CD or Server

Are you planning to purchase from a Naim dealer if so I would advise look at both options but since I purchased a NDX last year I rarely use my CD player even though I have purchased more CD'S and ripped them into a NAS drive since the purchase of the NDX.

The dealer will be able to demonstrate both types of system you will then be able to decide on which suits your needs.

If you're used to playing downloaded music, I'd go with a server based system.  I have ripped all my cd's to my server and have not played a silver disc in well over a year!

You might want to re-apportion your money and use a basic nas with hard drives (QNAP or Synology) as your server instead of the UnitiServe.

Hi J

Your question invites an often-repeated debate on here between those who favour streaming and those who favour CD (to say nothing of the vinyl brigade!) with both sides quite passionate. So you're likely to get lots of mixed views.  For what it is worth my advice would be to think about the convenience you seek and what you're prepared to live with day-to-day. For example, if you don't like lots of CDs lying about and being stored in racks in your listening room, and you like the idea of selecting what you want to listen to from the comfort of your armchair e.g. by scrolling through albums on an iPad, then a streaming solution is probably for you.  On the other hand the streaming world is still rapidly developing and like most software-based systems these days you will likely have to accept 'set-up' and 'update' requirements from time-to-time (browse the Streaming threads).  CD, on the other hand, is mature and simple: insert disc into tray/drawer (if Naim, apply puck); press play. Simples!

People will debate the qualitative differences, even between different types of file formats, but in truth there's not much in it and if you're buying a Naim system you should rightly expect it to sound good, regardless of format.

Mike 

+1 for that PCD. Everyone here will prefer their type of source as you'd expect. I'm a CDX2 owner. I love it and have no intention at the moment of changing to a streamer, but I understand why so many have. As always it will come down to budget, your ears and personal preferences. Have fun! 

Thanks for the replies.  I am purchasing from a Naim dealer and will have a demo in store but as you all obviously know first impressions do not always reflect how it all sounds a few months down the road in your own home.    I have a Naim ND5 XS purchased to replace a cheaper Dac system I was using for PC and IPOD stuff.  Massive improvement.  I expect a lot from Naim and am trying to curtail my enthusiasm a bit to enjoy the upgrade process.  And also sneak the cost past the missus ha ha.  I spent the last couple of years looking for a new set of speakers to replace my Focal Electra 905s   which I found really difficult to improve on.  I was hoping to spend around £5k but nothing in that range sounded any better (to me),  I have ended up purchasing a set of Sopra 2's, which are in a completely different price range.  I have also opted for the NAP 250DR amp to drive them.

J

MDS posted:

Hi J

Your question invites an often-repeated debate on here between those who favour streaming and those who favour CD (to say nothing of the vinyl brigade!) with both sides quite passionate. So you're likely to get lots of mixed views.  For what it is worth my advice would be to think about the convenience you seek and what you're prepared to live with day-to-day. For example, if you don't like lots of CDs lying about and being stored in racks in your listening room, and you like the idea of selecting what you want to listen to from the comfort of your armchair e.g. by scrolling through albums on an iPad, then a streaming solution is probably for you.  On the other hand the streaming world is still rapidly developing and like most software-based systems these days you will likely have to accept 'set-up' and 'update' requirements from time-to-time (browse the Streaming threads).  CD, on the other hand, is mature and simple: insert disc into tray/drawer (if Naim, apply puck); press play. Simples!

People will debate the qualitative differences, even between different types of file formats, but in truth there's not much in it and if you're buying a Naim system you should rightly expect it to sound good, regardless of format.

Mike 

 

 

And of course there are those of us (and seemingly quite a few on this forum) that say don't miss out and use both or all three or more sources... Life is too short and the source players all have their own strengths.. Why homogenise into a single source if you don't want to.. I love streaming and CD, but I admit I have sold for now my TT, but kept my physical vinyl for later.

Simon

And I am an odd guy here, who uses both CD and streaming at the same time.

One observation, which is a development of what MDS wrote: it takes some effort in terms of network set up, power aupplies and cables to make a comparable streamer sound as good as a CD player. But once you go into high-resolution audio, this is where streamers start to pull ahead.

Other than the lack of physical medium - unless you keep and look at even if not playing the disc - streaming has the porential to give the best of all worlds. (i fail to see the CD can be better than streaming of a CD rip or downloaded same version argument: the whole red book argument applies to both, while CD can suffer from any mechanical aberations of the player.) Meanwhile of course streaming opens op higher resolutions, albeit that red book theory tells us they can't sound better - but with streaming younhave the option. I ripped my entire CD collection - and vinyl - and have never looked back, but for as long as your curent CD player keeps working there's no reason for not keeping it: and try with whatever streaming DAC you use.

Thinking of trading my old system in so don't currently own a CD player.  The US is attractive to me as it has a disc copying facility in the same box..  NAS drives an option if I had a decent quality ripper.  The US appears to be the cheapest option at the moment but think I prefer the NS-01, but again more expensive (with more upgrade options though )..  I would hate to be 6 months in then find out that the CD player sounds significantly better.  

 Still trying to work out best way to get Hi Res downloads on to my Apple PC  but that's a whole new discussion..

 J

All you've got to go on is what your ears tell you. We gave up CD playback years ago because streaming ripped CDs sounded better to us. Whatever sounds better to you is the way to go. Other's advice can only help so far and other's ears are useless to you. I think Naim make peerless (at their respective price points) CD players and streamers. I happen to prefer the latter.

If streaming, I wouldn't go for a US. I'd use a NAS with embedded server and a dedicated streamer. More versatile and a potential better sound for pound. Your dealer will be able to advise and demonstrate. 

Is a home trial out of the question for some reason? 

Harry,

 What do you use to rip the discs?

J

If you decide on server, I suggest looking up posts on Mac Mini with Audirvana, which can achieve excellent SQ at a remarkable price, especially  paired with Hugo DAC (and no NAS necessary)

Naimless posted:

NAS drives an option if I had a decent quality ripper.  The US appears to be the cheapest option at the moment but think I prefer the NS-01, but again more expensive (with more upgrade options though ).

You have a decent quality ripper -- a laptop (Windows or OS X) running dbPoweramp or XLD (OS X only).  These programs will produce "bit perfect" rips of your cd's and even check them against an online database for accuracy.  Whilst Naim (and it's dealers) promoted Naim rips as "better," such has not held up and we don't see that language being pushed any longer.

Bart, Thanks, I had a suspicion that may be the case.    

Tend to believe the Naim comments of best etc. Now thinking I have the NAS bit covered, so will probably opt for a CD player but will wait a month or so to experiment a bit..

j

 A mac mini audirvana has a stunning sound quality for the money! I've just set it up here and its really quite something ! If I had the same opportunity to buy a CD player or do this now then I'd spend £700 on a mac mini and get a S/H DAC. 

However Cd player prices secondhand are falling and thy comparison are just plug and play - I've just seen a CD 5 for £425 from a dealer which compared to a new Cd player seems a bit of a bargain

The real decision I think is where you anticipate getting your music from in the future rather than playing the CD's you already own. You can buy a lot of Cd's secondhand via amazon for a few quid and rip them or do you want to start paying for high res downloads ?

Naimless posted:

Bart, Thanks, I had a suspicion that may be the case.    

Tend to believe the Naim comments of best etc. Now thinking I have the NAS bit covered, so will probably opt for a CD player but will wait a month or so to experiment a bit..

j

Naimless, yes I was one of the members on this forum who did some tests and analysis a few years back to debunk the ripper 'a' is better than ripper 'b' myth.. In fact I am sure the results are still searchable.

However all media network servers (UPnP / DLNA servers) are not the same and do vary subtly sound wise when feeding into a Naim streamer. Again these differences are all evidenced by looking at the way the media is transferred using TCP over the Ethernet 

Simon

Naimless posted:

I am currently upgrading to a Naim system and not sure whether to include a CD player or Unitiserve.   I have a stack of CDs but now generally just play download music.

 Any recomendations as the sound is important but really just for general listening and not dissecting particular albums etc.

I would not build a system based on a UnitiServe as a server. In my opinion the device is outdated and obsolete: it is based on poorly supported proprietary software offering little or poor support for foreign data (data that have not been produced by ripping CDs on the device) and, as far as I know, no support for internet streaming services. If you like playing CDs, buy a CD player. If you have (or plan to have) a lot of high resolution downloads, set up a dedicated music server based on a mac mini, a fanless low-power microserver (e.g. from fit-PC) or a Raspberry Pi 3. You can connect the microserver directly to a Naim DAC (via USB or S/PDIF bridge) or, via LAN, to a Naim streamer. Best, nbpf

NBPF - have you actually used a UnitiServe with a NAS?

No, have not used a UnityServe, and the apparent consensus from the forum appears to be not to.   

Thank you all for the constructive input.

jim

I actually run a home network with US SSD + QNAP NAS. It provides perfect  ripping and streaming. I could not and did not want to be bothered with ripping using a PC and faffing about with files. For convenience I think this is a very good, stable and elegant solution. Although not the cheapest (but neither is Naim regular gear).

Naimless posted:

 Still trying to work out best way to get Hi Res downloads on to my Apple PC  but that's a whole new discussion..

So what is the problem transfering your downloads (from where?) to your Apple computer?

Innocent Bystander posted:

If you decide on server, I suggest looking up posts on Mac Mini with Audirvana, which can achieve excellent SQ at a remarkable price, especially  paired with Hugo DAC (and no NAS necessary)

Indeed, IMO that would be an excellent combination, and pretty bullet-proof. Based on my own experience, and assuming you wouldn't mind spending a bit more, I'd go for a Melco in place of the Mac Mini and a Chord TT in place of the Hugo.

Just catching up with this after a day trip from UK to Sweden yesterday which left little time for Naim...

I also think the Unitiserve is a perfectly good component which is the lowest hassle way of ripping and serving music. Backing up to a NAS is easy to do. I also like having a CD player too, although I don't actually need one because I could rip every CD I want to play. But I don't rip CDs I don't own and I like the theatre involved with putting a CD into my CDX2 and playing it,me specially if I'm going to sit down and listen to it properly and not do something else at the same time.

But these are personal decisions and not much to do with SQ which is good with all the options. I don't think a dealer's demo is going to change things one way or the other in this sort of choice, which is about convenience and aesthetics rather than SQ.

best

David

Adam Zielinski posted:

NBPF - have you actually used a UnitiServe with a NAS?

No. But I know that a UnitiServe (for ripping and transfering the data to some NAS) and a NAS (for serving the data to whatever streamers) is a viable approach. However, I consider this approach an unnecessary waste of resources. Even letting apart the costs, you end up with two devices that need to be taken care of, might fail, need space, potentially pullute your mains, ... Also, in this setup, the capabilities of the US are essentially unexploited and its functionalities are relegated to those of a ripping station. This is doable, of course. But I would not consider it to be an elegant solution. Just my personal viewpoint, of course. 

i have US SSD and NetGear ReadyNAS. works perfectly.

enjoy

ken