Units core- short lived ?

Cbr600 posted:

just noticed that someone has posted a core for sale on a well known site, after only a couple of weeks use.

such short shelf life does not bode well?

hope it's not the start of a slippery slope for the new units

have you still some bugs or metadata problems ?  i am curious to know if there is still problems issues with the core today.... i have read so many....

Yes, original issue sill not sorted.

system cannot see the download file, where all my HDX rips were copied to, so I am missing 60% of my music.

been logged with help desk for 2 weeks now, with no solution

Well, I've had my Core for a month now and ripped almost 800 albums to it so far without any problems....

i can only speak as I find....

Craig

Cbr600 posted:

just noticed that someone has posted a core for sale on a well known site, after only a couple of weeks use.

such short shelf life does not bode well?

hope it's not the start of a slippery slope for the new units

At the time the Core was released, no detailed technical specs were available. Thus, a number of Core owners must have bought their devices without knowing very precisely what they where buying. On the top of this, the Core has suffered from a number of software implementation errors and deficiencies. Its strengths (if any) and its limitations have only started to become clear with the latest firmware upgrade and its ancillary notes. Half an year after its announcement and to the best of my knowledge, we still do not have any in-depth review of the new device. Thus, I would not be surprised if a few users had felt disappointed and decided to part from their relatively new devices. Rather than something to worry about, this would be a very healthy and natural reaction. Naim can and should do better and the set of features currently supported by the Core is not cast in stone.    

Cbr600 posted:

Yes, original issue sill not sorted.

system cannot see the download file, where all my HDX rips were copied to, so I am missing 60% of my music.

been logged with help desk for 2 weeks now, with no solution

Mine was like that. I got a new one from my dealer after no joy from Naim.

my message was censored : i have written that a lot of people have problems and bugs with their core, many issues with the metadata. But it is written only" i have read so many....", not my entire text!

Moderated post:  No censorship here.  Posts are only moderated/edited if they contravene forum rules.  I could have removed this thread as it arguably contravenes forum rules (pointing out a unit for sale) but left it in just in case its removal was misconstrued.

Cbr600 posted:

Yes, original issue sill not sorted.

system cannot see the download file, where all my HDX rips were copied to, so I am missing 60% of my music.

been logged with help desk for 2 weeks now, with no solution

I had similar issues after upgrading to v1.4 firmware. I found a workaround you may wish to try..I posted it elsewhere on this forum. 

 In each of your album folders you will have a "meta.naim" and possibly a "rip.naim" file. Do a search of the entire downloads folder then delete all of the "meta.naim" and "rip.naim" files.

After that, give your Core some time to update (just a few minutes will do) then check if all the artistes names are listed with all the albums.

After a lot of trying this and that, I came across this solution and it seems to work. You may find that you have some stubborn folders. For those, I deleted those folders then using either Windows or Mac (I prefer to use Windows. Less issues) then cut and paste into the downloads folder. It should work.

For those who don't know how to map the drives, for Windows, follow these steps:

1. Right click on "this PC".

2. Select "Map network drive".

3. A window pops up. In the "folder" box, type in "\\[name of your Core, eg. UnitiCore413633]\downloads\".

4. you might be asked for a user name and password. Just use admin and admin.

What has got OP's post got to do with software problems? 

Someone bought it and changed their mind. That's perfectly OK - one customer out of thousands. Or perhaps a delaer trying to sell his demo unit. Happens all the time.

Yet the rest of the esteemed forum members seem very happy to jump on the thread and start complaining, rather than helping... Sometimes I'm astonished by the level of the conversations here.

Keler Pierre posted:

my message was censored : i have written that a lot of people have problems and bugs with their core, many issues with the metadata. But it is written only" i have read so many....", not my entire text!

No wonder it was censored....

Adam Zielinski posted:

What has got OP's post got to do with software problems? 

...

Nothing, it seems to me.

Adam Zielinski posted:

...

Yet the rest of the esteemed forum members seem very happy to jump on the thread and start complaining, rather than helping... Sometimes I'm astonished by the level of the conversations here.

The original post seems to express doubts and a desire to exchange opinions, not a request for help.

I think the OP was wondering as to why someone would put such an expensive piece of gear up for sale so quickly, and apparently he has had some fairly serious software/firmware issues himself with the same piece, that not even the Naim support folks can unwind. Thus, he is concerned that this does not bode well for his own purchase, inasmuch of the product doesn't perform and gets a poor reputation, that it may have a very short run. That software issues appear to be a major problem for this product (based solely on Forum info) could be cause for concern.

And apologies to Paul if I have put words in his mouth.

Guys, there can be many many reasons for a person to make the decision to sell audio gear ... I'm pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with all the Naim gear that is up for sale out there. Well, that person putting up someting for sale which he/she has owned for a very short period of time can also have other reasons than software issues: have you thought about losing your job or getting a divorce? 

I agree with DrMark - as an owner of a UnitiServe for over 2 years (fairly trouble free it has to be said), I looked with great interest at the Core when announced, purely because of the removable hard drive. My US had to be returned to Salisbury with a suspected failed hard drive and I was without my main source of music for over a month. How much simpler it would have been to have been able to swap out the hard drive for a backed up one, which is what would be my preference when my current hard drive fails, as it inevitably will.

I'm still hopefull that eventually the Core will have the same editing features as I enjoy with the US via N-Serve app, and at that point I will consider an exchange. I get the impression from all the various threads in this forum that that point may well be some distance away. To not be able to edit meta data in the downloads folder is simply unacceptable, and a significant oversight by Naim (all in my opinion, of course!).

Tim

DrMark posted:

I think the OP was wondering as to why someone would put such an expensive piece of gear up for sale so quickly, and apparently he has had some fairly serious software/firmware issues himself with the same piece, that not even the Naim support folks can unwind. Thus, he is concerned that this does not bode well for his own purchase, inasmuch of the product doesn't perform and gets a poor reputation, that it may have a very short run. That software issues appear to be a major problem for this product (based solely on Forum info) could be cause for concern.

And apologies to Paul if I have put words in his mouth.

Tim, nice explanation of the details, correctly interpretated.

i am a long term supporter of Naim, so not wanting to cause problems for them, but in the current climate with new products and their support, I sometimes wonder how big the actual customer support team is at Naim?

is it a room it's several dedicated staff, or is it actually just Phil Harris?

Klout10 posted:

Guys, there can be many many reasons for a person to make the decision to sell audio gear ... I'm pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with all the Naim gear that is up for sale out there. Well, that person putting up someting for sale which he/she has owned for a very short period of time can also have other reasons than software issues: have you thought about losing your job or getting a divorce? 

It all depends: if one does not happen to be in financial need, losing the job or getting a divorce could actually be good reasons for buying new gear rather than selling it! Perhaps the OP can explain where he would like this thread to go. We could then try to adjust our replies to be more on topic. Agree that a few Cores on the second hand market mean nothing. Still, the Core is a disappointing product, in my view. From this perspective, a rich second hand market would be a healthy feedback (and, hopefully, an incentive to improve) rather than something to worry about. Just my two cents, of course.

nbpf posted:

Still, the Core is a disappointing product, in my view. 

This reminds me about the times when the HDX was introduced. A lot of people were complaining that it was way overpriced for what it could do ... I see something similar happening with the Uniti Core.

Just see the Core as I think it is intended to be: a way of ripping, storing and serving your music in an easy way ... Obviously, this can also be done with a PC, but there are many people around who are not that good with IT related stuff or simply don't want to bother about things like the correct settings when ripping a CD ... 

I use my Core as a ripper, store, server and local player (via s/pif) and so far its working really well.  If I download a music file on my computer then I sort out the metadata, clean up file structure etc. on the computer because that's what a computer is really good at doing.  I imagine that many of the issues reported with the Core are down to trying to get it to do things that its not ideal at doing?  Anyway, just to add my ha'penny worth, so far I'm very pleased with the Core and...  the most important thing - it sounds great!

Richard,

How do you deal with compilation CDs?  The way the Core sorts its music doesn't appear to allow the Naim app to read artistes and songs found in a compilation CD under the Artist and Song lists. 

Timmo1341 posted:

....I'm still hopefull that eventually the Core will have the same editing features as I enjoy with the US via N-Serve app, and at that point I will consider an exchange. I get the impression from all the various threads in this forum that that point may well be some distance away. To not be able to edit meta data in the downloads folder is simply unacceptable, and a significant oversight by Naim (all in my opinion, of course!).

Tim

Timmo1341, As a Unitiserve owner myself too, meta data of files in the Downloads folder cant be edited via n-Serve / Desktop Client anyway, so this isn't something you can do today. Maybe the sentences in your post were not linked and I read it incorrectly?

My take on this point is that a PC or laptop is needed to download the download file in the first place anyway, and that is the right time to edit the metadata before copying it to the US Downloads folder. And some of the Downloads need a fair bit of fiddling, far easier to do it on a proper keyboard than on an iPad or iPhone.

If we were able to copy the download to the US Downloads folder and edit it afterwards, we would end up with a non edited version on the PC, ie. 2 different versions between the US/Core and the PC, which wouldn't be a great thing. So I would say that Im with Naim on this point.  

Klout10 posted:

nbpf posted:

Still, the Core is a disappointing product, in my view. 

This reminds me about the times when the HDX was introduced. A lot of people were complaining that it was way overpriced for what it could do ... I see something similar happening with the Uniti Core.

Just see the Core as I think it is intended to be: a way of ripping, storing and serving your music in an easy way ... Obviously, this can also be done with a PC, but there are many people around who are not that good with IT related stuff or simply don't want to bother about things like the correct settings when ripping a CD ... 

I do not actually remember having read complaints that the Core is overpriced in this forum. I personally do not think it is and if you read my many criticisms of the Core posted in this forum you will realize that they were not concerned with its price.

For dealers, the price of a piece of equipment is certainly a very relevant measure. But for owners who do not happen to be in financial need, it is not. What counts for owners is value, not price. And the value of a piece of equipment is pretty much unrelated to its price.

I personally very much doubt that the Core does support storing and serving music in an easy way. But I concede that easiness is a very subjective notion. More objective, however, are the lack of seamless integration between rips and imported files, the lack of integration of internet radio and internet streaming services in the Core's player and a software design that basically attempts at cloning that of the 10 years old US. These limitations together with the lack of a wireless interface and the unsuitability of the Core's UPnP server for classical music contents are for me more than enough to assess the value of the Core as very low. It's price is probably fine but who cares?

Richard Dane posted:

I use my Core as a ripper, store, server and local player (via s/pif) and so far its working really well.  If I download a music file on my computer then I sort out the metadata, clean up file structure etc. on the computer because that's what a computer is really good at doing.  I imagine that many of the issues reported with the Core are down to trying to get it to do things that its not ideal at doing?  Anyway, just to add my ha'penny worth, so far I'm very pleased with the Core and...  the most important thing - it sounds great!

I agree that metadata editing of downloaded files is better done on a computer with a physical keyboard and, ideally, before sending the files to the server. From this point of view, Naim's decision not to support metadata editing of the contents of the downloads folder is sensible and perfectly justified.

I also would agree that "many of the issues reported with the Core are down to trying to get it to do things that its not ideal at doing" if you would concede that "the things that it is not ideal at doing" encompass very basic functionalities that one can legitimately expect a music server to support.

In particular, it seems to me perfectly reasonable to expect the Core to well support organizing, searching and browsing classical music contents. This is however far from being the case. It also seems to me perfectly reasonable to expect the Core's player to seamlessy integrate local storage, network attached storage, internet radio and internet streaming resources. This is also not the case.

I do not want to repeat myself but the list of expectations that the Core has failed to meet is very, very long. This would not be a problem by itself if Naim had indicated the willingness to correct the most severe deficiencies through upcoming software releases. This also has not been the case.

NBPF, thanks, however, I can't see how streaming services can be seen as a reasonable expectation - why would Naim duplicate functions that are best handled by their streamers (and are included therein) - particularly when all bar a handful of Cores will be used to feed systems with Naim streamers?  

As for the rest, it shouldn't be beyond Naim's capability to introduce improvements and refinements and I think there's certainly willingness to do so.  Let us see...

Richard, I generally play files as albums.  Not sure I've noticed anything awry with the few compilations I've ripped thus far.  I'll check it out sometime.  

nbpf posted:

Richard Dane posted:

I use my Core as a ripper, store, server and local player (via s/pif) and so far its working really well.  If I download a music file on my computer then I sort out the metadata, clean up file structure etc. on the computer because that's what a computer is really good at doing.  I imagine that many of the issues reported with the Core are down to trying to get it to do things that its not ideal at doing?  Anyway, just to add my ha'penny worth, so far I'm very pleased with the Core and...  the most important thing - it sounds great!

I agree that metadata editing of downloaded files is better done on a computer with a physical keyboard and, ideally, before sending the files to the server. From this point of view, Naim's decision not to support metadata editing of the contents of the downloads folder is sensible and perfectly justified.

I also would agree that "many of the issues reported with the Core are down to trying to get it to do things that its not ideal at doing" if you would concede that "the things that it is not ideal at doing" encompass very basic functionalities that one can legitimately expect a music server to support.

In particular, it seems to me perfectly reasonable to expect the Core to well support organizing, searching and browsing classical music contents. This is however far from being the case. It also seems to me perfectly reasonable to expect the Core's player to seamlessy integrate local storage, network attached storage, internet radio and internet streaming resources. This is also not the case.

I do not want to repeat myself but the list of expectations that the Core has failed to meet is very, very long. This would not be a problem by itself if Naim had indicated the willingness to correct the most severe deficiencies through upcoming software releases. This also has not been the case.

Have you actually tested the Core?

nbpf posted:

Klout10 posted:

Guys, there can be many many reasons for a person to make the decision to sell audio gear ... I'm pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with all the Naim gear that is up for sale out there. Well, that person putting up someting for sale which he/she has owned for a very short period of time can also have other reasons than software issues: have you thought about losing your job or getting a divorce? 

It all depends: if one does not happen to be in financial need, losing the job or getting a divorce could actually be good reasons for buying new gear rather than selling it! 

Perhaps "he's" been buying too much equipment ... sneaking it into the house without discussion with the wife.  Its either sell all the equipment OR divorce :-)

Richard Dane posted:

NBPF, thanks, however, I can't see how streaming services can be seen as a reasonable expectation - why would Naim duplicate functions that are best handled by their streamers (and are included therein) - particularly when all bar a handful of Cores will be used to feed systems with Naim streamers?  

...

Well, if the Core had not been intended to be used as a SPDIF player than of course streaming services would not be mandatory, of course. But then, why build in a player and a SPDIF output in a device that is not intended to be a SPDIF player?

Richard Dane posted:

As for the rest, it shouldn't be beyond Naim's capability to introduce improvements and refinements and I think there's certainly willingness to do so.  Let us see...

Let's hope so. I can imagine that if Naim would suggest that there are avenues for growth and improvements, many now disappointed Core owners would be proud to be early users of a new platform. Just a speculation, of course. I am not myself a Core user.