Unitiserve misbehaving!

Thanks Phil...yes  I think you my be right about the home hub..it has been a source of constant pain over the years...its control software more than anything,that's why when I went to mac from pc i did not load bt's software...hence little or no control over what it's doing....will look at alternatives with a view to a change.

What you are looking for is a DAC which supports being used as a USB soundcard - we do not support that.

The USB port on the Naim DAC is a type A (Master) for the attachment of slave devices such as USB pendrives and iPods.

Cheers

Phil 

Depending on whether you use the HomeHub for administering your phoneline or not but you could either replace the HomeHub completely (you'd just need your ISP connection details) or you can drop a cable router inside your HomeHub and let that take on your home network duties and just use the HomeHub as a gateway.

(If you do the latter then you'll need to make sure that your IP address ranges on the new router and HomeHub are different so that everything still routes correctly.)

Cheers

Phil

Thank you for that, Phil.  Actually, I should say, I am sorry, very sorry to read that.  What a pity.

May I be presumptuous and ask why not?  You see, I have just got off the phone to a non-Naim dealer who sells some silly priced kit, speakers costing £80K for example and he uses (among other devices) a MB with iTunes plus Amarra using the USB out into one or another of his asynchronous capable DACs.  He believes that Naim have put themselves on a shelf, aside from the main market. I had to agree.  But what do I know?  Maybe there is a very good reason why Naim have chosen to ignore the USB option, deliberately chosen to be different from the market.

I am aware that many need a network solution if only to be able to distribute their music to other rooms.  But what about those, like me, who only want to listen to their music in one listening room?  Am I correct in believing that the Naim internal FIFO circuitry acts in some ways like an asynchronous device?
Perhaps by helping to smooth the data flow into the DAC chip, thus reducing jitter.

So, again, may I ask why Naim have chosen not to include an LPCM capable B type USB input additionally to their support for pen drives and iPods?

Is this policy likely to change in the future.

No offence intended.


Richard

Yes - I'm afraid our DAC is not an asynchronous USB soundcard for your computer, it is ... erm ... a DAC.

...and...

The DAC was designed as a DAC - a standalone DAC - designed to do the best job possible of converting S/PDIF (which is LPCM) into analogue audio that we could do at the price.

When we designed the DAC it was considered whether it would have the ability to be used as a USB soundcard but it was decided that its primary design was as a DAC therefore although it was possible to add such functionality that functionality was not the purpose of this product and therefore would introduce hardware into the mix that was counter to the core design and purpose - a DAC. 

Certainly when we were at the design stage and considering this functionality a lot of thought went into the way computers and computing is evolving and given that OSs change we would have had to constantly been checking, verifying and maintaining USB drivers under each new OS release ... ultimately there are some very good "audiophile" USB to S/PDIF interfaces available for PCs, Macs and Linux and they do a very good job for those customers wishing to connect their computer to a Naim DAC.

Absolutely - and that is the purpose of our Uniti and ND series products - to allow high quality audio from sources such as UPnP servers, Internet Radio and USB storage devices without requiring the user to be using a computer to be operating a computer.

Then if for you you have all your music stored on your laptop or desktop computer and you are happy to use a computer to cue up and play your music then perhaps the Uniti and ND series products are not for you ... what you need is some way to get the audio from your PC into your HiFi.

Of course we have a DAC - it takes an S/PDIF feed from a S/PDIF source and produces audio to feed into your HiFi ...

The only issue here is that you want it to have a USB input rather than S/PDIF but I'm not quite sure why this is such an issue. If you *MUST* run USB to it then you can run a USB cable to a HiFace with a short S/PDIF cable between the HiFace and the DAC. This way then if there is a better USB to S/PDIF interface produced you have the option of using it. 

Absolutely - and it does that beautifully on S/PDIF inputs.

No offence taken Richard - just want to make sure that any misunderstandings are cleared up.

You will of course understand that I cannot comment on any future plans or product development or policy decisions that have not yet been announced officially by the company however I am more than happy to discuss anything that has been.

Cheers

Phil

@Phil,  Thank you very much for your helpful responses.

Richard

And unfortunately it seems that Phil is the person who has to 'carry the torch' when others post and/or imply that Naim streamers and servers are unreliable sources of digital music because "networking" is too complicated for the average home user.  Which it is not.

I'm puzzled why folk want to use USB if they have a new low jitter Mac ... you just connect the Mac to the Naim DAC with a Wireworld Supernova 6 optical interface ... I've tried several USB to S/PDIF and a Firewire to S/PDIF convertor and none of them is preferable to the Supernova 6 to my ears. 

If you have a PC or old Mac then you simply use a hiFace or Halide Bridge ... it is just a cable with USB at one end and S/PDIF at the other. 

I still don't understand Naim's reluctance to publish a roadmap as I'd love to know if a reference DAC was on the horizon - if I knew this my plans for a streamer might change. 

Just as Richard would like a particular feature, I would like a particular (different) feature too if I knew Naim were working on something that would work for me then I'd hold on. 

Unfortunately you need to keep the company going whilst working on new products.  Apple is seeing a dip in sales ahead of the iPhone 5 as people wait for the new model.  Or check out the history of Osborne Computers.  I don't think it's a practical proposition to make product roadmaps public.

I am just glad the paint is now going up in my hallway and the old carpet and floor is coming up so lots of new cables can be run in the under floor trunking system that goes off to my rooms.

Still have to drill some big holes in four walls.

They will see me out.

The new BNC HiFace without drivers and a Naim BNC DC1cable from the new MacMini or old black Mac Book still does it for me into the Naim DAC.

Each to there own though.

Stu

Cheers Richard - hope that they have been useful.

Phil

Definitely ditch the BT HomeHub.  I could not get hi-res streaming to work reliably to my Uniti, or wireless streaming to my Zeppelin Air (from iTunes) until I ditched the HH.  Replacement Cisco jobbie fixed both issues immediately.

Hi Phil,

Hopefully you will be along soon. Verinfo treatise posts as usual.

In one of your earlier posts on this thread you mentioned work networks work to precise rules that are not difficult to understand. Could you please post some recommended reading ? I.e. reading suitable for the many folks on this site who simply want to demystify the subject, and be able to sort out for themselves the majority of problems that may arise.

Cheers, Paul

What do you want to read?

Read you router instruction manual. Its really as simple as that.

For devices on the netowrk which you want access reliably, fix its ip. Everyone of these devices will have a facility to do this.

Don't use wireless

Don't use ethernet over mains.

Don't use a bt home hub, becuase they are terrible

+1 read your Internet router manual. These are designed to be read by anyone, and contains much of  really need to know to get a basic network going. A home network is largely trivial and largely plug and play, and keep it simple. There are quite a lot wikis and how to's on the web as well. Try googling home network config.

BTW the latest BT home hub are  rather good, but steer clear as Gary says from first generation ones and gizmos like Ethernet over mains which will frustrate and add unrelianility and side  effect issues which you shoulnt need to worry about.

Here is a resource that can take you through basic understanding and options for your home network.

http://compnetworking.about.co...ng/a/homeadvisor.htm

This is what you ideally want for your Naim. The network player on the wired part, and the wireless remote control like Nstream on the wireless part.

http://compnetworking.about.co...-Network-Diagram.htm

Simon, Gary,

Thanks for your replies, some useful reading ahead. Don't take it the wrong way, but I think you underestimate your own knowledge of networks. Nowhere i. The Apple guff can Imaying info that if the router is rebooted, it loses the table of dhcp, nor does it mention why I would want to fix an ip address rather than reserve it, etc..... the questions go on and on.  There are many on this forum who find all this stuff a bit difficulT, or at least not intuitive.

Thanks for your help anyway....

Cheers, Paul 

Genuinly people here including myself are happy to help.

Presumably you use an apple airport extreme connected to a modem for your isp?

Hi Gary,

Many thanks, these forums are incredibly helpful.  Fortunately everything is working perfectly, and i am not in need of help.  But setting things up wasnt for me very easy - in terms of fixing the ip address of my Unitiserve and configuring my NAS to back up the US over the network, I had to request Phil H's assistance.  Which was excellent via remote log in.

Phil, just one more question - what would the Meercat do with the pencil ?

Cheers, Paul

Tax returns of course...

Phil