Hi Heyman, welcome to Naim & streaming.
I started streaming after retiring @ 65, so don’t let age be a barrier, it isn’t.
I made my decision to go streaming when I was all CD & a little bit of vinyl. I (we) got fed up with the floor & wall space taken up with CD storage + ugly dust traps.
Streaming looked to be the ‘new way’. I looked into it, read a lot, asked around including this forum, booked a ‘show me how’ session with my dealer, never intending to make a desision that day, but left having been instantly convinced & ordered an NDX, delivery in 2 to 3 weeks
On returning home I ordered a Synology DS214 with WD Red HDD’s from Amazon, advertised the CDX2 for sale & waited
The Synology arrived in 2 days & I set about ripping with dBpoweramp on my laptop into the NAS
The CDX2 was sold in less than a day, & I carried on ripping.
2 weeks later the dealer called to say the NDX was due in next day.
I set it up in the rack where the CDX2 was , loaded the Naim app on my phone & I was up & running, OK it wasn’t pretty with the NAS parked in a corner & wires all over. But it worked first time & sounded great.
Then it was tidy up time, it didn’t take long once we agreed how to hide the NAS, new wires & other bits arrived, including an iPad tablet & … well let’s tinkering has been fun
All the help & advice you need is in this thread, most important is book a demo session with your dealer
You will enjoy the ride
@Heyman
If ripping is ok for you (many of us here use dbpoweramp software) then great. But remember that there are units which will rip CDs and store them for you (a Naim Core is one) which your streamer can then see and play back from.
If you definitely want a NAS drive, I would suggest starting with the upnp software. Asset is from the same stable as dbpoweramp and I found it way easier to use than any other.
But it works easiest best on a QNAP NAS.
So I would suggest a qnap nas with WD red drives. HH and I for example use a qnap 253a nas with those WD drives, running Asset.
We here on the forum can tell you how to get it all up and running.
You say you don’t want to use iOS? I picked up a s/h Unitiqute 2 last week and for the life of me can’t stream Tidal from my Android phone. No idea why, but works a treat off iPad?
Best of luck.
@Heyman… further to Anonymoot re iOS vs Android
I note that your OP says not iOS Apple, I guess you have your reasons but the Naim app for sure is 100% OK with iOS & in development terms is ahead/better than Android (I use both)
Haven’t read all the posts in detail but if it were me I would establish a relationship with a knowledgeable audio dealer and have them help you set the whole thing up as you follow along and learn.this may already have been recommended in which case worth repeating in my opinion.
I have another noob question. So far only used iRadio, Tidal and TT through Uniti, but have around 50GB of CDs on iTunes on PC upstairs. Ripped from early 2000s so not lossless, maybe 128 or 256kb? Assume i am stuck with this or can you ‘upscale’ in any way on iTunes?
Also, does direct stream from pc sound better than via USB drive?
Thanks in advance.
Most NAS reviews credit Synology as offering the most user-friendly interface. That was one of the reasons why I chose that brand for my first NAS, which is used to store my rips of CDs, SACDs, DVDs and Blu-rays. It is also used for backing up files from my PC, including all my digital images. I was so pleased with this NAS that I bought two more for backup purposes (easily automated via the Synology interface). Synology also offer a decent level of tech support and there are plenty of forums (including this one) where you can ask questions.
It doesn’t matter where you store your music on a NAS, though I would certainly use a dedicated top-level folder and have a consistent subfolder structure that lets you find albums via that structure. I use custom profiles in dBpoweramp to automatically create my storage folders when ripping CDs.
Note that the software used (on the NAS) to serve up your music to a network player will normally use the metadata you have stored in each music file (Artist, Album, Composer, etc) to allow a far more powerful way to browse your collection than browsing it via a file manager.
If you are into classical music then MinimServer is by far the best solution (IMHO), as most music server software is pretty clueless for classical requirements. It is also excellent for handling any other musical genre and is actively supported by its UK developer on the MinimServer forum.
Naim and Linn are the leading suppliers of streaming hardware. Cheaper options are available, but they can often come with operational limitations, e.g. lack of gapless playback or no UPnP/DLNA support.
I was older than you when I started all this malarkey a few years ago. It took quite a while to get sorted, but I succeeded via the support of various online forums. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you find anything confusing. There are a lot of knowledgeable people out there who are happy to help.
Dear sir I recently Ibought vintage equipment 22/120. I stream with a Sonus Port (Amazon). It took 10 minutes to hook up. The instructions are extremely simple with the exception that they dont tell you to down load their app before you follow 4 single line diagrams. I doubt you’ll ever want to play a record or CD again. Goodluck with what ever you chose. Ps I subscribe to Amazon Live and have yet to not find a single artist or song.
So re-ripped a few cd’s in lossless format, sounds better to my ears. Also downloaded quite a few albums from Apple Music into my iTunes library expecting to see them on the server. Of course not! On iCloud not on PC. Tried Apple app on android no luck again. Assume you need Airplay which Unitiqute doesn’t support?
