FWIW … NDX with Synology DS214, I hear a difference with FLAC & WAV, WAV is better bass, presence & sound stage, but only ever so slightly .
My Synology is a dual core & with Minimserver transcode & I don’t hear anything different with FLAC transcoded to WAV.
I now use Asset & haven’t tried it again, & no I’m not going to.
I read that it depends on the processing ability in the streamer; whatever they receive, it needs to be converted to PCM, & WAV is almost PCM whereas with FLAC it has more to do.
Bluesfan, i don’t think at all that’s nonsense. However the OP has the naim dac VI. The optimization of his network costs more than his source. With your Chord Dave/ Mscaler it’s more logical…
would you think of buying first an Uptone switch for a Muso?
My QNAP Asset library is all AIFF & FLAC and it seems to not sound as good as the Minim (Kazoo) Tidal/RP(lesser so) FLAC. I’m going to try out some tracks through Minim.
I’m not sure if this is a good spec for my QNAP, I hope so.
j’étais ironique Tiberio…But the most important is that you enjoy them and the music. The why.
Trying to ‘save’ people from spending on hifi? That’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read.
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Since you seem to want to spend my money, that I don’t have, what could I change? If I sold my V1, mR 1.4, NAP 110, etc, I’d be at less than an Atom (which I find hideous looking to be honest). So what can I buy for that that would be so much better? You’d be surprised how good a V1 can sound (esp since the last firmware update) with an optimized source via USB. Plus the microRendu casts Roon to my UQ1 in the office, so it serves double duty.
I like the Naim sound, so I’d prefer to stick with it. But, hey, if anybody has a 272 they want to sell me for a grand, I’ll take it!
why not the ndac? or second hand ndx with just cisco switch?
The optical rendu with uptone ps and hdplex cost around 2k in total. With the naim dac VI , it’s 3k.
i don’t want you to spend money. It’s the contrary. You are spending more money on linear ps, cables, etc…than on the source.
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No usb input on nDAC. Plus I’d need a preamp. Second hand NDX isn’t Roon ready so I’d need a rendu of some sort anyway. And I’d have to change out the UQ in my office. And who isn’t to say the opticalRendu plus Sonore Power Supply/V1 combo isn’t as as an NDX?
Anyway, I prefer to buy gear and amortize it’s value. I feel like the setup I have still has a way to go and it does sound very good (esp with the new Audio Physic speakers). Plus with two children I don’t get to listen as often as I like - it’s really the UQ in the office I should be looking to replace someday. Resale/trade in value on hifi sucks though, so best to use it and be happy.
I’ve never actually spent over a $100 on a cable (most much less), and much of my gear purchased used or demo over the last six years. And keep in mind the new thinking - the network/server IS the source.
Of course I would have loved to just pop down to the dealers and walked out with a simpler Naim set up of $10k or more. But that was never in the cards, and my entire system cost a lot less than that. Now with my Leica M10 that was a different story…
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it’s more logical to me now. Specially as you don’t have a pre.
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The V1 really is an underrated piece of kit imo as long as one utilizes the USB input - otherwise there are better options imo. I paid $1700 for a barely used one (not even 200 hours) five years ago from another member here, Mango Monkey. Plus our daughter just started private school this year for dyslexia which will make a Statement look affordable at the end of seven years - but also much more lasting value (not even comparable). So no swapping out of green lit black boxes for awhile. 
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I’m feeling really left out. I only have a little small cheap hub that gives me 4 extra ports. My NAS goes straight to my WiFi router. Could I be doing it better?
Here’s a quick shot of my closet where the Roon NUC, Cisco switch, first opticalModule, and modem live.
I also think hifi is a hobby, and should be fun. To me it’s not going to the dealers and plunking down wads of cash, but doing research, finding bargains, diy-ing cables (within reason), and coming up with solutions to add slowly to the sound quality over time.
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The Wranglers are on their way, I personally don’t think they’ll touch my AQ cables and nor does my dealer but I guess I’ll soon find out. Perhaps the Wranglers work good in overly bright systems, just my guess. I will know soon enough…
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The tracks were ripped by dBpoweramp which creates a PCM file, you then specify your chosen output format.
You can convert from FLAC to WAV and back again without issue. There’s no need to rerip as you can’t actually rip to FLAC, it has to be converted by the ripping software.
Transcoding in Asset can be done in the config settings.
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Unpacked FLAC is WAV linear PCM media… it’s the raise of the noise floor from the FLAC (similar for ALAC) decompression that some hear and find leads to a less good outcome than handling LPCM directly.
I find decoupling the DAC from streamer transport hugely mitigates this issue… to my mind and ears so much of this is about system decoupling.
Given the effort that some go to for noise decoupling, I surprised more don’t do this… the musical dividends can be considerable.
Thing is, having recent bought one of these Sarum Tuned Array streaming cables, second-hand, it still does what was originally advertised.
And that was upgrading from another Chord cable in their range, a Anthem model (similar price point to the current Epic), so it wasn’t as if I have gone from a mass produced CAT cable to the Sarum.
EtherRegen next, as order placed.
Charles I was joking. But seriously in the context of this thread you found that the most ridiculous?