This may be a stupid question, but..

Posted by: JSH on 28 December 2013

do all UpnP servers sound the same?

I don't want to kick the "Golden Ears/Imaginations" nest and have lots of unsubstantiable opinions, please. What I would like to know is whether there is any measurable evidence that say, the speed at which one UpnP server operates means that it produces say, less jitter or whatever. In short, will Minim for example sound different from say Asset or Twonky

If it is a stupid question, then apologies; just say so and why, we can all move on

 

many thanks

 

JSH

 

Posted on: 28 December 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

JSH - well in my experience - no! Its not so much the UPnP DLNA application, but the OS - TCP/IP stack - and network hardware that appears to make a subtle difference. Kind of like the difference between FLAC and WAV into Naim albeit not as obvious.

 

So far I have found from an audio point of view (streaming or transcoding to WAV):

 

UnitiServe - good

Asus Mini Server running WHSv1 and Asset - good

Netgear Duo NAS running Twonky - less good

HP PC on Win 7 running Asset - not good

Raspberry Pi running Raspbian and Asset - good

 

Simon

 

Posted on: 28 December 2013 by JSH

Simon

Thanks.  So not so stupid - that's a relief!

I'll have a hard listen when there is some peace in the house

 

Regards

 

JSH

Posted on: 28 December 2013 by NickSeattle
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:

JSH - well in my experience - no! Its not so much the UPnP DLNA application, but the OS - TCP/IP stack - and network hardware that appears to make a subtle difference. Kind of like the difference between FLAC and WAV into Naim albeit not as obvious.

 

So far I have found from an audio point of view (streaming or transcoding to WAV):

 

UnitiServe - good

Asus Mini Server running WHSv1 and Asset - good

Netgear Duo NAS running Twonky - less good

HP PC on Win 7 running Asset - not good

Raspberry Pi running Raspbian and Asset - good

 

Simon

 

 

Well, Simon, I guess that is the last straw:  PI for me.  Was that a Model B?

 

I read a cautionary article suggesting a cheap Android tablet is better value.  No idea if this take is relevant to our aims here.  Your thoughts?

 

Nick

Posted on: 29 December 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Hi Nick, my Pi is a model B with 512Mbytes of RAM - I do believe that is the standard issue now. I use wired Ethernet from the Pi into a switch. If you get one remember to get a crust (a cheap little plastic case) to keep it safe. I also use vSSH on my Mac or Putty on my Win (Console clients) to set it up. I don't use the X windows GUI as is totally over the top for this sort of application..

 

PS nStream is not yet ported to Android, so you will need an Apple iOS device if you want to use that control point - and quite frankly out of all the controllers I have tried nStream  is the best for Naim - not least because of the Naim playlists support and Naim automation.

 

Simon