If the NDX can SELECT tracks from USB, why can't I just plug an external HD into its USB?

Jon, You can't navigate several thousand tracks on a hard drive plugged into the USB slot - you've got a manual, so you must know that's not what it's for.

This is going to sound harsh, but your recent posts here suggest you're only interested in buying more and more Naim boxes for the sake of it - without much of a clue how they even work, let alone considering how they might sound, or whether they're right for you. All the gear, no idea, as they say.

You're making computer audio appear really complicated, when it's simple. If you're really stuck with the Naim options, just ask your dealer to help you out. Alternatively, you could do what most of the world does and just use iTunes. Hook up something like a Mac Mini to your Naim DAC, and you're done.

ATB,

CC

Jon

This became the main discussion on this recent thread and if you go up a few posts from the bottom Phil Harris from Naim explained why it is not possible to do as you are asking;

https://forums.naimaudio.com/di.../lastReply#lastReply

I think that will help you

regards

Geoff

Jon

Just plug a NAS into your router, switch on, job done

There is no point ripping a standard red book cd at anything other than kts native format, and dont let anyone tell you differently.

Hi Jon,

Browsing through my collection it's around an average of 40mb per track 

Gerry

Jon 

Stop mucking around with your strangely 'over ripped' files. Dump them.

Get dBPoweramp for your PC and re-rip the lot to either WAV or FLAC 'Lossless' (takes less space but generally considered to sound as good) at 16/44.1. 700 CD's will not take that long.

I had to do something like 3000. Have the computer on and just pop one in the CD rip drive when your passing, make sure you have the album art displayed that you like and hit 'rip'. Next time you are passing do another one. It won't take that long and you will KNOW you have best quality 16/44.1 rips.

If you need any guidance on the ins and outs of dBPoweramp, ask on here before you start ripping.

regards

Geoff

With ND5XS it worked fine.

I have about 400GB of FLAC-files on my external USB-harddisk in FAT32.

All you need is an external power supply for the harddisk. 

Geoff, Jon posted here a while ago to say he'd got rid of all his CDs, hence my frustration at his recent posts yesterday and his reluctance to follow your excellent advice in another thread about re-ripping his CDs and starting over.

Jon, I realise you're on something of a learning curve here. I don't mean to give you a hard time over this, and you're welcome to ignore my posts, but please ask your dealer or someone at Naim to help sort out your music files and set up your NDX for you. Someone at Naim could probably access your PC remotely if you let them, and sort everything out for you in no time.

KR,

CC

OMG......Well thats it then...I give up.

By all means put the little silver discs in plastic sleeve books in the attic and chuck the Jewel cases etc but never get rid of em JUST IN CASE......Well maybe after you have established and run a successful streaming setup for a while AND have at least two updated complete backups in different locations

Geoff

PS Did somebody mention BACKUP!!....Jon have you done this at all???

Jon,

Just getting back to you as mentioned yesterday:

First of all the UnitiServe is an all-in-one CD ripper and storer, so not quite the same as a HDD portable drive. You've got to say it's a lot of money for what it does and you can accomplish the same thing spending a lot less, however if money was no object I'd certainly have a UServe just so that I had an all-Naim, supported solution. It's akin to streaming itself - yes you can stream using cheaper, alternative kit, and even get it to Naim performance levels, but streaming with the NDX or ND5 makes a great, very high quality, supported solution.

Anyway, I wouldn't want a HDD drive hanging out the front of my NDX even if it was readable, not when I've spent all this money to retain a hi-fi looking system. If you do want to run flash drives into your NDX however, then I think they are approaching 256 giga now if I'm not mistaken - certainly enough for plenty of wav albums there. However it's not going to be better than streaming them from NAS or just about any computer, unless you have difficulty with your wifi network or hard wiring with ethernet cable is problematic.

Now to those massive files of yours. I'm a great believer that people will rip their collection 3 times:

• 1st time - getting into streaming from CD playing
• 2nd time - after they've done all their reading up and realised that the 1st time they didn't have their settings or method correct or optimised
• 3rd time after they've lost the lot following a hardware failure

After that you learn your lesson and make sure you rip correctly and back up the files. So what I'd say is don't get too hung up about the time you've already invested in ripping your collection - you're only on your 1st rip cycle.

I would strongly suggest the following, and I'm in total agreement with Geoff and others here:

• completely delete all your CD rips (you haven't sold your CDs have you, as was mentioned above?). If you keep those large files you're just asking for more confusion.
• use dbPoweramp and rip in either wav or flac. Some users report better sound with wav and although I can't tell a difference in my system, I use wav since dB can rip while retaining tag data, which didn't used to be the case. Also flac grew out of being able to compress losslessly the rip down to a smaller file size than wav, but with disk space being reasonably cheap, it's not saving you much to use smaller flac files. The point is don't get hung up on the choice. To my ears they sound identical
• Use Asset UPnP server and you shouldn't have any problem streaming to the highest quality that the NDX is capable of with CD files.

ps the choice of dBPoweramp and Asset is just what I use, and I've noticed a lot of others. They work great for what you're trying to do but there are others of course. The absolute key thing to do is delete your files and start ripping them again.

Regards,

Craig.

From January:

I really hope someone can help me with advice as I ripped my entire music collection to my hand drive and sold all my CDs.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...nt/13252151301880179

Jon, Sorry for all the lecturing (I'm not usually like this, am I?!)  but I've just read through your threads from this month and you're really struggling here. You've got an £8k, three box source, and like everyone else, I just want you to be able to play some music and forget about the hifi.

Ask your dealer, ask Naim, and they'll do their best to help you out.

i have to beg to differ, compared to slipping on a cd or play some vinyl its very complicated, having said that im coming to terms with this new technology and just loving the easy and convenience of using the NDX through the UPnP

Some music is just recorded better than others, production values and styles all play apart. As do systems.

I've only just started this streaming lark with a Unitiqute and to my ears some tracks were far better on my Arcam system, whereas now they sound muddled and thin, some others that sounded rubbish on the Arcam are amazing now. Interestingly, sometimes a MP3 can sound far better than a FLAC or WAV to my ears. It just depends on the song/album.

Having said all that, what the qute does is amazing.

Tonight I listened to two Elton tracks record live and they made me shiver with pleasure they were so awesome.

I think upgrades can improve things, but they can also make things less than they were.

The joy of music systems......is a very very long book....and sometimes its best to stop reading....

DUUUUUUDE!!!!!!!  This is REALLY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!

YOU MUST ADDRESS THIS RIGHT NOW. 

Seriously.... right now.  Stop reading this now!  Go now.  NOW!

Go to BestBuy or wherever and buy another Hard Drive at least as big as the one you have now.

Use SyncToy or some other backup software to copy your files over to the new drive.  At least copy and paste everything (not recommended).

You can get into how to do backups and with what, later on.

If your drive dies now, as it easily could, you will lose ALL of your music forever. You dont have the CDs any longer so obviously you cant simply re-rip

If this does not make sense to you, call a buddy who can understand it.  If all else fails, and you have no friends with basic computer skills, VERY CAREFULLY box up your drive and bring it to a store that sells drives AND has a Geek Squad or other tech department.  Ask (pay) them to do it for you.

Now.

Patrick

Are you still using that nVi as your amp? For the money a 555PS costs you might want to consider some better amplification instead and move your XPS onto the nDAC.... In any case, best advice? Worry less, listen more. After you've sorted out your back up that is....

Jon - just an idea for you. Take the nDAC out of the equation for a few days and see what you think of the analogue output from the NDX, both on its own and with the XPS. The NDX in combination with the Grados might be a better match than the nDAC. Worth a try 

James