UPnP Server Recommendation

I suggest you try installing MinimServer on your QNAP.  My experimentations seem to indicate it works well.

I'm a Fan of not Running the dlna Server ON the NAS.

in this Case the use Of JRiver is Fine.

I have a QNAP 219P-II. I gave up on using Twonky. In addition to my ND5 XS I also have a Squeezebox Touch, so I now run the Logitech Media Server with the UPnP plugin on my QNAP. All my files are FLAC and it works great for streaming to both devices.

Dean

I was going to put P.S. after my post...

The UnitiServe is a great server, as well as a great ripper. All the metadata is spot on! But, retaining it just for it's Server duties is an expensive way of doing it? Unless of course, connecting the UnitiServe to the ND5 XS, would be technically better? It would be down to my ears I guess.

If you ripped all your CDs with the US then your files won't have any metadata embedded and you will have a problem with whatever server you use (other than Naim). You need to get the metadata correct within the files to get consistent results. I rip to WAV with dbpoweramp and did have problems with Twonky on my QNAP  but I suspect that was more down to WAV than anything else. I moved to a small laptop configured with Asset and pointing at the QNAP where all the msuic is ripped - has worked a treat for well over a year!

Others have reported that Twonky works fine particularly with FLAC files. 

Except when browsing by Folder when using FLAC files....track listing is alphabetical and NOT how the artists laid the album out.....not good at all.

Gordon

Exactly. Nothing like listening to an opera in alphabetical order. 

There is a fix, but it involves hacking the XML configuration files, and if it's running on QNAP that means getting comfortable with enabling ssh, opening a session and using vi to edit the files. I went through that exercise but Twonky is too flakey anyway, so I abandoned it altogether. 

I gave Twonky on my QNAP about 5 mins to prove itself and it failed miserably... Never enabled it since that day and moved on to Asset which is hugely superior. 

Asset needs a small windows server, but it's very flexible and in my opinion the best uPnP server out there.

Hi Meerkat,

Yes, the U-Serve is a simple server solution that works, I use an HDD with my ND5, although only WiFi connected at the moment. In a year it has been faultless and the proprietary Naim software is also faultless in serving up the WAV files that were ripped on it.

With regard to the cost, yes it's more expensive than other solutions, but you know that it will work and that it is robust and has a very good tech service from Naim. My attitude is that one requires the best server solution for ones music one that is reliable and tuned to provide the best possible sq with your streamer and with a five year warranty and tech support for the duration of the units life, you are also guaranteed a certain peace of mind.

If your files were originally ripped on the U-Serve, maybe its worth considering it again.

For me, it is worth every penny...so far

Jason.

Wow, some really good replies to my post. Thank you

Jack...Yes I did rip all of the CDs with the Unitiserve, but I also have about 12 albums in Hi Res FLAC. If I am going to have the same problem, irrelevant of what server I purchase, then it would be a total waste of money. The Asset idea on another computer sounds good, but means it has to be left on. I don't think Asset would work if the computer was switched off, or even in sleep mode? With regards to Twonky and FLAC, I downloaded some Hi Res FLAC files yesterday, and Twonky would only display them in alphabetical order!  Not the proper track listing.

Gordon...You're right, only alphabetically.

Race Tripper...Yes, far too flakey

Davebk...Asset sounds like one of the best...apart from the Naim one

Jasonf...Yes, with me personally the Naim server is faultless. Right now, I have disabled the Twonky server on the Qnap, and using the server via the Unitiserve. It displays the metadata 100% correctly!! And as you say, 5 years guarantee & back up, which includes this great forum! Perhaps it's time to withdraw my for sale advert!

Another vote for MinimServer.  Excellent in terms of features and functionality and the user guide is very good. It took me less than 15 mins to be up and running on a ReadyNAS Duo V2 and so far I' ve had no problems at all.

Total cost for 2x1tb NAS plus free (donation) s/w was £166.

JRiver.  There is no better.

Doesn't run on NAS does it?

+1 for MinimServer- I love folder browsing!

No it does not.

going off of the OP's option of "A small form factor, low power PC with Asset UPnP server installed. The later was a suggestion by Phil Harris (Naim Support) on a previous thread."

Think there are two Good reasons Not to Run the upnp Server Software directly on the NAS

1. It is Not the Sense of a NAS to Run a Lot of other Software than the NAS Software Itself

so If you want the Data Storage. (Doesn't mean you shouldn't do backup's)

2. There is no dlna Server Software Running on a NAS that is competitiv to e.g. JRiver. Especially for tagging

Who says it's not the sense of an NAS to run software? I disagree. The NAS runs on Linux. There's no reason not to run software on it, if you have the processor and memory to support what you want to do. In my case, I bought an NAS to offload all streaming duties (service and storage) away from my desktop computer, which I use for other things. It runs LMS just fine.

I tried JRiver for Mac a couple months ago. What a disaster. I has a very, very, very long way to go before it resembles a proper, usable Mac app. I wonder if they will even bother to make it a real OS X application It didn't look like it.

For tagging I use Metadatics, which works just fine for me so far.

The fact is, I think I have really stuffed up! I have just bought the ND5 XS, with the intention of selling my UnitiServe SSD. The reason being, all my CDs have now been ripped and stored on my Qnap NAS. The ND5 XS is meant to have a better DAC than my Supernait, (Not as good of course, as the nDAC) it also has Internet radio.

I simply thought that I could use the Twonky UPnP server on my Qnap NAS, to replace the UPnP server of the UnitiServe SSD. How wrong I was!! The metadata is all over the place, unlike the server on the UnitiServe, which is 100% fantastic !

I can't remember which thread it was on, but someone suggested that the UnitiServe rips CDs in such a way, that there is not a single UPnP server that will read the WAV files correctly, and present the metadata like Naim does...True or false?

Surely I can't pair my UnitiServe with the ND5 XS just because of the UnitiServe's server?

I have just parted with £1975 for the ND5XS, please tell me that there is a rescue plan...

+1 for Asset; I have found it the best out there including Unitiserve, albeit Asset does require you to sort a mini windows server. Asset is not open source.

MiniDLNA is not bad, albeit simple menu structures..  I run mine on a Raspberry Pi nano server for mp3 and other lossy files.. So I don't 'pollute' my quality files database running on Asset. MiniDLNA is open source so you can make your own mods if you are that way inclined...(albeit the source code contains quite a mixture of styles)

Minimserver is not bad, but AFAIK the author has not agreed which form of wav metadata to support yet.. And it's not open source.

Simon

I feel your pain. Personally, I think getting the whole Naim streaming thing working with my ND5 XS has been 10x more painful, frustrating and aggravating than the whole rest of my system combined.

If I were doing it all over again, I would just get another Squeezebox Touch with a nice DAC and call it a day. The SBT is easy-peasy and has everything I use the ND5 XS for. Ten minutes of setup and it's ready to go. Very non-fussy.

You are correct, you have a problem if you are expecting a non-Naim server to be able to read he metadata for the files you have ripped. You can of course edit those files and add the metadata required which will allow non-Naim servers to serve up the files correctly. This could be a big task if you have a large collection ripped.

How about keeping the US and returning/exchanging the ND5XS for the nDAC?

Every Software has the potential to make the system less stable and could be a "door" for attaks.

Didn't know the JRiver Mac Version, Just tested the Win Version.

The possibility to creat different upnp server with this software, filter and full degree of freedom to create you one meta files (such as opus Number for classical) is top.

 No doubt that tagging classical music is ofter a mess.

Anysuggestions from you side to a upnp server for different NAS Systems?

E.g. freenas, unRaid ...?

Or maybe Raspery Pi?

I use Logitech Media Server on my nas (synology ds212+), rip cd's with dbpoweramp and use mp3tag to fix any faulty tags...Works like a charm to me.

Jack...

You have confirmed my worse nightmare! Your suggestion of returning the ND5 XS and getting a DAC is a good idea. However, I have had the unit for 5 days now, so it would be considered 2nd hand. I had no idea that any other server, other than a Naim server, would be unable to read the ripped WAV files. Perhaps that should be explained better, to a novice like me.

I don't have a problem re ripping all my CDs, but I am a Mac user, getting JRiver or dbpoweramp to work flawlessly on a Mac is a nightmare. 

On Friday, I downloaded a HiRes album from Linn, in FLAC format. The sound was amazing, but the stupid Twonky server put the tracks in alphabetical order, not the proper track list! So not only can't it read the Unitiserve rips, it can't read FLAC downloads either.

It seems the less faffing with trying to get different server hardware/software to talk to each other in a sensible manner the better.

At this point Meerkat, I would go with Jack's suggestion, clean and simple.

Jason