ND5 XS New User Question
Posted by: Senna993 on 09 June 2015
Will soon be setting up my recently acquired ND5 XS. I am hoping this will provide improved sound quality over my current setup which is a sonos zp90 into an nDac and XS series separates. My simple question: can I connect the ND5 directly to my NAS via a switch without having to connect my router?
I can't have the router near the system so would have to rely on wifi streaming which I understand is not ideal. Can I set it up this way and still play my files using the N-stream app in my iPad?
Yes is the simple answer. This will allow you to play the existing files on your NAS. The issue is how you get new files to the NAS. There are ways to do this - using a USB stick to transfer them from a PC for example - but it is more trouble than if the NAS is connected to the rest of the network / internet. (Of course your NAS might still be connected like this, you don't say.)
The router does ideally need to be connected to enable the Naim app control & (asper Gavin) the ability to manage new & existing NAS albums. If a wired connection is not possible it can be done over a wireless link
You'll need to disable DHCP on both devices and set a (different) fixed IP address on both. The router normally dishes out addresses on the network.
As Mike-B suggests; you can just plug an access point (airport express or other) into your switch and that will give you access to the app, internet radio, spotify and so on, but you'll still get "quality" streams from your NAS over the wires.
Note that although Apple Airport devices work well in this setup, there are non-Apple equivalents which probably work just as well, probably for less money.
I would connect an Airport Express to the same switch, and connect the Airport Express, in "bridge" mode, over wifi, to your router. I believe that that will work to allow wifi control, but the music is over the wired part of the network.
My system is set up as follows to overcome this issue:
Ethernet from NAS to switch
Ethernet from switch to streamer
Ethernet from switch to Wifi Range Extender (Netgear, as the router is Netgear)
Wi-fi from Wifi Range Extender to router
This works flawlessly for me, and it isn't expensive.
Sounds like Solid's setup is the way I'd like to go.
I'm thinking of taking this opportumity to get rid of my old Linksys router
And move over to an Apple solution for my network. Would that be an apple extreme downstairs
With the modem and an apple express upstairs hooked up to the switch?
Thanks again for all the advice!
Sounds like Solid's setup is the way I'd like to go.
I'm thinking of taking this opportumity to get rid of my old Linksys router
And move over to an Apple solution for my network. Would that be an apple extreme downstairs
With the modem and an apple express upstairs hooked up to the switch?
Thanks again for all the advice!
My setup is the essentially the same as Solid Air's above, except that I use an Airport Extreme attached to my ISP-supplied router, and an Airport Express connected to the switch at the other end. The Extreme is a current 802.11ac version, and seems to work better than the older style 802.11n one I had. My Express, on the other hand, is an old style 802.11n one that sits in a wall socket - this works well, and you can pick up used ones very cheaply.
There is an argument for keeping your cheapo ISP router as DHCP server/broadband modem and just connecting the Extreme to it for LAN duties. All the preconfigured settings your ISP has put in then remain intact.
Sounds like Solid's setup is the way I'd like to go.
I'm thinking of taking this opportumity to get rid of my old Linksys router
And move over to an Apple solution for my network. Would that be an apple extreme downstairs
With the modem and an apple express upstairs hooked up to the switch?
Thanks again for all the advice!
My setup is the essentially the same as Solid Air's above, except that I use an Airport Extreme attached to my ISP-supplied router, and an Airport Express connected to the switch at the other end. The Extreme is a current 802.11ac version, and seems to work better than the older style 802.11n one I had. My Express, on the other hand, is an old style 802.11n one that sits in a wall socket - this works well, and you can pick up used ones very cheaply.
There is an argument for keeping your cheapo ISP router as DHCP server/broadband modem and just connecting the Extreme to it for LAN duties. All the preconfigured settings your ISP has put in then remain intact.
I would start as Chris states, with the ISP router doing DHCP. This is what I do -- with a Time Capsule connected to the router for wifi duties, and my older Airport Extreme downstairs to 'extend the wifi network' as Apple call it. WIfi is turned off on my ISP's router. Works really really well for me.
Keep the nDAC though!
Are you retaining the Sonos?
If so simply connect an ethernet cable from the ZP90 to the Naim streamer.
The Sonos will act as a bridge and use the Sonos wireless network which is very robust. The streamer will be none the wiser and as far as it is concerned will have a wired connection.
Richard