flash dependent interface & user software. 9. Plastic & screen-less remote. 10. Software & firmware updates dealer dependent. 11. Uses proprietary network protocol - cannot even 'talk' with a same brand NaimUniti using UPnP. 12. Audio bettered for less money in Naim's own range.

I've really wanted one since launch, but points 4,6,7,8 & 10 just keep preventing me from reaching for the Visa...

Steve

Steve, while everything is a personal choice I think that anyone looking at going "computer audio" and is demoing the DS series should at least listen to the HDX.

Aside from price, I've had mine since release and use it nearly every day and would really beg to differ on many of your points.

1. I still do not in any way understand the concern about the internal HDD. Don't know the size of your collection, but I've got 442 Cds ripped to the internal drive and can reach 600 or possibly more based on 33% remaining capacity.

2. New software version will allow ripping directly to NAS and transfer of files from HDD to NAS and vice versa. You don't even need to use the internal HDD if you prefer. Any DS or other computer solution requires the NAS by default.

3. Hard drive is very quiet. I only hear it when it's performing some "computer function" and not when music is playing and I've sat practically onto of it when listening at Promusica.

4. Interface is very good for first run, not perfect and I agree not as "intuitive" as one would like, but with very litle use time it flows and works very well. This UI is much better than the DS and twonky. I've posted all of my comments on the UI issues elsewhere and communicated everything I found to Naim technical support within a couple of weeks after purchase. They were easy to spot once your using the thing daily. I haven't made many stored playlists as that's not really my thing. I come home and add a couple of albums to the Current playlist, shuffle and go. Takes 20 seconds and I'm done for th night.

5. Agree that the remote is useless and I use a leftover tablet PC. However a Nokia Internet Tablet or netbook pc would be a great way to go. I'd personally use the netbook pc for screen size. Obviously software does not support Mac at this point, if that's a deal breaker, well what can one say.

6. Not playing Apple lossless is IMO not an issue as my opinion is that wav sounds better. Otherwise just easily convert your lossless files.

7. Dealer dependent software makes sense and is actually a plus in this case. Naim cannot support every computer glitsch that occurs if you install the software improperly. While it is great to download and go, there are potential issues with data corruption, viruses etc... In fact, your dealer (mine anyway) installed it first on his HDX to make sure there were no issues before sending the disk out to customers since there were other who got access to the internet download who had issues and had to have the machine sent back and reprogrammed. Once my dealer did the install and confirmed it worked properly I had the disk 2 days later. My only beef is that I think that there should be a central registration with Naim and they alert you when an update is available. No reason this is not possible. This way I don't rely on anyone other than the company to notify me and I don't need to follow the forum.

Gary1 (US) - thanks for the feedback, appreciated. To be honest, I was slightly playing devils advocate in balancing the discussion, although some of those points are personally important to me...

However, I have some points to your replies:

1. My basic point, overall, is they (HD) shouldn't really be there in the first place. At the end of the day, they ultimately have a capacity, and more importantly, they have made the job harder for the audio/electronic designers to isolate introduced electronic & physical noise.....I have always argued there should be a small, probably solid state HD in there, to be used as buffer and as a 'temporary' holding space for ripped files, until they are transferred out of the box....

2. New software version ? It was promised in April. Then it was 'on track' for a July release. It is July 10th now and no positive noises. I'm sorry, that doesn't cut it in IT and especially when there are functions and user operability missing in the current software....

5. Well, what can 'I' say - as a professional and consumer user, I have 5 Macs around my apartment. Yes, I can run some emulation software, but, really...

6. I agree with Jon Honeyball - why should I have to ? Whilst I would of course use the HDX to rip many (most) of my CDs, I still have a library of ALAC on my Macs - it would be more than nice to not have to re-rip EVERYTHING....In a similar vein as point 5 above, for £4.5k, the box should fit into MY life, not the other way around...

7. Big issue and somewhat narrow minded of users (living in the west) and Naim in the approach. I'm currently in Bangkok. I wouldn't go near the assigned dealer here with a barge-pole and my nearest preferred dealer is well over 6000 miles away in Leicester UK....So I have to take it back to base every time I want a software update ? Will Naim cover the flight cost ? I'm sorry, I have Mac towers worth well over the cost of the HDX - Apple don't make me take it back to California every time there is a software update - if I'm buying that sort of level of kit, there's a presumption I might know my way around it and how to install some software.... Fine, if you want/need to, take to your dealer, if you don't then please put the downloads online - and stop acting like a nanny....



Other than all that, it's great, init ?!

Steve

Steve

1. You can always run windows and OS on a computer as many people do.

2. While it is annoying about the delays, when have you not seen software from companies delayed or worse they are released with numerous bugs for we the consumer to report on and have fixes done later. I'd rather have Naim try to get it right beforehand if possible.

3. With respect to ALAC to each his own. One of the reasons I've never relied on Apple- they get you locked down.

4. The HDX does need to go back to the dealer. They send you the software and you load via CD into the HDX. Sorry if you misunderstood. Perhaps exceptions for downloads can be made for those with poor dealer access.

5. I understand the issue with any internal HD, but obvously Naim was going after those who didn't want to deal with having any other NAS devices. Would the product have been better sound wise without the internal HDD, who knows. I guess the DAC if sounding good almost rnders the question moot.

I have to say I've listened to many systems as my dealer has the full line including full decked out LP12 and I have to say that IMO the HDX performs much better than what many people are reporting on the forum. For me at least this was an excellent choice, especially coming from a CD5x/FC2x. I might feel differently if I had a CDS3/XPS2(555PS).

6. Price compared to a CDX2 perhaps a little high, but not way off.

Locked down Steve? Get a grip itunes is the most popular player in the world. The format is not locked down there are hundreds of softwares both free and paid for that play apple lossless no bother.

Install the free quicktime and anyone can have lossless. Its like saying MP3 is locked down.

Running windows from a mac is a jolting and painful experience.

Gary,

Would disagree. Apple ALAC is the only software with proprietary licensing all over the place.

I have a Rhapsody subscription for Sonos and can't use Rhapsody to go for my ipod due to licensing issues.

Whats that got to do with lossless which is available to any windows and mac on earth via quicktime?

I can burn convert and rip in apple lossless with no licensing restrictions at all. It may well be proprietary but its hardly locked down.

If you have quicktime installed then you can play ALAC from any application, seems reasonable to me.

quote:

Originally posted by PureHifi:

quote:

Originally posted by fixedwheel:
The HDX is not for me.

and an HDX music server is "wrong for you" for what reason ?

From what you have discribed I think it is perfect ?

It manages your ripping, it stores music, it plays back music, it is upgradable, it is one box, it plays network stored music as well...what's not to like ? the price ? for what it does it is great value for money IMHO.

But then what would I know...

It has two hard drives in it.
I do not want hard drives in my audio enviroment.
The long term reliability of hard drives is shite.
The hard drives are too small. What is the point in integrating storage if you then have to use network storage.
You can't browse all your music seamlessly if you have to put stuff onto the network. (Home, Browse Music, Music Location, Local Server or Network Music)
It has a fan on the chassis that runs when the ambient temp. is 25C.
You have no control over backup of the hard drives to off site storage.
Replacement of the hard drives at a later date is going to be handled how? Charged at what?
I already have huge amounts of storage available on my network, and I have a duplication and backup strategy in place.
The quiescent consumption is not listed in the manual, white papers or on the HDX web page. By contrast it is listed for every NAP or NAIT

How's that list for starters?

John

John

Don't hold back, tell us what you really think

quote:

Originally posted by fixedwheel:
The quiescent consumption is not listed in the manual, white papers or on the HDX web page. By contrast it is listed for every NAP or NAIT
John

At least it has GREEN lights

... but the ear is blind ...

quote:

Originally posted by Naijeru:

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
I have never heard a silent harddrive

And you never will.

Seagate Free Agent Pro.

If you can hear it, Ill eat it.

Of course you can hear it PC, for all your dribbling about sound quality I am astounded frankly you would have it in the listening environment.

Also I am impressed they charge 189 dollars for a mac freeagent pro and 149 for a PC one. The ONLY difference being how it was formatted.