Replacing a track ripped at 16 bit with 24 bit

Posted by: Consciousmess on 24 September 2017

Here’s something where I’d be grateful for your guidance. I have a great album by Steve Wilson ripped at 16 bit 44.1kHz, called “Transience” and on it are tracks from other albums of his which I’ve downloaded in 24bit 96kHz.

I would like to replace the 16 bit  versions with the 24 bit ones, but I know the HDX uses two separate folders: Music and Downloads, and I think one isn’t to touch the Music folder.  I would just love to use my PC though and replace the 16 bit tracks as the 24 bit ones are noticeably better!

Can I???

Posted on: 24 September 2017 by David Hendon

I suspect that you might get away with just replacing the tracks in the music folder, but the safe way to do it would be to copy the album from the music folder to the downloads folder and delete it from the music folder (using the album delete function in the app). Then you could replace the tracks you want to replace and once the HDX has scanned the downloads folder again, you will be able to access the album from the app or a streamer as per usual, but with the high res versions of the tracks.

Assuming you still have the original CD there are variations on this theme like ripping the CD on your PC, substituting the high res tracks and uploading the whole album to the downloads folder.

best

David

Posted on: 24 September 2017 by Consciousmess

Hey that’s great advice, thanks David!

Posted on: 24 September 2017 by Adam Zielinski

You may wanto to take the files 'out' onto your home PC, correct the metadata first, and then place them in a Downloads folder.

Posted on: 24 September 2017 by Consciousmess

How do I correct the meta data, Adam? I understand where you’re coming from as sometimes full albums are not listed together e.g. track 1 is absent.

Posted on: 24 September 2017 by Adam Zielinski

I use a piece of software called Metadatics. It enables a user to view and overrite all metadata on music files.

Posted on: 25 September 2017 by ChrisSU

Metadatics is great, but it's Mac only - there are plenty of PC options though. Just be careful to use these editors only on the downloads folder, not the CD rips stored on the MQ folder. 

Posted on: 26 September 2017 by sktn77a

I could be mistaken here but I thought the only way to get music into the "Music" folder was to rip it there.  Everything else goes into the "Download" folder.  You can delete the album from the Music folder using the Naim DTC but DON'T try to use file explorer to do this over the network.

Posted on: 26 September 2017 by Consciousmess

Thanks for that, yeah I’m going to get some time this weekend to give it a go. I’ll find a PC version of metadatatics as well and start to tidy up the distribution of some albums.

That is the downside of the HDX, how the files are categorised. Don’t know I’d a firmware would resolve this?

Posted on: 26 September 2017 by David Hendon
sktn77a posted:

I could be mistaken here but I thought the only way to get music into the "Music" folder was to rip it there.  Everything else goes into the "Download" folder.  You can delete the album from the Music folder using the Naim DTC but DON'T try to use file explorer to do this over the network.

Yes this is correct of course - indeed what I said in my first post in this thread. You don't have to use the DTC but you do have to use a Naim tool like Nserve or the Naim app (if it's a Core).

But you can use windows explorer to make copies of files in the Music folder and put them into the Downloads folder where you can edit them, deleting the original copy as above. 

best

David

Posted on: 27 September 2017 by David Hendon

No a firmware update could possibly but certainly  won't resolve this because it is a firm Naim design choice which they have perpetuated in the Core. 

So we are where we are and likely will stay there.

best

David