Hi all,
I noticed that for the last few months, actually since the last updates, my Atom does not stream WAV. files. My music is stored on both a Synology NAS and on a Uniti Core.
Most of the time, I rather stream from the Core (through WiFi) to the Atom, as the Core displays its own library with that of the NAS.
Oddly enough, for the past few months I noticed that most of the wav. files I have are not streamed in AAC with various bitrates. I’m puzzled as I was indeed able to play those in wav. when they were natively encoded this way.
I checked the NAS “multimedia server” rules to make sure the boxes to specify conversion-on-the-fly was unchecked and also searched within the naim app for any possible setting regarding the file conversion options of the Core and Atom but did not find any.
My library contains both Flac, Wav., AAC and ALAC , MP3 files as it is a mixed of both downloads from internet files, ripped files (ripped through Itunes for a lot of them as my whole environment is Apple, including routers).
I cannot ascertain i’m able to spot a difference SQ-wise between wav and AAC as the various naim updates to the Uniti did undoubtly affect the sound of the Atom. So won’t be able to tell the difference is due to the updates or to the file format.
However, I’m pretty certain that I was indeed able to play songs in wav.
I don’t know if it’s just the naim app that’s buggy in not displaying the right format or is my device actually streaming in AAC rather than in Wav.
That gets me mad as I did not change anything within the set-up including I guess in the Synology settings (unless a Synology’s update messed up with my music library which is very unlikely)
So I’d like to know whether some here have the same issue and if there is anything to do to solve it?
I’d rather avoid having to download an app and go into my library to convert each single file. That’d be a huge waste of time (12 tb and counting) and painful.
Convert the Wav file to FLAC, that’s all. I would not spend time …
I don’t know, but 10 years ago Wav was totally incompatible in meta tags so I decided to convert all CD’s to FLAC files. And the decision was right because this standard will ever be supported. And I am using DBpowerAmp and AssetUpnP so also from this side should never result an incompatibility.
Converting my whole 12tb will likely take ages, so out of question for the time being.
I’m pretty sure there’s an explanation to this but without knowing exactly what happened I won’t be able to easily reverse things and get the atom back to stream in wav.
I have no clue what happened.
But very frustrating. I know I had to mount the Core into a mac finder to be able to see and interact with the music files using the mac. Could that be the reason why ?
Also I used Bliss to retrieve artworks from the internet for some of the files but I doubt that’s the root cause for this phenomenon.
I’m frustrated because I have the impress that I’m not taking full advantage of the kit possibilities.
That’s just what happens. File that for which it was previously displaying as streaming in wav appears now to be in AAC.
FLAC are streamed in FLAC though.
Assuming you are using the Core rather than a upnp server on your NAS:
The way this works is that the Core indexes what you tell it to index and offers it via the app. I would start by separating the LQ folder in your NAS and put it somewhere else which isn’t indexed, like another directory in the NAS.
The second thing is that sometimes if the Core won’t play tracks that used to play then this is a sign that the Core needs a power off restart. So take the power right off, wait some seconds and then connect the power again.
A third thing to try is to rebuild the index in the Core. You do this via the Naim app.
If you have been changing files in your previous Unitiserve rips by using your Mac rather than the Naim app, then you may have broken the indexing. Backing out of that problem is non-trivial.
If none of that works, you could try a factory reset of your Core. You do that by taking the power right off, pressing in the front on/standby button, keep holding the button in until the light by the front panel UDB socket flashes then let go of the on/standby button and wait for it to finish starting. You will need to redefine the music store again.
Another thing to try is rebooting your router. Even if it works perfectly for everything else, some routers stop responding as Naim expects and a reboot can fix that.
Hey David,
thanks for your help, but what’d be that “LQ” stands for ?
I already did restart and power cycle the Core with no success.
As for Rebuilding the music database, I was hesitating going this route, because the NAS is located in another room and Core communicates with it through my wireless network; I did not want to attach both with a cable as much more convenient to me this way. and rebuilding the whole library is going to take some time if using WiFi.
I did not have a US before, I just set up the Core as a new server and importing the files that were located in the NAS to the Core’s internal storage. So my library exists in 2 different places and is in duplicate and the Core sees it as a single one which is good.
However, I did not try yet to reset the Core but ultimately, if I have to, I’ll do that.
I just assume that doing so, the Core will erase its internal SSD and I’ll have to import again my whole library from the NAS into the internal storage of the Core. Is that correct ?
Sorry I was confusing your problem with another thread. If your files didn’t originate from a Unitiserve then you can forget about LQ.
So I think what I am understanding is that you have imported your files into the SSD in your Core? But if you have 12 terabytes then you can’t have imported them all?
The normal way you would set this up is to set up the SSD in the Core and this is where it saves its own rips and where you would save downloads. Then you would define the NAS folder as a music share, which would make the Core index that share and all the files get offered by the app in one place. You wouldn’t import the files into the music store SSD but if you did import them, then you should unshare where they came from or you will get offered them twice.
Regarding a factory reset, this doesn’t delete anything from the SSD in the Core. After the reset you have to tell the Core again where the music store is (or it may tell you that it found one and ask whether you want to use it. You say yes,)
And similarly rebuilding the index doesn’t delete anything. It will take a long time for 12 tB of files though, some hours I think. But you could do it overnight.
I did import the whole library (or almost, I discarded some of the old files initially located on the NAS).
You’re absolutely right, I do have my files displayed twice, but that ain’t an issue for me as I wanted to duplicate my music in 2 different locations.
If the factory reset doesn’t delete anything from the SSD, I’ll try that then as soon as I get back home tonight. if no success I’ll try to rebuild the library then hoping that will do the trick, but it will sure take some days to complete that process given the size of the library (and even-more so using wifi)
I suggest at least until you get it working you should undefine your NAS as a music share, which you do in the Naim app. It will leave all the files where they are but just list in the app the ones in your music store (ie the SSD in the Core).
Another thing to watch is that if you fill the SSD almost all the way, then the Core becomes unreliable in operation. Presumably it needs some working space on the SSD. I don’t know exactly when it goes wrong but I suggest if it’s more than 95% full you are probably asking for trouble. You can check how full it is in the app (it’s under manage music).
With AssetUpNP you have control over the libraries so the files will not displayed twice. You can also decide which files the media server taking into account (e. g. mp3 excluded). You can also run two instances (e. g. one for classic, another for rock music).
I guess that your architecture is too complicated. Make it easier for you. With the batch converter of Dbpoweramp, the 12 TB will be converted overnight.
I believe you want not hear this, you want it complicated; and you expect that everything works fine and Naim is responsible for everything.
You don’t need to rebuild the library, what I suggested was reindexing the library (or rebuild the index). This is something you tell the Core to do and it just goes and does it.
How big is your SSD in your Core? You say you have 12 TB of files on your NAS but the largest SSD I have come across is only 4 TB?
I’ll check the internal storage remaining but as far as I remember it’s far from being full.
However, I must admit I don’t see the connection between that and the fact that the unit will play all files but not in the original format.
And the other reason why I defined the NAS as an additional storage is that right out of the box during the initial import of music, the Core did not import everything (don’t know why). So I had to be able to stream those some way.
It’s grasping at straws but I remember an instance where someone had endless problems playing anything on their Core and that turned out to be an almost full internal disc. When he cleared some space, it all started working normally again. And one of the trade members at the time said afterwards that this was a known issue.
Re nearly full disk, it is much the same with any computer’s working drive: they need some space to work properly (and at the end of the day, the Core is a computer, just a dedicated, optimised one).
I have no familiarity with the Core, but unless it has a drive big enough for the entirety of what was being transferred (12TB?) of course it would fail to copy them all, and have to play from the NAS (via WiFi which is often not as good as wired).
I’m unclear as to file formats: is it the case that the files you are trying to play in .wav only exist in .wav and are being transcoded (showing as if they are), or do additional copies also exist in other formats, possibly including AAC?
If the former, any chance that some setting on the NAS UPnP server has somehow been set to transcode? (Same question re the Core if it has got such an option.)
No, can confirm there is no transcoding capabilities on the Core, that’d be something to find on the NAS itself.
I do get it the SSD needs spare space for the Core to perform correctly, and of the 16 GB available on my drive, 10,5 were actually used by the system. The 12 tb is what’s been used on the NAS actually.
So plenty of space left I guess. I think there’s anything special having so much files on a single drive as long as there is sufficient space left. I’m sure some here have even more music files stored somewhere.
I did perform a hard reset yesterday once back home, re-formated the SSD in the Core and re-import the music back on it again and this is still ongoing right now, and I disabled for the time being the option to have the NAS as a music share. And the Core is importing more swiftly than I thought it would. So we’ll see how it copes with the file formats once the process is completed, which I expect for this evening or tomorrow morning.
I disabled the NAS transcoding options and also cleaned up some cluttered music folders that were residing there.
My initial issue was that the files were served in AAC instead of WAV. for file initially encoded and copied on the NAS in the later format, not that the Core refused to serve music at all.
And I think i finally have some explanations as to what happened. I used my Macbook pro to manage the files on the NAS and make sure that anything that is stored on Itunes get automatically copied within the NAS music shares. And I do remember now that after iTunes on the mac was updated some months ago, it automatically set back itself in encoding all files in AAC, which is normal as it’s iTunes (very useful to get all my music on any of my i-devices)
However, it seems that while doing so, I did not copy the original files encoded wav files into the NAS but rather redirect it to copy the equivalent AAC directly from iTunes shared library.
The good news is that this bad experience allowed me to clean up my music library and get rid of all some duplicate and files I had stored on the NAS and did no longer need.
So once all music get imported back into the Core internal storage, we’ll see, but I can already see in the progression menu that the involved wav files are being correctly imported in that format within the Core.