Dipping a toe in the stream...

Hungryhalibut posted:

What are your albums in at the moment? If they are already in a lossless format you can convert them. My advice to you would be to use FLAC and set your upnp server to transcode to WAV on the fly. It sounds just as good as native WAV, but FLACs are smaller and managing the metadata is easier. I don't do it, but you can also transcode ALAC to WAV, or so I believe. 

They're a mix of all sorts, Mp3, lossless, wav and some flac via Audirvana. Although some of these have been converted to these formats from MP3, which I understand actually does nothing for the SQ at all (again more bad advice from years ago), hence my desire to start over with my cd collection and re-rip via a bit perfect ripping app. 

Yes, if they were originally MP3 they will still be lossy and sound poor, no matter what they have been converted to. For what it's worth, I use dbpoweramp and it's very easy, though there are other rippers out there. 

James at TT recommended DBP too, so sounds like a safe bet! What are you using as your upnp server? 

I use Asset, which is made by Illustrate, who do dbpoweramp. It doesn't work on Synology though, so you'd want a Qnap. Asset is much easier to use than Minimserver, which I had before. Both will transcode to WAV and cope with gapless albums. Asset will rescan automatically, so a new rip appears in about 30 seconds. With minim, you have to tell it to rescan manually, which is a pain. Asset also has a feature to show your latest albums, which minim doesn't have, and which I find really useful, being rather forgetful of what I've bought. I hope you find this little summary helpful - these are the main differences I've found. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I use Asset, which is made by Illustrate, who do dbpoweramp. It doesn't work on Synology though, so you'd want a Qnap. Asset is much easier to use than Minimserver, which I had before. Both will transcode to WAV and cope with gapless albums. Asset will rescan automatically, so a new rip appears in about 30 seconds. With minim, you have to tell it to rescan manually, which is a pain. Asset also has a feature to show your latest albums, which minim doesn't have, and which I find really useful, being rather forgetful of what I've bought. I hope you find this little summary helpful - these are the main differences I've found. 

Yes very, thank you, although I probably should have mentioned that my files will be served via my iMac in the short term. How would that influence your answer, and sorry for all the questions...

I wouldn't know an iMac if I tripped over one. I'd spend the £450 and get a really good nas. The last thing you want is to have your computer running all the time. 

One other thing about the Qnap - it goes to sleep quite happily when it's not been used for a while and so uses less power. The Synology I had before was always awake and nothing I could do would get it to sleep. It may be that the Synology was a 2013 model,and the latest ones do sleep properly. It probably takes about 30 seconds to wake up after the Naim app is opened. 

My Synology is the same, and it's less than a year old. It never shuts up unless I turn it off completely, even though it's only used for backup. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

One other thing about the Qnap - it goes to sleep quite happily when it's not been used for a while and so uses less power. The Synology I had before was always awake and nothing I could do would get it to sleep. It may be that the Synology was a 2013 model,and the latest ones do sleep properly. It probably takes about 30 seconds to wake up after the Naim app is opened. 

I have a Qnap, you’re correct they do drop off easily, but mine keeps waking up. Every time I wake my PC, the NAS wakes as well. It didn’t do this when I was running XP, it’s only happened since I changed to W10.

Strange!

My current Synology NAS (a DS216+II) goes into sleep mode  after around 30 minutes, as did my previous Synology NAS (purchased circa 2012).

It also doesn't wake up until I open up one of my control apps (for one of my 3 streaming systems), or I actively browse one of the folders on the NAS - just what I want.

Very simple to use and more or less bullet proof when it comes to reliability, so my personal choice would always be Synology.  

I have never used Qnap, but I'm sure you would be equally happy with either make.

I had always blamed the fact that my Synology nas wouldn't sleep on my UnitiServe -- I think it keeps 'talking to' the nas.

My current Synology -- no UnitiServe -- sleeps a lot but merely firing up my Macbook Pro does wake it sometimes.

Hmack posted:

With your system, I think I would be tempted to raise the bar a little bit and go for something like the Pioneer N-50 A or Cambridge Audio CXN. at around £500 or £700 respectively new, but probably also available second hand. 

I have to admit I have not heard the Yamaha, but if you have a chance to demo it at home, then by all means give it a go. However, I would be a little surprised if a streamer that costs around £300 (and incorporating a pre-amp) will sound great on a system of the standard of your own. However, you never can  tell until you try it. I purchased a Marantz N7004 (for £399, albeit reduced from £730) streamer for use in my 3rd (bedroom) system. I auditioned it alongside a Linn Majik and (bare) Naim ND5 XS, and to be perfectly honest, and to my surprise,  found it quite difficult to work out which I liked best. It sounded to me to be very similar in sound presentation to the much more expensive Linn, and almost as good, but subtly different to the equally more expensive Naim. So some of these 'cheaper' streamers can be pretty good, and enjoyable to listen to.

One thing to bear in mind though, is that in my experience the control apps used by these cheaper streamers are often substantially less good than those offered by Naim or Linn. So I would advise you check these out before buying. How good is the native control app, and is it capable of being controlled by an open source app such as, for example, Lumin 

Would agree with this comment. With the rest of your system you would have to raise the bar to something better. The NDX would be a nice match to your system, assuming you have the funds. If not you perhaps should wait with toeing in.....

Well, the NDX is in and set up, only with Tidal at the mo but I'm loving it so far....��

I was hoping you'd get the Yamaha so you could tell us if it's any good!!

Yer, erm sorry to disappoint you...;-) 

I'm sure you won't be disappointed with your decision, if your bank balance can handle it! Actually, I was being slightly selfish, as my daughter wants to 'dip her toe in' and I thought the Yamaha might be a good option for her.

Hungryhalibut posted:

The last thing you want is to have your computer running all the time. 

I was told a few years ago after a failed hard drive in a mac, that it was better to leave a computer running as problems tended to happen when a computer's hard drive stoped and started when the computer was switched on and off.

I'm not sure if that's right or not?

sjw posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

The last thing you want is to have your computer running all the time. 

I was told a few years ago after a failed hard drive in a mac, that it was better to leave a computer running as problems tended to happen when a computer's hard drive stoped and started when the computer was switched on and off.

I'm not sure if that's right or not?

I have to say that that advice reflects my experience of running computer networks. Generally the ones kept running all the time had very few issues with drive failure. 

Can i expect better results over Tidal when I start streaming files from my Mac over my network?