NAS drive....

If you want to use Asset you really need a Qnap. I believe there is a techy way to install on a Synology but it's far easier on Qnap. It's probably worth having a twin drive machine, set up in raid so that they mirror each other. If one drive fails you just stick another one in, rather than having to retrieve from your backup. I use a Qnap TS253A if that's any help. It's very fast and you can backup to a USB drive by pressing a little button on the front. I'm sue there are cheaper ones too. 

Yes HH is right, you can install Asset on Synology but its a bit techie,  the instructions are on the Illustrate forum.  https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/s...et-Upnp-for-Synology      But I would be a bit careful w.rt. your CPU, the Marvell Armada 370 88F6707 is a single core & might have problems. I advise to post a question on Illustrate forum,  owner Simon will say a quick Y/N

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if Asset is vital - it's what Naim recommended when I bought the MuSo, but if there are options that would work with the Synology - or, indeed, if anyone has advice or suggestions generally on what is the best UpnP solution for the MuSo - I'd be happy to hear the ideas!

Thanks, as always

Mike

Minimserver works well with the synology. The ds 116 seems much better than the 115. Compare the specs, although the 116 is dearer.

As above. Asset best with QNAP. Minimserver also works well on QNAP. I use both on different QNAPs and can't tell the sound apart. They both sound very good indeed.

I've used Minim and Asset. Asset is easier to use as you don't need a separate program on a PC to control it. You can map to Asset on an iPad and control everything from there. And the auto rescan on Asset is a lot better. 

I switched from Synology to Qnap because I was fed up with Minim having funny moments and needing sorting out, which was really fiddly. Also, being old and dopey I kept forgetting what albums I'd just bought. Asset has an excellent 'new albums' feature which Minim doesn't. 

If you go with a Synology I'd certainly spend more than £75. Once you start transcoding high res files from wav to flac it's going to struggle. You'll keep the nas for a good few years so it's worth getting something decent. 

Asset is not 'vital'  far from it.      With Synology you have an included package choice of their own Media Server UPnP software & 3rd party Minimserver which also needs to be installed with Java on the NAS & MinimWatch on your PC/Mac.     I advise the main consideration is what file format you use, WAV, FLAC ALAC etc,  With WAV you can play them straight into your Naim with no problems using both Media Server & Minimserver.  The question with FLAC & others is do you what to play them straight (as they are) into your Naim or do you want to transcode (to WAV)     Synology's Media Server will play them 'straight' perfectly but has issues transcoding with gapless playback & also down sampling 24-bit while transcoding.     Final point;   if you like to browse your app with a lot of art - rather than written word - you will prefer Minimserver.

And yes to HH's point above re the risk of a low cost NAS - 2 bay & dual core CPU is a minimum IMO

I use a DS115 with WD Red as a music backup, but I've also put Minim on it, and it seems to work very well as a server too, so if that's what you've got, it should work fine. I agree that Minim is a little bit fiddly to set up and use, but that could just be my technical ineptitude! My dealer likes Netgear ReadyNas, and QNAP seems popular here too - I'm sure any of those will work pretty well. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

I've used Minim and Asset. Asset is easier to use as you don't need a separate program on a PC to control it. You can map to Asset on an iPad and control everything from there. And the auto rescan on Asset is a lot better. 

I switched from Synology to Qnap because I was fed up with Minim having funny moments and needing sorting out, which was really fiddly. Also, being old and dopey I kept forgetting what albums I'd just bought. Asset has an excellent 'new albums' feature which Minim doesn't. 

If you go with a Synology I'd certainly spend more than £75. Once you start transcoding high res files from wav to flac it's going to struggle. You'll keep the nas for a good few years so it's worth getting something decent. 

I totally agree with HH, Qnap is good and Asset is the best out there. I would not touch Minim because it is very flaky (as anything to do with Java).

In case Victor is still looking, I use a ds115j with a 4TB WD Red to serve 3 Muso Qbs, just running the Synology Media Server. Once I tweaked timers, it's been very robust, the only hang was after an all day metadata tagging session when the Qbs couldn't see the NAS, a UPNP client on my phone could oddly. A reboot fixed that, and it's been solid again since. I have about 1200 CDs ripped as WAV, with a few hires files as well.

(The NAS acts as a backup for my HDX, I've created a separate copy of the rips for serving the Musos and am in the process of tagging them all using mp3tag to get more consistency. I've got an NDX on order, I'll serve that from the NAS as an experiment, if I like that I'll get a 2 bay NAS on a  switch local to the streamer.)

Anyone tried Plex?

I have been using a Synology 1812+ for a fair few years ....using LMS and Minimserver. I would now echo a comment above about CPU grunt. I have bought a Raspberry Pi 3 which I use just for LMS. This has reduced the amount of available RAM, 3GB > 1, but moved to a 64bit quad core CPU - the uplift is noticeable. Might be worth investigating:

https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/s...y-Pi-Asset-Specifics

M

Yes - I tried Plex just to see if it did anything different/better.     It's not really intended for audio & I found it had various problems.  But as I was 'just inquizitive' & had no desire to get involved with bugs & glitches it got dumped.    It might be better now,  but I'm 100% OK with Media Server & have no wish to go investigating again    However I do wish Synology & Asset (Illustrate) would get it together officially.

Guys, thank you for all your replies. I understand some a lot more than others! There are a lot of technical people out there!!

All very helpful and much appreciated. I'm very new to all this and currently use my MuSo more for listening to Radio Paradise than anything else! 

I use  a synology NAS and they are great for the money.  very user friendly web based GUI.  Upgrade process was painless too.  runs on GNU/Linux so you can ssh in if your that way inclined.

Hungryhalibut posted:

I've used Minim and Asset. Asset is easier to use as you don't need a separate program on a PC to control it. You can map to Asset on an iPad and control everything from there. And the auto rescan on Asset is a lot better.  

Just a note on auto re-scan.  Some discussion lately about this, especially on the Naim servers which often have to be told to re-scan.  On Asset on my QNAP, albums appear in my 'Newest' playlist before they are even fully copies over to the nas! Asset is EXTREMELY fast at picking up new additions and indexing them. Zero delay from loading on the nas to being able to play.

I've noticed this and taken it for granted, as you do. But it is a good point. Asset picks this stuff up immediately.

Yes I had problems with Plex too - got a load of titles wrong when it was forming the database - not sure why it couldn't just copy what I had 

I got a DS115J with a 2TB WD red drive at Xmas.  I run Minimserver on it and it works perfectly with my Muso and Superuniti. I previously ran Minimserver on a PC.  Follow the Minimserver set up instructions and it should be fine.