Idiots guide to Naimuniti

johnny,

IMO:
1. USB give very good results with simple memory key or Hard drive but you have the wire constantly plug in the front panel.
2. Ipod connector (I'havn't any Ipod... probably other users can help you on this.)

3. Streaming unwired
4. Streaming with ethernet
Streaming wired is BETTER than unwired depending of your installation (quality of the wifi network)
I prefer wired if possible.

5. Connecting by cable from pc to Naim directly and best cable to use
I don't know how to do this and if this can work with media player softwares...

I think the best solution for streaming large digital libraries (1) is to go with the UPnP features of the Uniti.
This suppose a network with:
1- storage (on the HD of a computer or in a NAS)(2)
2- UPnP server (software in the computer or built in the Nas)
3- Control application (UPnP control point) eventually in the computer or in an apple device.

These question are actually hardly discussed on this forum:
https://forums.naimaudio.com/ev...2903417/m/1582919337
https://forums.naimaudio.com/ev...2903417/m/9842922437
https://forums.naimaudio.com/ev...2903417/m/7842913437
https://forums.naimaudio.com/ev...2903417/m/6262904437

(1)
from a purely musical quality:
I find the best quality is simply found with a CD in the Uniti.
(lot of my friend (and my wife...) are agree with this.
Going to a streaming solution should be motived by playing hight resolution files 24bits/96kHz or if you want to manage a big library.

(2)
Don't forget to take look at the new Uniti serve.
It's probably a very good streaming partner for the uniti (I've don't try it yet)
But this is also an more expensive solution than using a NAS (or even a computer)(for me in France 2720€, it's 10x the price for a nas, IE a buffalo Linkstation pro 2T = 274€)
There is also the Ripnas products around 1500$...


voila
probably others will give you their contribution and opinion...

Thanks. The reason I ask is that I recently bought a naimuniti but it was faulty. I've been Reading up on the forums over the past week and if I'm honest the feedback has kinda put me off. Mainly the networking difficulties.
What I want is a way of digitizing my extensive cd collection so I can listen in high quality output but manage everything using media player similar to itunes.
I've already Sussed the incompatibility of using iTunes lossless. So I've started using songbird which supports all audio formats but now need to choose a good media server. I believe windows media player doesn't support aac and flac.
So in summary, when apps become available I want a quality system that I could perhaps control with ipad for the graphics etc. I know this is not yet available. So the big qtn.do I persevere with uniti and hope for better software or is analogue amp, quality dac and iPod the way forward(hence initial post asking about the best connection method).

I have a UNITI and it is excellent. I use Foobar to stream flac files and wireless networking is fine through the 2 foot thick stone walls of my house and was very easy to set up. There is plenty of advice in other threads about setting up Foobar - see "Foobar Help Desk" for a start. Just rip to pc or mac and use Plugplayer (or wait for the UNITI app in a few weeks) and iphone/touch to control. Personally I prefer a wireless keyboard and my large tv screen.
Basically you already have the system you desire - looking beyond Apple's walled garden will make things a lot easier for you.

Johnny,

Our final goal is similar.

Actually I test different solutions and after this stage I hope to be able to choose the best hardware,softwares and network settings.

There is a lot of field:

Type of file
I think actually (given I live in a Pc world) the best file type is .wav (.aiff for mac I suppose)
The reasons are of this are:
1- Huge capabilities for storage device (1T or 2T)
2- Best quality on the uniti (even if there seems to be a little less... (I don't finish my test with a wired network)

Ripping
2 solutions
1-ripping with an specific hardware (uniti serve, Ripnas ...
2- ripping with a good software.
I actually test EAC (Easy Audio Copy) with success.
EAC (with correct settings) is very easy and simple to use (one button to push...)
All metadata are automatically found on freedb.

I prefer to search album art manually on internet with google because all software I've tried use small pictures... I can get very beautiful images around 600 pixels or more...

DBpoweamp could be a very good alternative.

Storage
I wait for a demo with the uniti serve. if musical quality is really better this device could be a solution. But as already said this is 10x more expensive than an equivalent Nas.
So this should be carefully verified. (with the price difference I can buy more than 200 CDs)

Software
The Upnp server is not a critical point as all tested (twonky, foobarUpnp, windows media player 11 give good results as server
Itunes haven't in my knowledge any UPnp extension...

Some of them (twonky, foobar) have features as control point software.
As said the Unity cannot be controlled by these softwares.
This point is critical because it could be very useful (and economic) to have in only one software all the manging features even to remote control the player.

I'm also interested in the Apple devices (Ipod touch) and the Naim Nstream application because this could be use in place of the standard remote control given with the uniti.

I've ask to know if equivalent application for PC or Mac will be available. But I've no response.
This could be interesting in place of a media player software like (wmp, itunes etc...

Managing the library
This is the second critical point.
Wav doesn't support extensive tags.
The best results I've obtained are:
1-direct rip in wmp (but I've some doubt about the quality of that rip)
2-rip in EAC and winamp as media manager.
The tags made in eac are pretty basic but that work fine with winamp.
wav are RIFF file type (Resource Interchange File Format. The 'directory entries' are defined by chunks. RIFF files may include a 'LIST' chunk with a HeaderID of 'INFO'. All chunks listed in this 'directory' should be pure ASCII chunks, and give various information on the file. (IE IART=artist) etc.

I don't know if EAC write the chunk or if winamp had a biased technique to find the main tag but that works fine!
(at less for artist, album, track and title...

Unfortunately other software do not recognize these tags (itunes, wmp, or foobar)

Foobar have a good UPnp server but basic tagging for wav doesn't work
Winamp had a very good tags but no UPNP...
ahrg!!!

I will look deeper in foobar for better tag support or for winamp for a good UPnP server/controller...

hope for contributions on these software,

quote:

Originally posted by Pev:
Personally I prefer a wireless keyboard and my large tv screen.

Pev,
what (and how) did you display on your TV?
Where do you store your music (in flac if I understand)
Do you use PlugPlayer as UPnp control point to play file on Pc or a nas to the uniti?

Hi JLD

I have an HDMI cable from my pc to my plasma tv and use that as a monitor for my video/music pc. I use foobar/dark one to manage my music and control that on my screen from a wireless keyboard when I am sat on my sofa on the other side of the room - much better than peering at the tiny UNITI screen! I have an ipod touch so I may get plugplayer or the UNITI app but I'm pretty happy with what I have. I have an optical toslink cable direct from my pc to my UNITI but I can also happily stream to the UNITI from a laptop in another room via my wireless network and using the foobar upnp plugin.
I actually built a dedicated pc for music and video so I could have my perfect spec - HDMI and toslink direct from the motherboard, blu-ray drive, graphics acceleration,1tb internal drive, hifi style case etc. and it cost less than £600 and took a couple of hours to put together. It worked first time and has run perfectly ever since - as the guy in the shop said, building a pc is like Lego with wires!
I did want to archive to WAV but the tagging problems drove me to use flac - I can always batch convert if things change. I find that my EAC rips sound significantly better than playing a CD from the UNITI - I have been amazed how some CDs take an hour or more for a secure rip (including a new one that had only been played once) - imagine how much servo activity/error processing/interpolation the CD drive is doing to serve up music in real time from discs like this! I guess this is why rips can sound better.

Think i will give foobar a try as media server after listening to feedback for use with pc streaming. Ive just bought a My Book World Edition II NAS which apparently has twonky inbuilt so that should work for that.Ive got basic G router for now but intend to use ethernet cables.
Im gonna stick with flac files for now (maybe try wav later) cos its all new and hurting my head. With the above does it sound like i now have all the gear (and no idea)to make this system sing?

Please Can someone just clarify the following:
1. i cannot directly connect pc to naim for audio output using cables???
2. Ipod connection, either by cable or docking station does reduce sound quality??? and
3. Im gonna have to wait for technology to advance before i can use ipad or similar simply to give better graphics/better user interface??

Hi johnnys - yes it looks like you have all the gear to make your system sing.
1.you can connect a pc directly to the UNITI - if your pc doesn't have a direct digital output socket you can use a usb to toslink converter such as the hiface or a cheap generic one from Maplins - there are many threads on this
2. not sure about this but I can't see the benefit of playing music from an ipod into your UNITI if you have a pc or nas connected anyway
3. there is a UNITI app for the ipod/phone due in the next few weeks that may give you better graphics/interface

Hi Pev, Hi johnny

Pev, Thanks you very much for your nice report.
some questions:

1-As you've built you pc yourself (and because I've a big expertise with Legos can you post all specifications (motherboard, etc...)?

2-If I understand you prefer using your TV and not your Ipod touch, do you confirm?

3-In this case how do you stream from the PC to the Uniti?

4-Have you tried to use the UPnP server to launch plays on the uniti inside foobar? (Do you confirm the bug found by Bubbleguum?)
(UPnP control point cannot control the Uniti as renderer)

5-I'm very surprised by the time to rip with EAC. Yes Eac is slow but it take no more than 1/4 hour here.
What are (exactly) your settings for rip process of more than one hour? (or which Cds are concerned?)

Thanks in advance (you're really the man of the situation!

JL

Hi JLD - ok, here goes:
1. Motherboard Asus M4A785-TD-V EVO AMD785G; processor AMD Athlon X4 Quad core; graphics card Asus ATI Radeon HD 4350 1GB; Blu ray drive Samsung 8X BD combo drive; disc drive Western Digital 1TB Caviar Green; case Opera Media Centre. Ancillaries: Windows 7 home premium 64 bit; 4MB DDR3 ram; wireless n pci adapter; wireless keyboard and mouse; and a "silent cooling fan.
The board is a full size atx and has on board HDMI, Toslink and firewire connections - it meant I had to get a rather large case but it squeezes into the bottom of the rack ok. Apart from having more choice of spec, atx boards are generally easier to cool than smaller form factors - it is nearly but not quite inaudible - if it bothered me I'm sure I could get it virtually silent with cooling gizmos. It's way over spec for music and handles all HD video without breaking sweat.
2. yes - I can see the foobar/darkone interface on my tv from my sofa and mostly use the mouse to control it - don't see the need to use my ipod touch.
3. I did try streaming wirelessly to the UNITI and it worked fine from the foobar upnp plugin but as the UNITI is on the same rack, I now connect direct from pc to UNITI via optical toslink. I also run long HDMI and toslink cables round the room from the tv to the pc and UNITI. Having a motherboard with the right inputs and outputs makes life a lot easier! I also stream wirelessly from this pc to a Logitech Squeezebox Boom/subwoofer in the kitchen at the other end of the house without any problems.

4. Haven't tried this, sorry

5. Me too! 9 out of 10 cds rip in 10-15 minutes but a significant minority take ages - I use the EAC settings from the PC Stockton's guide (he is the zen master and guru of digital replay and has led me on the path of righteous music replay -thanks, Patrick!). The last one was Sierra Maestra (Cuban music) which I bought 2 weeks ago, played once and then tried to rip - go figure! Also The Doors' Waiting For The Sun remaster which was pretty new - yet 10 year old much played cds fly through. I find cleaning does help a bit but I still have trouble with visually perfect discs.

Pev,
Thank you very much for all these information...
I've read this with a lot of interest.

Jean-Luc

quote:

Originally posted by Pev:
I use the EAC settings from the PC Stockton's guide (he is the zen master and guru of digital replay and has led me on the path of righteous music replay -thanks, Patrick!)

Pev,
Please can you share the link to this guide?
Thanks in advance
Jean-Luc