Can anyone help.
I am shortly taking a trial of a Bluesound Node2i as an entree to see if Streaming is for me.
I have a lot of high quality WAV files stored on a Seagate 2tb Expansion Drive (USB)
I emailed Bluesound who have advised that the Node2i will play the files if the drive is formatted to FAT32.
This is a foreign language to me, how do I format the drive as advised?
Thanks in anticipation
There’s a good chance it’ll work so just connect it up and try it. Reformatting the drive is easy, but you will lose the data stored on it, so make sure you have a backup first…which, of course, you should have in any case.
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Thanks Guys, will see how it goes
@jmtennapel @ChrisSU
Thanks so far guys.
Am taking trial of a Node 2i today.
The WAV files I have stored on the Seagate Expansion drive are in compressed zip folders.
I guess I will need to unzip and save as uncompressed files for the Node 2i to read them?
Cheers
Yes, you will need to unzip the files. Hope it works OK this time.
Havent got it home and set up yet just making sure I know what I’m doing first.
Once unzipped can I store the WAVs in individual files, say by artist or album etc?
Thanks again
If the files have proper metadata in them, that may be what the Node reads - at least that is how UPnP servers/streamers work, and in this case, it will ignore the folders, but I don’t know how the Node reads from USB.
Sorry I dont know what UPnP is either. I’m a total dullard when it comes to digital jargon. I’m used to playing records on a gramophone 
Suck and see I guess
Thanks for now
Don’t worry about it! If you play music over a network, using the Node as a streamer, UPnP is the way the digital music data is transferred to it. In this case, the streamer does not normally use files and folders to let you browse your music, see album artwork etc, it uses metadata attached to the music files instead. So even if your music files are not well organised into folders, it won’t matter.
The Naim streamers can also use this method of browsing on their USB inputs. If the Node can’t do this, then yes, you may need to put your files into folders. If you’re not sure, I would just plug in the USB drive and take it from there.
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It’s worth putting them in folders so you know what is what in case you need to find a file for one reason or another. You just need a scheme. For example artist folders and within each folder sub-folders for each album.
Best
David
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Thanks Dave, that’s how I have them filed on my laptop. For some reason I have them as compressed zip files on the expansion drive. No problem I’ll just erase them and copy over the files as ordered on the laptop.
If they’re WAV files then I don’t think they can store the track metadata can they?
I was thinking that. Mine just have track title etc on the file no images or other information
I would have a look at the files in a metadate editor such as mp3tag (windows) or Metadatics (Mac) and see if there is any metadata there. If not, you should be able to add it using these editors.
WAV files can store metadata using ID3 tags, the Naim rippers use another model (external metadata file), I rip wth dbPoweramp and edit with mp3tag both of which happily create and modify the in-file tags.
Thanks. Another false memory…
The confusion may have arisen from the often discussed issue with Naim CD rips, which store metadata in a way which most non-Naim devices cannot read. So they can sometimes appear to have no metadata, but it’s there.
Worth noting; the Node 2i does not support UpNP. Local network playing is achieved via file sharing, not UpNP.
Tried connecting my Seagate Expansion drive to the Node 2i.
Yes, its reading the files and playing them. The only very minor niggle is that it reads the name of the file, eg album title, but when playing the tracks it just displays the track title and “unknown artist”. These are my Hi res WAV files. With other file types and CD rips its properly displaying cover art and information.
Our first impression of the Node 2i as a toe dip into streaming is very good. We listened to some streams from Quobuz & Tidal and compared to some titles that we have on CD & LP. “CD Quality” streams sounded much better than our aging CD3.5/Flatcap. Much more refined,detailed, more of a sense of space and natural acoustic, timing was such that a piece of music seemed to last longer. The CD3.5 sounds muddled and compressed in comparison, more dynamic and punchy but still less musical.
The LP12 is still streets ahead as it ought to be, having all and more of the refinement of the streamed sound but reinstating the dynamics.
My better half was initially sceptical, vinyl has always been our go to source and like many it’s what we grew up with. However, after initially berating the concept, we listened to just a couple of tracks on all 3 formats and she is now urging me to get something higher up the price range to audition!
“If the Node2i sounds like that for £500 what’s a Naim player going to sound like?”
So, I guess I we will have to find out…
The ND5 XS2 seems a good starting point. Rest of system is NAC202/NAPSC/HCDR - IXO- 2 x NAP90/3 - ALLAE
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