Switch from CD to Network

I believe jriver or similar does this. To be honest im not entirely sure as i dont run a dac. From what others have said, itunes isnt the best audio player, but i have no experience of this.

Fair point George, i will leave it to others who have knowledge of said subject.

Dear Foxman,

It was a fair point and one expressed politely. However i felt it too direct never-the-less, and had already deleted it [within a minute of posting] so it actually disappeared before your reply.

I do apologise.

All that I can say is that if iTunes can send a recognised bit-perfect rip to the DAC V1, as it does, then I don't see the point in making things more complicated by cross-fertilising software systems.

I would not be content if the results were not sublime, and any audible flaws were apparent. It is a replay system the is better than my late CDS 2, which did occasionally make some perfectly acceptable if not flawless records sound worse than now with iTunes and the V1

That is my experience of the topic, and sometimes it is not unhelpful to encourage people to take a simple course of action.

ATB from George

I switched from CDS3 to HDX last summer.

One box in, one box out.

Although the CDS3 is probably "better" at replay, I don't miss it at all (so far) with the XPS2 powering the HDX, I am not at all disappointed.

I can also still play CD's on the HDX which also does all the ripping and storage. I then back-up to a NAS. Or if you get the SSD version of the HDX, all rips go straight to the NAS.

Very simple and I've re-discovered heaps of music I haven't listened to in years!

If I understand your question, rip using dbpoweramp then "add file/folder to library" in iTunes or whatever music player you are using. I'm sure iTunes does a bit-perfect rip but I prefer dbpoweramp as it gives you a report saying whether the rip has been successful or not. Hope this helps.

itunes also will organize tracks and folders for you if you let it.

I use

Linux powered file server (built it for $650) I have 2 4tb ($200 each) drives that are raided...meaning they copy the each other and there for have a slower write speed but have a quicker read speed. You can do the same with a windows machine but I use Linux because the OS is smaller and requires less maintenance.

All of that is hooked up to gigabit ethernet (10/100 would work) and an iMac running Audirvana with iTunes. 

Now there are Windows options of programs like Audirvana such as Amarra (sp). Using either of those two programs you can play flac through iTunes. I then use a NAD 1050 DAC w/ USB input to play music from my computer...

Basically there are a lot of cheaper ways than a Naim Server and are just as good if not better.

Let me know if you have questions.

I have over 1tb of lossless/lossy music files. All from rips, HDTracks, and other sources.

And, as I said earlier in this thread, iTunes has limited metadata. Dbpoweramp has extensive meta data that can really help with indexing.

Another  key advantage of dbpoweramp is that it can write WAV metadata in both commonly used variants into the same WAV file at the same time. This helps portability. however iTunes has been written to not recognise either.

Simon

Thoroughly agree!

G

Dear Simon,

What is limited about iTunes tagging? I assume that by "metadata" you mean the means to tag files so that they are recognisable in an index of artist, album, title of music and so forth.

I personally have disabled artwork as it is a relief to me to get away from the frightful old sleeves of LPs and yet another no very fine photo of the artists or composer. But the option is there if I wanted it.

ATB from George

Bart,

good points raised here. I can stand an amount of faffing around. The wife is already planning a DVD to NAS project as out tv can take such feeds. My CD project could run alongside that, on different devices though. I'm sure this will make us the most interesting couple in the world.

I don't really want the NAS in the same room if I can help it. Is there any inherent weakness of serving files via network or cable? I certainly don't want the pc in he same room. This is just a tool to run the ripping software. PCs do change quite often, at least in this house. A dedicated NAS device for music sounds like the best route. Lots of storage, no real virus issues, double back up and all the files in one place away from My Pictures and My Videos etc.

Did you consider the HDX or vDAC route before buying the NDS?

I'm not waiting for an idealized point in technology before taking the plunge. It's just I've been too lazy to really follow streaming progress and the idea of all that ripping is not appealing. If I could get a CD555 for a good price, I'd delay the ripping for years.

My mental picture of the process is rip on a pc. Save to NAS. Play via NDS. Sounds easy if you say it quickly. I've had good advice here now on ripping software and NAS devices. Even Apps to run on the NAS devices to make life easier. Pity I cannot listen to the options or see a home network before buying. No Naim dealers in Athens.

Dave

This is exactly how i have my setup. Ripping PC and NAS upstairs out of the way. Streamer in rack downstairs connected via a network. Dont know if there is a benefit of streaming over a DAC alternative, maybe someone can comment.

I have to say its the best thing i did moving from CD's to Ripped music, its opened up my whole library, as before i always seemed to play the same selection of CD's.

I think your very brave spending that sort of money without being able to audition.

Graeme

You can rip simultaneously to FLAC, WAV and AIFF in DBPoweramp to get the optimum rip and the tags/metadata correct. The reports are useful as you can go back, clean the CD and re-rip missing tracks or even force DBP to work hard at trying to fix the errors. On-line look up of previous rips made by others also helps guarantee a perfect rip.  Then add the AIFF files to iTunes folder as dave4jazz describes. AIFF is considered a more stable format than Apple Lossless, as Apple can change the ripping algorithm once in a while. iTunes will also convert the whole lot to mpeg3 if you want to listen on a portable device, in the car etc. Unless of course you have a Bentley, in which case you can listen on your in-car Naim - I wish!  There is nothing to stop you listening on a variety of different software.

Totally agree.  The rediscovery of my library is making it all worthwhile, although I might not admit to some of my older purchases!

Yep. And eliminated the clutter. I could never go back to physical media for playback. A small but increasing selection of our library is now downloads. Once CD-quality downloads are readily and legally available for reasonable prices, I think that will become my predominant source for some time.

Having said that, in terms of video, we have now pretty much jumped past physical media altogether. The availability of streamed video from Netflix etc has pretty much put an end to our purchase of mainstream DVDs and Blu-rays.

I haven't yet become relaxed about not owning the physical CD, but I am sure this will change when the download quality improves. The market seems driven by people that are satisfied with low-fi mpeg3s. I find this odd, but maybe people don't actually appreciate the difference if they have only ever listened to mp3s? Apparently the vinyl revival is in part driven by youngsters who are astonished at the quality of the recordings, compared with their mp3s!  I also prefer to have the whole album as the artist intended, rather than pick at tracks. 

I guess we tend to re-watch films less frequently than we repeat-listen to music, so 'borrowing' a film for the evening has quickly caught on, aided by dramatically faster broadband speeds.

We could have a similar conversation about photography, where low-res convenience seems to have trumped high-res, well composed imagery. 

Hi George - I refer to the limited tagging in iTunes when compared to say dBpoweramp for  example.

With the latter I have main musical instrument, record label, styles (in addition to genres), ripping details, CD identifier  for example that I cant have in iTunes - and I find no way of adding it. I prefer the latter as it gives me more flexibility in how I want  to structure my music library and allows me to differentiate more easily between different masters.

Simon

Dear Simon,

Thanks for your reply.

I understand your point now.

However, one of the delights of iTunes is that I am absolutely not interested in artwork [which of course is available], the original recording company, the recording date [which I can look up easily if someone is interested, or even often remember the details], the venue or anything beyond the artists, and the name of the music being played. I have made sure that every Opus number [or published catalogue number such as BWV for JS Bach] is added to the music title so that I can dial in just the number in most cases to quickly access the music I want. The iTunes system is now so accurately tagged that I search any piece with often only one word or number, sometimes two and never more than four to get exactly the completely music [oftern over many tracks] in the complete performance that I want to access.

I guess that many want more detail, but lets say ... Edwin Fischer playing Mozart in the 1930s .. do I care if this was recorded in Abbey Road or Vienna? No. I just want to listen to great music in a great performance. Removing extraneous [for me] information is a wonderful purification that makes the home library as grand as the radio in its stripped down simplicity! I even delete extraneous details such as the recurring year when it is wrong.

ATB from George

The more I read threads like this, the more I think we need some kind of sticky FAQ that simply outlines the steps required, and options regarding streaming audio. 

A basic tutorial explaining -

Ripping

Storage

uPnP Servers

Networks

Controlllers

Players....

ok,  maybe starting simple and building up so people can start with the minimum required to get going and then dive in as deep as the feel inclined.

Just a thought...

Dave.

+1. Linn has a good guide on it's site. Naim need to do the same. 

Sensible idea.  Lots of different topics and threads seem to end up with these same questions.  It might be helpful to distinguish fundamental principles and techniques from personal preferences. 

And lots of misinformation gets repeated ad infinitum.

Naim should pay one of their folks to draft something up.  We'll edit it.

Graeme,

do you feed your NDX wirelessly or by cable?

I'm the opposite of brave re the purchase. All sources are clear that the NDS is the best box. The purchase then leaves no nagging doubts. I've bought enough Naim kit to know that the purchase should leave feelings of pain and guilt in equal measure. Once the bank account recovers, just enjoy and forget the past costs. The NDS should last some years as did the CDS3.

Dave

They have exactly that.  It called an NServe or HDX for ripping and serving, the full range of network players for playing, and iPhone apps for controlling.

Outside of that complete line, you are asking them to endorse software and hardware they have no experience with?

This is what the Forum is for.  Ask and you shall receive 1001 ways to skin a cat.

-patrick

Building a PC w/ 2 4tb drives should cost you no more than 1200. I did it cheaper and it works just fine. Remember that the PC will only be really used for ripping and streaming. so you don't need a video card. Which can get pricey. A motherboard with a video card is more than enough. All you should really need is 2gb RAM, more than that is not really that necessary.

My NAS/PC is in a back basement. I run everything through ethernet to a iMac. I would use dbPoweramp to rip since running a windows machine seems to be the best bet unless you have a friend that knows how to run linux with his/her eyes closed. I am lucky enough to have that. 

So what OS will your PC be? Maintenance wise I would choose a mac server or linux server. Ease of use would be Mac server because of the setup Linux would be next. The only problem with maintenance is with a Windows machine. lots of updates but you do have better programs to use to rip. 

I run everything through ethernet then use my iMac to connect to my NAD DAC via USB. I have no problems what so ever listening to music. I have used a Peachtree and Meridian DAC also. No problems there. I suggest running Cat6 cable so you can sort of future proof yourself, Cat7 is expensive but soon it will not be. 

There are a lot of answers in this thread. Choose your own way and what best fits you. 

My last words would be if you have money to burn get a Naim setup...otherwise there are cheaper ways.