NaimNet

Like you Lark I don't get all this net/web enabled stuff but as I imagine it whilst Naim will use your home PC network as a hub I think to get reproduction to the same hi-fidelity we do from separates will require one of the Naim servers. No idea whether it is Mac compatible but I share your intention of music rather than TV. In fact just a couple of minutes ago Mrs Fender and I were in kitchen preparing dinner and listening to Lloyd Cole on the Nait/BWs when Celeb Come Dancing was put on.

Regards

Fender (Strat)

More to the point when is this stuff going to be in the shops?

If the music is in the appropriate format and in the correct directory structure, then yes.

It wil pick up music from shared folders on your network/USB devices, beit MAC/PC/linux.

i heard from naim, that it will be after new year in the shops...so no x mass songs from hard discs...

regards p

quote:

Originally posted by AV@naim:
If the music is in the appropriate format and in the correct directory structure, then yes.

It wil pick up music from shared folders on your network/USB devices, beit MAC/PC/linux.

I am duplicated several 100 cd's and was wondering what that directory structure might be? I am using exact copy to do the job.

Any word when we will get the first units state sides?

No promises–but it might be possible that we'll show one at CES, fingers crossed.

David, well thats a start! Hopefully it will be a production copy

As for the directory structure, what is the correct tag for each title and will naimnet support most compression methods. I know that netstreams will only support WAV & mp3 via their music streaming box, is that the case for Naimnet.

Maybe the US dollar will be worth a bit more by then as well .... See you in Vegas.

All remains to be seen–I'm using Apple Lossless (CDs ripped on a PC, not a Mac, running iTunes 7.x) on a D-Link DNS-323 dual-drive RAID box.

And I have no expectations that it'll work at all with the NS0x servers–but I don't care!

I decided to go radical with the study system of:
- Dedicated music server (fanless PC running linux & Slimserver)
- FLAC lossless encoding - 80GB so far...
- Squeezebox front end (CAT5 wired)
- An old Rotel power amp that I had lying around
- Ceiling mounted Sibling speakers

What the system lacks in absolute fidelity etc (although that said it sounds better than I thought), it gets back in spades with the ease of use and the time we listen whilst cooking (study is openplanned next to the kitchen) and its amazing how many CD's I'd forgotten about.

Now the main system is almost exclusively used for Vinyl with my CD collection listened through the squeezebox.

Would I go the extra mile and spend oodles of cash on a NAIMNet system... no on balance, I prefer my old olives & Gyrodec for proper foot-tapping listening time.

Jonnas.

I am also a big fan of SlimServer. I have the music from the Music Server (QNAP) streamed to the Squeezebox wirelessly and played through a Naim5i in my second system in the bedroom. It was really amazed by the sound quality. I intend to extend it to the kitchen with a low cost amplifier. I would like to see Slim Devices produce an 'all in one' receiver/speaker unit. That would be ideal.

I am also considering using an IPod speaker connected to the Squeezebox.

ASenna04

I think it'll be a chilly day down below when my Mac replaces my 555. As long as I have the use of my legs I think i'll manage to get up and change CDs as required. My iPod is great for travel, at the gym etc but I guess I am not the target audience for the new HD based stuff. Maybe if we move to a much bigger home then the whole NaimNet thing might be relevant, but til then this is one technoligical step which I shall not take.

quote:

Originally posted by David Dever:
All remains to be seen–I'm using Apple Lossless (CDs ripped on a PC, not a Mac, running iTunes 7.x) on a D-Link DNS-323 dual-drive RAID box.

And I have no expectations that it'll work at all with the NS0x servers–but I don't care!

Dave - This looks promising. What did you do for a server - anything exotic such as what Jon did (i.e., fanless PC running Linux and Slimserver)?

Jon - This also looks like a pretty nice option. Anything you would do differently? Suggetions on fanless PCs?

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Exotica:
What did you do for a server ?

"a D-Link DNS-323 dual-drive RAID box."

That is a NAS device....Network Attached Storage

My music storage is a computer running FreeNas, a Unix based operating system.

quote:

Originally posted by Macker:
"a D-Link DNS-323 dual-drive RAID box."

That is a NAS device....Network Attached Storage

Exactly - thus my question concerning the server itself.

Skimming the net, the Exotico Bubba looks pretty interesting. You can attach a NAS device to it as well. Anyone try one of these?

I used to make Yacht PC's first for myself then for friends, so have got a pretty good idea on what works and what is reliable.

I used a VIA EPIA motherboard that sports an power efficient Eden processor. IO've got 1GB memory and a largish hard-drive and a mini ATX PSU. However, DSL and ARCOM make pretty good hardware also.

Straight Debian Linux as the operating system and it works practically out of the respective boxes. I've got some pretty blue perpex cases built for the other project that I use as the enclosure.

Nice thing with Slimserver is that it runs ona webserver, so just enable apache webserver and you can control the music server software from your "grown-up" PC/MAC without needing a display, keyboard, mouse etc for the server. Actually I use my desktop to load the WAV files and encode them to FLAC, then transfer them using samba.

Apart from that, any hints...

I'd suggest going CAT 5 between the music server and the squeeze box, but most of the time wireless works just fine.

All in all, results are MUCH better than expected. Would it be different If I had the money for a 555. No, I think I'd buy a new bathroom instead (or a Raven)!

Anyone need a hand / advice, please email me and I'll lend whatever assistance I can.

Jonnas

That is almost exactly what I have, except I am using an PCI E-Sata control card in a standalone server control box (housing MOBO, processor, HD for OS, etc) . Then each of the 4 ESATA connections are connected to 4 separate boxes that each host 5 plug SATAII port multipliers. While I have not had the need to build the whole thing out, assuming the capacity of 1TB HD's, that gives me gross 25TB's of storage. Once you throw in RAID, its down a bit. Technically, I could double the storage with an additional PCI card, but there is no need for the current foreseeable future. This NAS is connected to my network that will one day be linked to a Netstreams system. However, I am waiting to have it all done at once..... and have been waiting.....

I currently have a separate PC that works as a bit of a media PC that is acoustically and RF loud, so not the best application. I am slowly working on this, planning on moving to a passivly cooled case and a SSD OS HD. There is nothing one can do with the optical drive to shut it up...

So Dave, maybe you can understand now why I CARE about compression methods and filing methods, as I am not too keen on redoing what I have already done and will do

quote:

Originally posted by Jon@blueboxis:
All in all, results are MUCH better than expected. Would it be different If I had the money for a 555. No, I think I'd buy a new bathroom instead (or a Raven)!

Anyone need a hand / advice, please email me and I'll lend whatever assistance I can.

Jonnas - Raven? As in Lynn Olson's Western Electric line-driver with shunt regulation?

As for the offer of advice, etc., that is most gracious. I've been toying with a CAT 5 connected SB / fanless PC music server for a year or so. It has been years since I last installed Linux on a box (e.g., 1994, back in the set of 80 floppies days); this has been the chief impediment to me moving forward along these lines.

quote:

Originally posted by Cjones:

quote:

Originally posted by AV@naim:
If the music is in the appropriate format and in the correct directory structure, then yes.

It wil pick up music from shared folders on your network/USB devices, beit MAC/PC/linux.

I am duplicated several 100 cd's and was wondering what that directory structure might be? I am using exact copy to do the job.

Any word when we will get the first units state sides?

more info soon...

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Exotica:

quote:

Originally posted by Macker:
"a D-Link DNS-323 dual-drive RAID box."

That is a NAS device....Network Attached Storage

Exactly - thus my question concerning the server itself.

Skimming the net, the Exotico Bubba looks pretty interesting. You can attach a NAS device to it as well. Anyone try one of these?

Excuse me if I am being thick but a NAS box is a server...so I think we may be on slightly different wave lengths.

What exactly do you see the difference as being between a server and a NAS box ??

quote:

What exactly do you see the difference as being between a server and a NAS box ??

Some nas are little more than external usb drives with very little processing power. Nonetheless their network interfaces do make them more useful than usb drives. Others have sufficient power and operating systems to run server programs such as SlimServer for SqueezeBox.

Keith

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Exotica:
Jonnas - Raven? As in Lynn Olson's Western Electric line-driver with shunt regulation?

As for the offer of advice, etc., that is most gracious. I've been toying with a CAT 5 connected SB / fanless PC music server for a year or so. It has been years since I last installed Linux on a box (e.g., 1994, back in the set of 80 floppies days); this has been the chief impediment to me moving forward along these lines.

Yes, I remember those days as well. Seemed that you had to raid the disk shop for everything they had!

Now, its a bit simpler. Debian is the one of the standard distributions and can be downloaded as an CD-ROM ISO file. Simply burn that onto a CD to make your boot disk. Then connect the target PC to an Internet connection to load the rest of the op system. Slim Server loads very elegantly by just editing the apt file and it autodownloads and updates the application without having to touch it.

Oh, Raven as in a vinyl playing device.

Jonnas

Why not try the SB with an ReadyNAS NV+. It's not the priciest of buys and they work perfectly together. Not to mention the good feeling knowing that your songs will survive even if a disk dies.

I guess the NaimNet system will provide the better audiophile solution and ease of use, but considering mere storage space and value for money the SB/NAS and a Supernait is a good start before going for an all-Naim system.

So, what do you think is taking so long with NaimNet. The audio side of digital has been pretty solid for a while. It's not like this thing has to worry about HDMI 1.1 or 1.3. I am going to go out on a limb and say its not NAIM and that its the partner...

Wait until NAIM customer get a dose of dealing with them, your going to love your local Naim dealer more than ever!

Maybe the slowing or rather collapse of the US housing market will make them a little more manageable.

quote:

Originally posted by Macker:
Excuse me if I am being thick but a NAS box is a server...so I think we may be on slightly different wave lengths.

What exactly do you see the difference as being between a server and a NAS box ??

Well ... errr ... I was the one being thick.

It is clear that a day ago I didn't properly understand what a NAS was.

For whatever reason, my mental model was that a NAS was merely a box that you could stuff a few drives into that had the capability of being attached to a network and acting as a network drive (with possibly some RAID functionality). I did not realize that the server capabilities were such that you could actually run it as a UPnP, iTunes, or FTP server, run Debian, etc.

My appologies.

There are lots of different NAS boxes out there. We use two at work, one is just a bunch of disks with a network interface that we use as a backup device, the other runs windows XP server which we use rael-time to reduce the storage we need on the main file servers, backup time etc.

They are quite different and have very different price tags. I've noticed a few boxes coming up that are half-way and come with built in I-Tunes server etc.

However, personally prefer my approach of a fanless PC as it gives:
- flexibility to add drives, RAID etc
- Is quiet
- Uses only 25W power (we need to think about the environment at some point!)

However, the attraction of getting something that works straight out of the box is huge. But then again, when did anything IT related ever work straight out of the box!

Jonnas.