Gapless Flac playback on Synology with MiniMServer

The file will play in flac if that's the format of the file, unless you've configured transcoding, e.g. flac to wav

MinimServer does indeed support gapless playback so your copy of DSOTM will play back perfectly :-)

You'd do well to install MinimStreamer and set it to transcode to WAV. It sounds better, to me at least, and will still play gapless happily. 

HH, how does one go about this and similar configuration actions -  use Minimwatch from a PC or Mac?

Thanks,

John

Everything is done in MinimWatch.

Thanks HH!

KR, J

Here is what you enter to transcode (I also use L16 for my Roberts radio).

And this is what you need to do to ignore 'the' in the Naim app. This means that The Smiths show under S rather than T. It's under tagoptions.

You'll also see two extra index tags. AudioData automatically sorts by bit rate and sample rate, so you can find your hires files. DateAdded lets you add a tag in dbpoweramp to help you find latest additions. Eg if you add the tag DATEADDED and then say 2016-04 you can find all the albums added in April 2016. This has stopped me losing new albums!

HH, perhaps a stupid question. Is there an obvious way from the Naim App to see if transcoding is actually taking place?

KR, J

HH, I see the problem now - I don't have ffmpeg installed on my Synology NAS, which model Synology NAS are you using? I've looked on ffmpeg.org and can't see mine listed?

Thanks, J

Dr_J posted:

HH, perhaps a stupid question. Is there an obvious way from the Naim App to see if transcoding is actually taking place?

KR, J

If you look at the now playing screen, it says what sort of file it is, so FLAC transcoded to WAV will say WAV. This is when you say......

Dr_J posted:

HH, I see the problem now - I don't have ffmpeg installed on my Synology NAS, which model Synology NAS are you using? I've looked on ffmpeg.org and can't see mine listed?

Thanks, J

I have absolutely no idea what ffmpeg is, or why it might be needed. I've never seen it mentioned anywhere before. Anyway, my nas is a 213j. 

I see the ffmpeg stream.converter parameter is selected by default, so you're saying the you set flac:wav/L16 and it just worked on your Synology with flacs showing as wavs in the Naim App?

In which case it just doesn't work on my DS414slim......

Could be different CPU, anything....

Still happy with MinimServer though even if it won't/can't transcode on my NAS ��

Thx for the help, KR, J

Have you installed MinimStreamer as suggested by HH above?

Of course, otherwise you cannot set the stream.transcode parameter.....

KR, J

I'd ask on the minim forum. Simon will sort you out. 

Thx

All, FYI, ffmpeg is already installed on my, and presumably all other, Synology NAS's running DSM 6.x

So problems must be finger trouble on my part :-))

Thanks all,

KR, J

Does this mean that you can now transcode? I'd be interested to hear whether you can tell the difference. 

Apparently not.... I'm testing with a Mu-so, should that make any difference? Would normally stream to SU.

My system properties screen is now identical to yours, except I'm testing AAC to mp3 with AAC:MP3

Ho, hum.........

Will report any success, KR, J

Nope, just ignores any mini streamer settings to transcode AAC to wav as in AAC:wav/L16

Boo, hiss! :-/

KR, J

I suspect you haven't set the stream converter property. You don't need it for FLAC, but you do for AAC. Look at the Minim website. 

Minim site suggests ffmpeg, which I have confirmed is running on my NAS, and it is set......

So, nope, not that.

Thx anyway,mKR,MJ

Hungryhalibut posted:

Dr_J posted:

HH, I see the problem now - I don't have ffmpeg installed on my Synology NAS, which model Synology NAS are you using? I've looked on ffmpeg.org and can't see mine listed?

Thanks, J

I have absolutely no idea what ffmpeg is, or why it might be needed. I've never seen it mentioned anywhere before. Anyway, my nas is a 213j. 

ffmpeg is a Linux/UNIX tool for audio and video conversions of all kinds, so minimserver probably uses this for conversion to WAV instead of providing its own program for this.

HH, and others, thanks for all your help and suggestions, problem now solved....

Well, I say problem - it would have helped considerable if I had remembered/checked that Apple Lossless is .m4a and not .aac!!! How stupid is that?

So Minimserver, Minimstreamer and Minimwatch now streaming and real-time transcoding from Synology DS414slim, via WiFi, perfectly.

To answer HH's question as to whether WAV sounds better - from an .mp3 file I think definitely, from the .m4a's not so sure - needs more listening time :-))

Kr, J

Excellent!

HH, have you tried experimenting with the output switches beyond /L16? E.g. ;192 - For an output type of wav, wav16, wav24, L16 or L24, you can specify the output sample rate by adding the suffix
;samplerate where ; is a semicolon and samplerate represents the desired output sample rate rounded to the nearest kHz. This value can be 44 (for 44100 Hz), 48 (for 48000 Hz), 88 (for 88200 Hz), 96 (for 96000 Hz), 176 (for 176400 Hz), 192 (for 192000 Hz), 352 (for 352800 Hz) or 384 (for 384000 Hz). For example, to transcode to wav24 with a sample rate of 176400 Hz, you can specify an output type of wav24;176. If an output sample rate is specified, a stream converter is used to transcode the stream.

KR, J [just trying to break it again :-)]