New Uniti Core

It should all be fine, but you might want to think about using upnp to get your music onto your 272 rather than spdif. Your Core and 272 will be connected to your network anyway.

There is some debate about whether upnp or spdif from the Core sounds better, but into a 272, I would suggest starting with upnp. It costs nothing to try and you can change/compare it later if you want to.

if you are going to rip CDs then you probably will want an internal hard disc quite soon because a 64 Gb USB drive won't hold many albums. The recommended hard disc doesn't cost much and you can buy from any number of sources via Amazon or whoever.

Good luck!

best

David

The recommended Naim hard drive is a Seagate pipeline, available on amazon and elsewhere. They are intended for video applications run quiet, and as the hard drive will be on continuously, unless you switch off, are also suitable for continuous running.

Gazza posted:

The recommended Naim hard drive is a Seagate pipeline, available on amazon and elsewhere. They are intended for video applications run quiet, and as the hard drive will be on continuously, unless you switch off, are also suitable for continuous running.

 

Use one myself cheap as chips and very quiet.

Thanks for the suggestions,I may just try UPNP first then,and if I have time,will look for a hard drive locally.I do not intend on ripping any CD's until I have a hard drive in place.Am I right in thinking that I will see a thumb drive as a "Store" in the Naim app?

No quarter posted:

Thanks for the suggestions,I may just try UPNP first then,and if I have time,will look for a hard drive locally.I do not intend on ripping any CD's until I have a hard drive in place.Am I right in thinking that I will see a thumb drive as a "Store" in the Naim app?

Yes. I think you have to tell the Core in setup to recognise that location as a Store as this is the way that you tell the Core what music you want it to index.  

As Gazza said the internal hard disc runs 24/7 unless you put the Core into deep sleep (in which case you can't wake it with the app) so don't be tempted to buy a different hard disc from the recommended one just because you can get it locally. Pretty well anything will work fine but the hard disc gets pretty hot running all the time and something that isn't really meant to do that might not last as long or stay quiet for as long.

Best

David

Thanks for the info David,I now have the Core at home,but probably will not get a chance to set it up today before I go to work.I might just open the box and pull out the manual,if there is one,and read it over at work tonight.Also,I will check amazon for the various hard drives,I will look for the Seagate Pipeline drives,are there certain model numbers that I should look for,or do they all work,and it depends on the amount of storage you want?I am also unsure whether to get SSD or HDD,from what I have read,SSD might sound better,but cost a lot more,and are quiet in operation.

One more thing,the USB thumb drive already has FLAC files on it,I only want to plug it in and play it,not rip any music to it.I wanted to try the SPDIF digital out into a chord Hugo,then into the analog input of the 272,and also I have a second system for home theatre,which I also use for 2 channel...so Core>Hugo>Cary Audio Cinema 12.I have a lot of different set ups that I want to try,to find the best sound possible,I will also try the Core SPDIF out directly into my Dynaudio XD 600's digital input,they are active speakers.Once I figure out what works best,I may be able to sell off some gear.

No quarter posted:

Thanks for the info David,I now have the Core at home,but probably will not get a chance to set it up today before I go to work.I might just open the box and pull out the manual,if there is one,and read it over at work tonight.Also,I will check amazon for the various hard drives,I will look for the Seagate Pipeline drives,are there certain model numbers that I should look for,or do they all work,and it depends on the amount of storage you want?I am also unsure whether to get SSD or HDD,from what I have read,SSD might sound better,but cost a lot more,and are quiet in operation.

There isn't a manual. There is the wizzard on the website but that's about it.

I think the Seagate Pipeline (aka Video) takes you to right HDD and its just about the size. I had an HDD for a while and 2TB was about £80. The price kind off increases more or less linearly with storage size.

The SSD is obviously quiet and runs cool but it's a lot more money. I have the recommended Samsung 500 GB and it cost about £150.

best

David

So I had time to open the box,this thing is built like a tank,very heavy,and Dave,mine has a little quick start guide/manual type of leaflet case,in the box.No time right now to plug it in though.

I find it incredible that in these more environmentally conscious days the drive in the Core doesn't spin down after a prolonged period of inactivity. 

The ReadyNAS I use with my HDX-SSD does this and it's only a few seconds delay when playing a track for the first time after a long period of inactivity. I've had this setup for about six years now and it's never been a problem.  

Surely something for a future firmware update?

No quarter posted:

So I had time to open the box,this thing is built like a tank,very heavy,and Dave,mine has a little quick start guide/manual type of leaflet case,in the box.No time right now to plug it in though.

Yes there is a short paper guide in there but it's a getting started thing and won't tell you anything you don't know, unless they changed it since I bought my Core 6 months ago!

Be careful handling the Core though  it's very hard to get fingerprint marks off the case which is a sort of anodised finish.

best

David

I have posted before that Naim now supply the hdd caddy as a spare part for £24. So if you want a hdd back up or ssd back up, this makes it easy to change between drives. Oh, and by the way, sit back, relax, and enjoy music without faffing about with computers and NAS drives.

Thanks GAZZA,that is what I intend on doing,and a big reason I wanted a Core was to keep things ALL Naim,and keep it simple.I don't understand what you mean by the "caddy" though,is that what the hard drive goes in?and does it not come with one?

Yes the caddy is screwed into the back of the core, and you will have a fixing kit for both ssd and hdd. For my part I decided to back up to a USB drive and then, just to be even safer decided to have a mirror image hdd, as they are not too expensive. So from time to time I use the USB drive to keep both hdd drives matched and up to date. Instead of dismantling the caddy each time, I just slot the spare caddy and drive into the core and back up from the USB drive. A bit overkill, but that's me.

Ok,I see,one other thing I am curious about...I know,listen for yourself,but will I get the same sound quality running off a USB drive,or stick,as I will running off the internal hard drive?I will read up on all I can tonight(I am at work),but I also wonder about the difference between FLAC and WAV sound quality,since most of my existing music is in FLAC format.Also,I have DSD files(DSF and DFF),can I just load those on the Core as is,and play with the 272,or is there some conversion that needs to be done first?When I rip my physical CD collection,is there an option to rip to WAV or FLAC?,sorry for all the newbie questions,I just want to start off on the right track,and not wish I did things another way later.

Congrats love mine.. Takes a bit of tinkering but overall SQ is awesome and it's great.. Hoping they make the indexing and some software stuff more flexible long term.

DUPREE posted:

Congrats love mine.. Takes a bit of tinkering but overall SQ is awesome and it's great.. Hoping they make the indexing and some software stuff more flexible long term.

Hi DUPREE

Are you using SPDIF or UPNP now?,I think you were using SPDIF when you first got the Core.What about SSD versus HDD?,which one there?From reading the tutorial at the top of this forum,some stuff seems pretty strait forward,other things leave me a bit confused...like if I stick a USB stick into it,it sounds like I have to format it first which would erase all the music on the stick,can't I just stick one in and play if,like on the front of the 272?Or do I have to format it,then drag and drop files on my laptop?

Naim recommend wav, but you can rip to flac.

No quarter posted:

DUPREE posted:

Congrats love mine.. Takes a bit of tinkering but overall SQ is awesome and it's great.. Hoping they make the indexing and some software stuff more flexible long term.

Hi DUPREE

Are you using SPDIF or UPNP now?,I think you were using SPDIF when you first got the Core.What about SSD versus HDD?,which one there?From reading the tutorial at the top of this forum,some stuff seems pretty strait forward,other things leave me a bit confused...like if I stick a USB stick into it,it sounds like I have to format it first which would erase all the music on the stick,can't I just stick one in and play if,like on the front of the 272?Or do I have to format it,then drag and drop files on my laptop?

An important distinction is between a Music Store which is what you rip to and a Music Share which has music you can scan and serve to streamers etc. If it's a Store you want then yes it has to be formatted by the Core. But if it's a Share then you don't format it, but you do have to define it as a Share to get the Core to index it.

If you plug a USB stick into the socket on the front of the Core, nothing will happen unless you have defined it as a Store or a Share as above in the Core setup.  This is different to what happens if you plug it into the front of your 272 for example. So what you need to do is define it as a Music Share, then the Core will treat the music files on it just as if they were on an internal drive.

i already answered about HDD vs SDD in an earlier reply.

best

David

No quarter posted:

Ok,I see,one other thing I am curious about...I know,listen for yourself,but will I get the same sound quality running off a USB drive,or stick,as I will running off the internal hard drive?I will read up on all I can tonight(I am at work),but I also wonder about the difference between FLAC and WAV sound quality,since most of my existing music is in FLAC format.Also,I have DSD files(DSF and DFF),can I just load those on the Core as is,and play with the 272,or is there some conversion that needs to be done first?When I rip my physical CD collection,is there an option to rip to WAV or FLAC?,sorry for all the newbie questions,I just want to start off on the right track,and not wish I did things another way later.

There should be no difference in quality between files wherever they are stored because they are served the same way by the Core. The operative word though is "should". You will have to see what you think.

Naim say WAV sounds better. Many people agree and choose to store in FLAC to get small file sizes but transcode to WAV on the fly on playback. The Core won't do that yet, although earlier Naim servers did and so one might hope that Naim will sort this on the Core eventually. But the difference in SQ isn't massive so I wouldn't worry about it for files you already have. With new rips you can decide (once at setup of a Store) whether the Core rips in WAV or FLAC.

The Core does serve some DSD files. I think it will serve anything the 272 will play so you should be OK.

Regarding backups and comments by Gazza, I don't understand the logic of having two caddies and two internal hard discs as well as a USB hard drive. If you want two backups, which is quite understandable, then doing the backup twice to two different USB drives is cheaper, easier and puts less strain on the drive connectors inside the Core, which are not intended for frequent reconnection. But each to his own.

best

David

Thanks for all that great info Dave,I will look into the share store for my USB sticks,but if all goes well,I may just have an internal hard drive fitted later today.I think GAZZA,just bought a spare Caddy,and fitted a HDD to one,and an SSD to the other...saving the act of unscrewing the bolts every time he swaps them.

I mananaged to get my Core up and running,and actually playing music...first impressions are that it sounds fantastic.I had to order a Samsung 1 TB SSD hard drive,it will be here Monday.For now I have just plugged a 64gig thumb drive into the front USB socket,set up a share folder(I think) and hit play on the I-pad Voila! Art pepper and his band floating through the air.Currently using my XD 600's fed from the 272,using the Core in UPNP as a source,wonderful so far.

Very good!

i use the Samsung 500 GB SSD and the total lack of physical noise and the very cool running is very attractive. I can't say that I noticed any difference in SQ between SSD and the HDD that I started with, but that isn't to say that others might not either. Anyway enjoy!

best

David

Thanks David,I am actually blown away right now by how good this sounds,it all works together beautifully,just so real,so right...

On my way to work,I stopped at Best Buy,and they had a SSD drive in stock,so I bought it,hopefully it is the right one.On the package it says "V-NAND SSD 850 EVO",the only thing that worries me is there are 4 screw holes on the bottom of it,I thought the SSD screw kit only had 3 screws?...and the HDD had the four screws.