would like input on new digital system

Posted by: Andy526 on 29 May 2014

Last time I bought new equipment was approx. 20 years ago………

Most (all?) of the current technology is new to me, so, I’m in a “start over” mode and intend go completely digital.

The system I’m heading towards is a balance of quality and ease/simplicity of use. ( I hope), as follows:

MacBook Pro with external Apple USB SuperDrive

XLD to rip in AIFF

iTunes for playlist management

Synology NAS probably DS214Play.

Back up Drive: probably a simple 4T Western Digital or Seagate w/ USB connector

SuperUniti

KEF R 300

Transparent cables

Pure Music on an iPad Air.

Ok, any thoughts, comments or suggestions ???????

And what have I missed?????

Posted on: 29 May 2014 by Kevin Richardson

Get the Naim cables vs Transparent.

Posted on: 29 May 2014 by Manu

UnitiServe

SuperUniti

NACA5 (almost free)

Kef R300

NStream (Free)

Peace of mind (priceless)

Posted on: 29 May 2014 by Andy526

thx, took a hard look at UnitiServe but could not get my head around a $4k ticket for it.

Posted on: 29 May 2014 by Manu

MacBook Pro + Synology + HDD + extra switch + cables + softwares + TIME + going crazy is a lot more than 4K...

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by rightcoastants

I also use a Superuniti (w/ Powerline) and a single bay QNAP NAS. I've installed Miminserver (and Miminstreamer for "on-the-fly" transcoding from ALAC to WAV) on the NAS as my music server software with n-Stream on an iPad. Works well. It's a very flexible. Although you might also wish to download and try Asset. Asset is now offered as a QNAP application as well as for OS X.

I use a Mac and rip CDs or convert FLAC downloads using XLD into ALAC files and add them to iTunes. I only use iTunes to manage content to the NAS.

For backups, Carbon Copy Cloner is a great option to back up your NAS to an external drive.

Hope this helps.

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by hungryhalibut

I'm with Manu here. Having owned a US/SU system for nearly a year I couldn't be more pleased with it. Setting a backup to NAS was a bit tricky, but now it's all up and running it just potters along. Rip a cd, let it backup to the NAS once a week and control it all from nStream. Any album art issues etc are easily resolved in nServe.

Get the Naim cables; I tried some Chords for about six months and realised they were sapping life out of the system: nice but dull.

If you were to get the US, you wouldn't need a MacBook or the backup drive, so the marginal cost of the US is not so bad.

Whichever way you go, the SU is a great product.

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by nudgerwilliams

Andy 526

Re your comment on the other thread about UnitiServe backup, that really is appalling advice from the dealer. Has HH and Manu say, backing up a US to a NAS drive is very easy. The US has a very straightforward backup scheduler built in. Setting it up is as straightforward as anything can be in computer-land.

I've got US/SU into Audiovector Si3s and it sounds great and is very easy to use.

US is undoubtedly expensive - but if you can afford it and want a low aggro, one box server solution then I think you well be very happy with it.

Worth you checking the other threads on the US for completeness though as a number of people have experienced reliability issues. All I can say is for me it has been faultless.

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Roman Kozyrev

I won't advise unitiserve. It's actually useless. You can use your NAS for storage and upnp/or your Mac. Most important is to set your upnp server to transcode to .wav
Then you get music! After a while I realize that iTunes is of no value anymore for me and I keep most of my files in flac(hires or cd qualit). Now you have a choice of upnp servers (I use Asset) that can transcode either apple or other file conteiner to wav

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by hungryhalibut

Originally Posted by Roman Kozyrev:

I won't advise unitiserve. It's actually useless.

Rather like your advice then.

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Andy526

Roman, thank you for the info. Do you know if:- aiff is a good option instead of wav?

- is asset available for Mac? ( i've heard both yes and no)

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Roman Kozyrev

I know exactly about alac, not aiff. It's better sounds when transcoded to wav on superuniti. Asset is now available for mac, you can try to download it at dbpower. Simply use google to find a link. The whole story is about to use external (Mac in our case) transcoder than one in SU, to get INCREDIBLY better sound. Feed your SU with wav and you'll like it what you'll get

))!

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Originally Posted by Wat:

Dare to be different .... I await lots of comments about my sanity, but i bet they are from folk who have never heard Hugo the game changer.

Sounds pretty sane to me. But will it eclipse UPnP ? If I were to start over, I would hook up my MacBookPro, running Audirvana, to the Hugo, then into the SN2, or possibly the Ion Obelisk 2. Oh hang on, I have these already. What I will do then is live for a while in this alternative non-UPnP reality and see if I can wean myself off the UnitiServe. All I'm missing is a Tuned Aray level USB to mini-USB cable. That really would be the icing on the biscuit. Any suggestions ?

Jan

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by hungryhalibut

Originally Posted by Wat:

Originally Posted by Hungryhalibut:

Originally Posted by Roman Kozyrev:

I won't advise unitiserve. It's actually useless.

Rather like your advice then.

I would sooner have a UnitiServe than my Synology ... Naim support vs, Syn support ... Hmmm.

Of course, i am a naturally unlucky person so probably have the worst NAS Syn ever made.

I bet they thought there's that annoying Wat, give him the duffer with the non-standard processor, broken fan and case that the door keeps falling off of ..... I did break a mirror about 6 years and 11 months ago.

Ah, bless! My Synology toddles along very happily, with its little lights flashing and a smile on its plastic face.

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Originally Posted by Wat:

I would avoid WAV if you are going for a Mac.

I copy my WAVs over from the UnitiServe to the MacBook - when the latter deigns to recognize the former - and Audirvana playing WAVs sounds very good indeed. Are you suggesting that I can improve this with a different file format ?

Thanks

Jan

Posted on: 30 May 2014 by Andy526

Wat - thanks - I demo'd the Hugo today at the Newport Audio Show -terrific!

Anyone have experience with Amarra - seems like a strong contender instead of Pure Music.

Not familiar with Audirvana Plus - will check that out.

Lot's of trade folks at the show suggested a singe drive (SSD if possible) with backup to

keep thing simple and skip the NAS hassles... anyone want to weigh in on that?