NDX streamer cannot play hi def files?

Posted by: PmPRonan on 27 October 2015

Has anyone had issues with the NDX and hi def m4a & aif files. Alexis Cole - A kiss in the Dark, Janine Jansen - Vivalidi the Four Season...

 

None of they will play on the NDX even though they will play on the Plex clients (mac and iphone). individual tracks are between 84MB and 167MB... is that the reason...

 

thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

Posted on: 27 October 2015 by Mike-B

It seems we get a number of issues with Apple/iTunes formats.

Not sure what you mean by "hi def" with M4a as its not seriously high def,  but the NDX is limited to 320kbit/s with M4a.   

You need to convert them to one of the supported high def formats - FLAC or WAV.

Posted on: 27 October 2015 by PmPRonan
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

It seems we get a number of issues with Apple/iTunes formats.

Not sure what you mean by "hi def" with M4a as its not seriously high def,  but the NDX is limited to 320kbit/s with M4a.   

You need to convert them to one of the supported high def formats - FLAC or WAV.

Thanks Mike, still getting to grips with my NDX. Migrating away from Itunes and amarra, quite alot of my files to convert.

Posted on: 27 October 2015 by Dave***t
What are the files stored on? If you can, try transcoding to wav (at native bit rate) on the fly. The mention of Plex makes me think you may be able to do so. They should play then, and many people seem to think this method sounds better, too.
Posted on: 28 October 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Mike, m4a is the container than holds both lossy AAC and lossless ALAC. Clearly an ALAC m4a file can go upto 192/24 and so m4a can be very high def. I transcode on the fly my hidef m4a files to WAV using my UPnP server. I am not sure if Naim goes all the way upto 192/24 with m4a however... I seem to remember the NDX was limited to less than 192/24 with m4a but others might be able to confirm... but this is why the OP has issues if perhaps they are above 96/24

Simon

 

Posted on: 28 October 2015 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Yes just checked the NDX is limited to 96/24 m4a files.

Simon

 

Posted on: 28 October 2015 by Mike-B

The Naim NDX spec simply says its "limited to 320kbit/s with M4a".  Your 24/96 is a bit more helpful.   My experience is limited to someone who brings his music in from iTunes on an iPod,  some are what I believe were "HD" (in iTunes parlance) ,  but we did encounter play issues on my NDX, either not playing or drop outs. He has since moved to a Linn system & converted to FLAC or bought in all new files.

Posted on: 28 October 2015 by PmPRonan
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

The Naim NDX spec simply says its "limited to 320kbit/s with M4a".  Your 24/96 is a bit more helpful.   My experience is limited to someone who brings his music in from iTunes on an iPod,  some are what I believe were "HD" (in iTunes parlance) ,  but we did encounter play issues on my NDX, either not playing or drop outs. He has since moved to a Linn system & converted to FLAC or bought in all new files.

thats interesting Mike, my file problems all seem to be apple related and flac conversions have been the safest way to guarantee play back between plex and the NDX.

 

Its hard to separate the challenges of naim play back and the flaky world of dlna/ upnp.  Once I get reasonable play back coverage across the library then I need to address art, titling and play lists...

Posted on: 29 October 2015 by Mike-B

Hi pmpronan,  I don't find anything challenging with Naim or DLNA.  I have an all wired LAN & all my audio is WAV on the Synology NAS using the native UPnP, its rock solid - nothing better IMO.  

Plex IME is not that good, it's designed for video rather than audio.

Posted on: 29 October 2015 by feeling_zen
Originally Posted by Mike-B:

Hi pmpronan,  I don't find anything challenging with Naim or DLNA.  I have an all wired LAN & all my audio is WAV on the Synology NAS using the native UPnP, its rock solid - nothing better IMO.  

Plex IME is not that good, it's designed for video rather than audio.

Absolutely.

Never had a moment of bother with my NDX. All music and movies on the same NAS but only use Plex for video folder sharing. Audio specific UPnP like Asset (there are other good ones) makes streaming responsive and trouble-free.

Posted on: 29 October 2015 by ChrisSU
Is this a new NDX? If it's quite old, it may need a firmware update, or even a hardware upgrade, to play 24/192.
Posted on: 29 October 2015 by PmPRonan
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:
Is this a new NDX? If it's quite old, it may need a firmware update, or even a hardware upgrade, to play 24/192.

Hi Chris,

its fairly new - ex-demo purchase, so within the year. Have taken latest firmware update. Thanks for all your responses.. for completelness

 

NDX being fed from a plex server sitting on a mac mini. The music is locally stored in a thunderbolt 2TB disc (also backup onto a raid readyNAS Duo device which has awful DLNA service hence the move to the mac mini). I have tried DBPoweramp and shall try that one again...

 

 in terms of play lists which software do you guys find the best?