HDX Questions

Is the UL a streamer? It needs to see a server? Is that right?

The Uniitlite is on order so I can't try that yet, but exploring on another forum has led me to a partial answer. It was suggested that there are apparently issues with tags on wav files and that I should try ripping to flac and see what happens. When I tried that it worked.

I shall have to explore this further because I had the sense that wav was higher quality than flac.

Graeme

It certainly is often said that flac handles the metadata/tags and art work better than wav, which may explain why this worked for you.  It is also often said that wav sounds better than flac, although I think that is controversial and one of those things forum members like to discuss at length!  I believe some people even go to the length of using flac for the tags and smaller file size, but transcode to wav on the fly, so that the streamer just has to handle wav for playback.

The Unitiserve (and no doubt the HDX) manage to handle the metadata and cover art fine on wav rips, but again there is some current discussion about the (less than ideal) way they handle multi-disc rips, eg of classical music sets.  One of the big issues seems to be that there is wide variability in the way that recording companies organise the tags and the designer of something like the HDX or any Upnp server come to that has to make assumptions about how best to handle all that variability.

I must admit I bought the Unitiserve simply because it gave me a straightforward one box way of getting streaming working on my Unitilite, which until then had only had CDs and radio to play. I just rip everything in wav and edit the details and cover art if necessary rip by rip using Naim's n-serve App.

best

David

Yes it's a streamer, so it needs to see either a server like the Unitiserve or HDX or a Upnp server which can be running on a NAS or a PC/Mac.

David

If you've ripped a new album to a folder within the directory that your media server uses to index and deliver music, then the next step is to (force) scan the directory to index your music. Sometimes this happens automatically (there is a background task waiting for new files to be written, and as soon as you copy your rip over a re-index scan is triggered). Sometimes this doesn't happen automatically (so your final step after copying your files is to go to your web interface for the media server and hit the "re-index now" button, wherever that may be). After that, everything you can see in your file browsing mode should also be visible in your music browsing and playing app. I hope this helps as you take these important first steps - easy things that you don't know about are often the hardest looking obstacles! 

Regards, alan 

Right. Thank you David.

So Minimserver looks like a good candidate. 

To my ears WAV beats FLAC which is a pity because WAV has a reputation as being harder to tag accurately. It never has been for me (using dBpoweramp) but this isn't the first time (or the hundreth!) that this has come up.

In the dBpoweramp Windows universe, striping out tags is done with the music converter, right click, convert to, deletions (much like you would do to convert a file or batch of files from one format to another). Tad editing is done by right click, edit ID tag. One to strip out, the other to add and edit.

Bet there is a rogue tag in there (or missing) somewhere. Got the T Shirt and haven't had to resort to going FLAC. But if you can't hear a difference between WAV and FLAC, or prefer FLAC, it's sorted already. No pun intended.

I wouldn't sweat any of this until you are running your streamer off a uPnP server via your preferred control device. It might all look spiffing off the bat. No really. 

hi Harry - minor hijack... Do you hear a difference between streaming a native WAV versus an on-the-fly transcoded FLAC (eg with MinimServer doing the transcoding on the NAS and WAV arriving at the Naim player)? This has been asked I know, but I'm interested in your experiences. Thanks. 

Regards, alan 

It's something I go back to at intervals Alan, because much as I'm a fan of WAV, I'm not completely (yet) tunnel visioned. So I've tried FLAC native versus transcoded versus WAV on a number of set ups down the years including HDX, NDS served by HDX, Minimserver and Asset, B+W A5, Sonos and Muso. WAV wins. Don't know why. I can think up a few reasons which might explain it (just as easily as reasons can be put forward to explain why it should not make any difference) but I'd rather sit down and listen Storage space isn't expensive. Tagging is good enough for me. So WAV it is - for me. Your mileage may vary.

My God, I didn't realise what a can of worms I had opened!

You should have just bought that HDX!

You are a small number of steps away Graeme. For the most part it's only as complicated as people make it. When everything is hooked up and you are holding your preferred control device in your hand, it may run without issues. If not, the steps to fix will be small and easy. Naim's technical support (Phil) is second to none. Small can, few worms. The ritual of owning LPs, let alone playing them was more complicated and less musically satisfying for me.

Oh I'm quite pleased with the progress that I'm making. But I was shocked with the vitriol I read on other forums (not Naim) between proponents of wav and flac! I don't like to even ask about aiff...

Graeme

Yes. It's silly and unnecessary. You will like the format you like. You will adopt it and past that who cares?

You won't see much vitriol in this forum, although sometimes someone's frustration at something or other boils up a bit. Re aiff, there is a non-vitriolic thread about aiff and alac at https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...-vs-alac-with-itunes which reveals a couple more juicy worms...Enjoy!

best

david