Just double checking the capability of the Naim Uniti Core. I have yet to download a HiRes recording. I’m considering downloading music from Reference Recordings either a FLAC or WAV version at 192 kHz / 24 bit. Can my Naim Uniti Core handle that?
Also, does it mind that the version of WAV that I’m downloading is not in Naim’s proprietary version of WAV? Instead it is a standard version of WAV. I do have the option to download in FLAC but everything I own is in WAV so I’d prefer to stay with WAV.
Just bear in mind that if you need to edit any metadata you cannot use the Core to do this. It can only edit CD rips, so use a different metadata editor if you need to.
As @HungryHalibut says, it’s fine to put a 192 kHz download, whether it’s WAV or Flac and whether it’s the Naim flavour of WAV or not, into the Download folder. Normally you have a sub-folder per album. You can find the Download folder next to the Music/MQ folder where the Core puts its own rips.
As Chris mentions, you will need to use a metadata editor running on your PC if you want to change any of the metadata of a download. You can point the editor at the Core’s download folder and edit in situ, you don’t need to move the files first. Once you have saved the edits, the Core should find them automatically within a couple of minutes and the download will appear in your Albums listing in the Core.
You may find that with a Wav file the album artwork doesn’t show up. It’s a peculiarity of the Core that it needs the Wav artwork to be in the sub-folder where the music is, to be called folder.jpg and to be no larger that 1000x1000 pixels ( it can be slightly more than 1000 but I never remember exactly what). If the artwork is already embedded in the metadata of the Wav files, then the artwork may just work without you doing anything.
To be more accurate, if the Wav files don’t have embedded metadata then you don’t need a metadata editor but you do have to make sure the artwork confirms as per my last post. If the Wav files do have metadata embedded or if they are flac files, then you do need a metadata editor to change the metadata.
DavidHendon yes you are correct. You need the metadata editor if the files have metadata you do not like. In most cases (90%) I don’t change anything but in some cases the files have had wacky metadata and I needed an editor to change it.
I love my Naim Core. In most cases it just works period. Sounds great, built great. And it works with a large library. I have roughly 7tb on mine and no issues at all (knock on wood…).
I tried to edit the header/title but it refused to be edited. Or perhaps I just couldn’t find a save edit button. But I really did try to correct that error!
Very general remark: The Uniti Core is the only Naim product I regret to having purchased. It just sucks in some important aspects. Too often metadata and cover picture are missing and regular hiccups with injecting CDs are occurring. Burdensome procedure ripping with the Core.
I regret buying it too, but not for the same reasons. I’ve moved on to Roon because the Uniti Core is minus some pretty important features and to this day I don’t understand why they are not there. My problems are multiple but the main one is it has no way to play music from Qobuz or Tidal, etc. nor can it do Internet Radio. It doesn’t do DSD either. But what really gets to me is the decision to use a proprietary form of WAV. That means my files ripped in WAV are useless in Roon and elsewhere.
I still use it to rip all my CDs, but then I eventually transfer them to Roon. My system can choose either Roon or Naim for streaming.
That’s not accurate. You can use the rips. The wav files are not proprietary. They are just normal wav files. The proprietary bit is how the metadata is stored in a JSON file, which is actually quite a neat solution.
Roon can apply its own metadata- which is also proprietary as it’s stored in its own database and not with or attached to the music files.
So you don’t need to rerip anything. You might need to assist with identification but if there are artist and album folders most of that is automated. I had to do that with my own collection when starting off with roon; and my files were predominantly all flac, bagged and tagged already. In the end, I told roon to use my tags.
There are also tools out there such as the melco version of Songkong that can use the Naim json metadata files.
When I used Roon, I had no issues with playing WAV files from my Core, either files downloaded, or from CD rips. If there is an issue, I don’t think it’s with the Core.
