Hard Drive for Muso QB

Streaming Audio
1

Hi

I was wondering can i connect an external HD to my Muso QB. I was thinking 2TB. I have a 1TB seagate drive with around 500gb of music on it but it doesn’t see that. i don’t really want to stream it would like to just connect a USB HD to it.

Is there a set of instructions i am missing and could anyone recommend a drive?

Many Thanks

Derek

1 Like
2

In my experience with my Qb, it will usually see a USB stick plugged into the USB socket but usually won’t see a USB HD, unlike the generation 2 Qb.

This isn’t the best way to browse music anyway because all you get is a list and no artwork. Much better to put the music on a NAS, run upnp server software on the NAS and use the upnp input on the Qb.

Best

David

3

Thanks David I haven’t really explored this world to much. In fact in some respects I am going backwards having gone back to play vinyl again.

Is the a reasonably priced NAS drive option and how do i run pno software. It all feels harder that putting a CD or vinyl on.

Apologies for my tech ineptness

4

Certainly no apologies for tech ineptness are needed! Everyone starts from the point of knowing nothing at all!

There are multiple NAS options. Those made by QNAP and Synology get the greatest support here on the forum. A NAS is basically a computer with a hard disc attached. You put it on your network and you talk to it using software on a PC or Mac. A upnp server is just a programme that you run on the NAS and the music is controlled via the Naim app. If you search in the forum you will see many suggestions for NAS server software, but Asset gets a lot of love.

There are lots of people here who know more about this than me, so I should let one of them pick up the guidance.

Best

David

5

The note from David is probably the way to go. But i do not like computers and to avoid the hassle i bought a Naim Uniti Core cd ripper/server to go with my Muso, simple to use, sounded great…but admittedly expensive and overkill.

6

Thanks Guys. I am trying to use a computer CD ripper, I also have a Naim Unitilite. That has a CD player that just didnt work from day one. I sent it back. it worked for a year or so and now doesnt again. Its going to cost a fortune to fix for who knows how long? so i have gone back to vinyl, will rip my existing CD collection to a drive and then just stream from spotify i guess. So i planned to get an apple cd drive to connect to my IMAC then use Jriver to rip the CD’s and store on a HD or now a NAS. Thats the basic plan?
Derek

7

If you put the ripped files on a Nas, you’ll be able to connect to the network and play everything on both your QB and the Uniti. Many use dbpoweramp to rip, and Asset as the upnp server. It’s what I have and it works really well.

8

the QNAP is fairly expensive lol

9

Buy cheap, buy twice.

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10

yes your right of course :slight_smile:

11

left field idea - I have just purchased an innous Zen Mini for my son’s system - delighted with the set up, Mini also rips CD’s

you can transfer your music on to it’s hard drive via USB, back up is also very very simple, I can also run the Zen on my NDX using asset

just a thought

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12

Always

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If you don’t want to run a NAS it’s fine to run a UPnP server on your Mac and use that to access music stored on its internal drive, a USB drive, or another drive on your network. The tried and tested options are Asset and Minimserver, the former being easier to set up and use.

14

Thanks Chris that might be the way to go in the first instance before I start down the NAS route. It would let me dip my toe in the water without a big outlay upfront. I will explore this a bit more

Cheers
D

15

Sorry meant to ask does the asset software get installed the usb HD that I attach to my Mac or the Mac itself

Cheers
D

16

On the Mac. You’ll then point the software at the usb HD to tell it where your music is located.

17

I use Serviio on a Windows laptop (it also runs on Mac).
You can connect your hard drive of music to the laptop.
This music will then be available under UPnP with indexing/artwork etc. on the Qb and Naim App.
(an old laptop or PC will do the job as it needs very little resources.)

18

Cheers

19

Thanks and its free i like it even more :slight_smile: :thinking:

20

Absolutely and you can try it out with full functionality.
I then licenced it for $25 as it is a good product and a lot of work has gone and continues to go into it.

Also as it is on a “server” you can stream to other devices if you have them.