UnitiServe: should it stay or should it go?

Those thoughts make sense.  I'm hanging onto mine for sheer ease of use, and because I don't "need" the funds.

If you use your nas as your primary server, you can back it up most easily to just an external usb drive.  That'll be easy.

I'd probably merge all of the music into one main "music" shared folder on the nas.  I used to use separate folders for hi res music . . . but re-did that and merged it all into folders based on Artist.

Will the Synology nas sound different than the uServe?  I kinda don't think so.

Re ............  and which the Synology sever does not possess.

Yes it does !!!!

DSM-5.1 5022 -2

Very interested in your impressions on the comparison. Report back ! 

HH...A while ago, you intimated that you were not too happy with your Superuniti. As you say, your UnitiServe has 'served' you proud! All your music is backd up your Synology NAS...So, sell the Superuniti and the UnitiServe, and get a NDS, or NDX. And as Mike quite rightfully said, your Synology should transcode on the fly.

I have a Synology NAS and also the UServe.  Currently the UServe is away to have fault fixed and so the last 6 weeks I've been streaming directly from the Synology.  I have the MImimserver loaded and tried both the Synology's server and Mimimserver.  I think Mimimserver sounds better.

All my files are in .wav and so I dont need transcoding.

One good feature about the UServe is that it presents all the music files in various folders as if they were all in a single folder.  With both Synology's server and Mimimserver, the files will be presented in separate folders - if folder view is selected.

Do get another NAS. I had my Nas fall off the shelf once, and both hard drives in it broke.

There's not much point in doing data redundancy on the same hard drive at home, IMHO.

The UnitiServe is better than the Synology NAS - but that was the last time I did the comparison. I've optimized my network some now, and things might be different.

I'll do a test at some point again.

Wow, that's a surprise post for a Friday night HH - didn't see that one coming!

All the things you want to achieve with your new proposed set up should be easily achievable

And I don't imagine sound quality would be hugely different.

I guess the things to think about is how much would you get for it - is it really going to be worth your while moving it on and starting out on your new road - and how much of an irritation will you find it firing up the laptop for new rips.

I had 4 CDs arrive on my doormat today, and 20 minutes later without even turning on the computer they were ripped and ready to go.

I think I would really miss that convenience and the fact that it just works in my network, rock solid.

And as TN says, the aggregation of files on the network is probably one of the key features that you will lose.

Look forward to hearing your comparisons and which way you end up deciding to go!

I'm being a bit dim here: I've installed the Synology server, found the screen you copied above, but can't see what to tick to transcode to WAV at native resolution. The files going to the streamer are still in FLAC.

Meerkat,

HH would also need an amp if he were to sell the SU and a PS if he got an NDS. IIRC HH has had a multibox system in the past and has intentionally opted for the SU as a single box solution,

Thanks! All I'm trying to do is work out whether the Synology is a viable server. So far I can't convert to WAV, and can't see the album sleeves on the Naim app.

Hi HH,  do you have the latest DSM  5.1 5022 rev 2 

Just tick the boxes you see on the picture

"Enable audio transcoding"  

 & the four in row format boxes -  if you have .flac,  you really only need to tick FLAC/APE,  but no harm to tick them all.  

The one not to tick is "Downsample ......... to provide better DMA compatibility"

HH, as others had said, that's a surprise!

I'm sure that the UServe is a wonderful thing, but the potential repair bills would put me off having one.

I can't advise you on the ins and outs of the Synology, but I am sure it can be made to work satisfactorily, even if you have to install Mimimserver which may be more suitable.

Regarding your other questions.

I use a second NAS drive as a backup device. Every night at 11pm it switches on and runs a set of backup jobs using rsync which is built into the NAS. These jobs replicate all my data directories, Music, Photos etc. It doesn't take long and I have set the backup NAS drive to power off at 3am.

I keep my downloads separate to ripped files, this allows me to take extra care backing up the purchased music onto a separate USB hard disk which I do periodically. The UPNP server merges this automatically, unless you choose to browse by folder, where the original structure is revealed.

I use a Raspberry PI running Asset. This points to the files on the NAS. It works really well and the PI is inexpensive and Asset takes some beating. It's fairly straightforward to setup but you might need a hand, you know where I am!

If using Asset appeals, and you could verify this by running it on your laptop temporarily as a trial is available you could always purchase a Qnap NAS, run Asset on it and relegate the Synology to backup duties.

Richard

HH, I do not know. You are addressing three related but different issues:

1) uServe vs. 213 as host for a UPnP server. You have both devices, both are integrated in your home network, you are in the best position for setting up a comparison. Just set up the same UPnP server which runs on the uServe on your 213, make a small test collection and check. If you find it does not sound as good as the uServe, you are done. Otherwise you can add files to the test collection and check how the UPnP server on the 213 scales up. If it does, you can live with the system for a while and if it turns out to work the way you think it should work, you can consider selling the uServe if you wish to do so.

2) Backups. Again, it very much depends on your personal preferences and habits. I want to be able to incrementally backup my music collection to an external drive -- no matter whether this is mounted on a device in my LAN or on a remote device, tipically in my office) -- by running a script from my laptop, no matter where I am. I do not know whether I could achieve this flexibility with a NAS, with a small Unix machine in my home network this is easily done. I have less than 2TB of data and four or five copies on different 2TB drives at home and in my office.

3) Ripping and data management: I rip (with rubyripper) and import all my data on my laptop where I also run the same (MPD) server which is running in my home network for testing and occasional headphone listening through a Meridian Explorer. For data conversion I use simple shell scripts or dBpoweramp running in a VirtualBox. dBpoweramp should be fine for ripping as well. As soon as the data is properly tagged, I send it to the home server.

Best, nbpf

I have 5022, but now Rev 2, which I am now downloading. I really don't see how to make it transcode to WAV, and it certainly isn't doing so. Furthermore, all the music is showing as separate tracks, rather than albums.....

This is a strange proposition: if I was not happy with my SU and I was happy with my uServe, I would keep the uServe and get rid of the SU and of the NAS. I would go straight from the uServe into a dac (there are many valuable options: hugo, mirus, s/h nDAC, ...) and from there into a SN2 or similar. What is the point of adding an expensive Ethernet->SPDIF converter (and, on the top of that, one which is bound to a dac) if the uServe already provides a good SPDIF output ? Not to mention the amp. which is missing in your equation. Best, nbpf

If you have DSM-5.1 then you're OK.   I was concerned you had an old DSM 4 series

Have you checked the transcoder & the FLAC box's,  ???  then their is no reason why its not transcoding

If you are seeing separate tracks, then you're browsing by Artist Music or Genre.  In the app, browse by Folder or Album,  that gives you whole album folders.

Better still  

open Media Server > General Settings > DMA Menu Settings,

if you select "Advanced Style" you will get about 14 different browsing options, some will present as an album, others as track (by Artist for e.g.)

Thanks Mike, I'll have a look tomorrow. For now I'm using the UnitiServe, which based on what I've played from the nas so far, sounds miles better. 

Most of your viewing/indexing issues are going to be down to tags. These can be sorted out. It's just a question of hitting on what you need to do and how you will achieve it.

For us the move from HDX to Minimserver was really easy. We already had our music stored on a NAS. But you have a backup, so you do too.

For backup we use a mirrored HDD pair on the primary NAS, a backup NAS using another mirrored HDD pair, and a USB HDD which we take off the primary NAS. We do it all manually because the need for backup is infrequent and it's easier to copy/move/change specific folders that we know need doing. Whenever we make a change (usually an addition) to our music collection we back up the change.

The driving force for us was sound quality/musical enjoyment. If we thought the HDX sounded better than software running on the NAS, we would still have the HDX. It's easy to test. Sounds like you're nearly there. So you will be able to decide for yourself what suits you best.

+1 Good idea, but not what he's asking of course.

I my view HH has already answered most of the questions 

I also feel it tempting to sell the Us and use the NAS only, but have been there and it was a struggle.

Steinar

I think I've finally got it working, after fiddling around with the server options. I can now see whole albums, and under the genre/artist/album option can find everything I want. And quite honestly I can't tell the difference sound wise, now that I've got the WAV transcoding working.

I've not needed to rip any CDs yet, but have one coming next week so will fire up dB Poweramp on the laptop and see how that goes. With over 2,300 CDs I have more than enough music to be going on with, and if getting the computer makes ripping harder I will buy fewer CDs which, perhaps perversely, may be a good thing.

Thanks to everyone for all your help so far.

HH...I see that quite a few of 'The Smiths' albums are now available in 24/96 downloads. 

No difference. That's interesting. Still leaves you with options, which is always a good thing.

This is not really surprising. But what would be more interesting is if there is a difference in SQ between a direct connection uServe->SPDIF->SU and a connection uServe/NAS->Ethernet->SU. In the first configuration the UPnP client in the SU should probably be switched off for a fair comparison, I guess.

The differences may show up in long-term listening. As a test, put the UnitiServe away for couple of weeks and live with the NAS. See how your music listening habits change, if at all. Then go back to the UnitiServe for a couple of weeks. If no difference, then sell it. We'll all be the poorer though for your lack of ongoing UnitiServe endorsement and advice