Frustration with hi-res download via Unitiserve

One solution could be to convert to flac and use a meta data editor like mp3 tag.

Otherwise Audacity should be able to edit meta data in wav files.

Even with Flac files the Naim firmware sometimes just refuses to show the tags correct, can be annoying when an album shows up under unknown artist, even though the tag is fine when viewed in  mp3 tag.

I try to only use .flac in my downloads folder.

If you are of the "wave sounds better than flac" school, have the uServe set to transcode to wave.

I just find flac easier to tag.  I use the program "Tag" for OS X, and honestly the uServe has never failed to display tag info correctly UNLESS I screw up and have a non-standard character in a tag, such as the > sign.

Yep, download in FLAC, edit as required using Media Monkey and set the Unitiserve to transcode to WAV, as recommended by Phil Harris. Maybe WAV sounds better but this approach yields great results and is relatively painless. 

Keith

Thanks for the advice.

Will the above retain the "hi-res" nature of the material? I noticed that on the n-dac, the hi-res light comes on when playing the hi-res wav material, but not when playing the hi-res flac album I downloaded.

FLAC is hi res but losslessly compressed. I believe the light on comes on above 44.1 so ignores 24/44.1

Keith

Setting the uServe to convert to WAV uncompresses the file at the server end which saves the streamer the trouble and therefore sounds better, hopefully.

Keith

heihei, I have exactly the same issue.

I have ten HiRes albums in WAV format in the downloads folder of my UnitiServe, of which 4 albums will not show correctly. Two albums have tracks missing. One album has a track that is separated out with artist name shown as ‘downloads’. The tracks of the last album are in a different order to the track numbering.

I have been in communication with Phil Harris about this. He said that the UnitiServe doesn't pull metadata out of WAV files and instead it uses the folder names as Artist and Album, and the file names as the track names. Clearly this process isn’t working properly for me, nor you it seems.

Phil was going to look into it and get back to me, but he hasn’t as yet. I interpret this to mean he is either busy at the moment or he hasn’t got a solution.

I guess I will persist a bit further and if no answer is forthcoming then I’ll have to convert all downloads to FLAC.

Gav

Gav have you tried using the Desktop Client to rename?

Hi Bart, I don't seem to be able to edit artist name etc. using the DTC with tracks in the downloads folder, or at least it won't let me with WAV files. Also, with two of my albums, a track is missing with DTC/nStream/nServe, so you can't even see it, let alone attempt to edit it.

It's funny, if I view the Downloads folder via Windows then all the tracks are there, everything appears fine. Then view via DTC (or nStream/nServe) and it is as described in my first post.

There are a couple of ironies to me: firstly 2 of the 'problem' albums are naim downloads; secondly the naim ripping strategy is all about using WAV format and not transcoding - so you would think the downloads folder would be rock solid with WAV files.

If you or anyone else has any ideas I would be pleased to give it a try.

Cheers,

Gav

Gav - same here and agree that with Naim's emphasis on wav files there would be better support for it. The Goldfrapp album was only available in wav form.

To heihei and anyone else who has had this problem with WAV files in the downloads folder of the UnitiServe - with some tracks inexplicably missing or separated out with artist named 'downloads' or incorrectly ordered.

I am disappointed to report that, following initial interest in the problem, naim never came back to me again and did not respond to my polite emails asking for an update.

I therefore spent time running through loads of options in an attempt to work out what was going on. I seem to have cracked it. I was told that the US ignores embedded metadata in WAV files, but it appears embedded metadata can 'confuse' the US resulting in the problem as described in this thread. This has been an issue for me because the hires WAV files that I bought from HDTracks, Naim Label and Linn all came with embedded meta data.

Here's my solution:

Firstly, use DBPoweramp to clear ALL metadata and embedded artwork from the tracks. Presumably other metadata editing software will work just as well.

Secondly, get the folder and file naming system right. Create a folder named with the artists name. Inside this folder create another folder named with the album name. Put the tracks inside the album name folder. Name each track with a number 01, 02, 03 etc. to keep the track order correct followed by a space then the track name only.

Thirdly, put an image of the album cover into the album name folder called Folder.jpg.

For me, following this procedure has completely resolved the problem.

I hope this helps anyone else out there who might be struggling.

Gav

I've arrived late but was going to say that embedded tags will be the culprit, or one rogue one. dBpoweramp is your friend, although I expect there are plenty of other options. Been there, will probably be there again (Close To The Edge DVDA expected to hit the mat tomorrow) and it's always been a dodgy tag in my case. I have not had to flip flop between formats, my ears preferring WAV.

Glad it's sorted. It's can be very irritating. But fixable.

I've arrived even later than Harry but here's my twopence worth....

The US and the HDX don't like the inches symbol ( " ) in the track name in FLAC files (and so probably in other formats too).  Tracks containing this symbol were not indexed and appeared to be missing from the album.

OK, so this doesn't appear to the problem for OP heihei, but it's worth bearing in mind for the future  (MP3TAG, of course, easily removing the " from FLAC files.)

There are quite a few characters that the uServe doesn't want in tags -- I've posted about this a few times.  Non-standard characters in tags will cause it to stop indexing.  Additionally, certain non-standard characters in folder names will cause it not to index the album at all.  Using only upper and lower case Latin (English) alphabet characters, Arabic numerals, plus the _ symbol to denote a space, is most reliable.  Spaces are ok too.   This is often the cause when something won't index.

Thanks all. Frustrating but not a disaster then!