I have a SU and looking to replace my NAS (QNAP-251 (3TBx2) as it’s falling off my network now and approaching EOL. With 1.5 TB of very important CD’s (FLAC) burned onto this. How do I safely migrate to a new system most easily and safely ? An Innuos ZenMini MK3 has been mentioned in passing but not up to date on benefits. I basically want Internet radio, access to Qubuz (SU can’t do this !) and a NAS with my precious FLAC files. Can anyone offer a safe and secure way out this scenario with out breaking the bak ? All welcome to suggest and I will listen. Thank you
The equivalent of the Superuniti in the current Naim range in the Nova, which would be a nice upgrade in sound quality and functionality. The Star is a cheaper alternative which also has basic CD ripping built in.
For not much more than a Nova you could also consider an ND5XS2 and NaitXS2. Maybe ask your dealer for a demo.
If you have a backup of your NAS I would just keep using it. If you haven’t, do it now! One advantage of the current streamers is that they can run your local library from a directly attached USB drive. This may be a little limited compared to a NAS but it can tide you over while you fix or replace one without losing access to your music collection.
The Zen Mini is a good option if you want a NAS that’s ready to use off the shelf, and it has some potentially useful features such as Roon etc but also some features that you don’t need as they duplicate parts of the new streamers, such as Qobuz support and a built in DAC.
I have a SuperUniti which I paired with a ZenMini3 a few years ago. And have been happy with it. As the Zen Mini3 does all the streaming and sends the music to the SuperUniti via coaxial. The sound quality should be on par (or very close to, maybe even better) with the streamers in the new Uniti range. *I’ve not had a chance to test this myself.
The new Innuos Sense app is very good, much better then the Naim app. Or you can run Roon on it as well. It’s a great option if you don’t want to have a NAS around and it’s much easier to setup and use as well. Plus you can rip CDs with it.
Thank you for your response. The 1.4Tb of FLAC on my NAS is my current problem (i.e. getting it all safely over to an external HD !). A friend tried a tes back from his QNAP and it failed ! My guess would be to do it incrementally starting with the bigger folders ? Anyone got any experience in this or related area ? Suggestions ? Mind you, given that a QNAP is basically (2x3Tb HD), I could just hang it onto the Zen perhaps …but I think there would need to be more work done to do this ?
I don’t use QNAP, but I believe some of them gave a simple backup procedure where you just connect a USB drive and press a backup button. The initial backup us obviously going to take a while, but at least this way you won’t be dependent on your network, and future backups will be incremental.
Although the Zen has its own storage you can, as with any UPnP server, give it access to the files on the QNAP, or any other network storage location.
Whatever you do though, you need a reliable backup!!
In that case, I would go for the 2TB zen Mini3. Once up and running you can use the Innuos app to locate your Qnap, and transfer over the music files. Yes I would to this a few albums at a time or maybe just each folder by alphabetical order. If you run into issues coping some files, then go back to the CDs and re-rip just those.
Also, not sure if you’re able to home demo the Zen Mini but that would be my advice. That’s what I did before I bought it. Just to make sure it all worked as advertised.
You can start copying some of your albums across to see if this will work on the demo unit.
If you want to go the new Uniti way, I would skip the Innuos zen all together. Plug in an external USB drive to the back of the QNAP, (this can be formatted for Win or Mac) then using the Qnap interface, copy over all the music onto it. Now you can plug the drive to the new Naim Uniti and you’ll have access to all the music.
That’s the theory, when I tried this some time ago, while being tech savvy, the recipient drive has to be correctly mapped, not simply directories set. I didn’t pursue used the following.
Easiest way with QNAP, IME is to use a Mac or pc and simply copy files across to another HD drive, with the later connected to the PC / Mac or made visible on a network.
However not everyone keeps a desk/lap top these days, in which case other solutions may be available. Beyond my experience.
Perhaps buy another NAS, keep the existing one, preferably off site and periodically update it, or use a HD drive as extra safety, but at least one backup is a must.
Hi @Richard_Tod welcome to the forum.
If you have a budget constraint, SU is not as flexible in its offering, but it is not vastly inferior in sound to Nova. I have both.
Depending on age of SU, in due course factor in a service, not cheap with the new pricing, but against cost of a Nova; just had mine done at nine years, while the screen was updated.
Simply add a new NAS and use the old one as a back up. See my previous post about backing up a QNAP NAS. The “quick” back up didn’t work for me, despite being somewhat techy, I used a workaround and never persevered.
Search the forum for Qobuz workaround, which has been documented for NDS, NDX, Uniti (1st gen) - reports appear positive. One thread suggests Raspberry Pi 4 running Bubble UPnP Server to get Qobuz (to NDS). Also investigate whether Bubble UPnP can be used on QNAP. Roon is an option, but perhaps not the only one.
Here’s another with a link, Legacy users unite! How do you modernize your streamer?
You can but I’m not sure that this is a good idea with a 1.4TB library. Every time you make additions or edits you need to remove it, attach it to a computer to access the folders, then put it back into the Uniti and wait for it to do a full rescan of the drive which will take a while.
Ah right, sorry I assumed the new Uniti ranged just saw the file structure. Didn’t know it’s a bit of a faff to get going. Guess depends on how often you update or add new music.
Good advice. And I’d like to add that when I home demoed a Chord Qutest a year ago I found very little difference between it and the DAC inside the SuperUniti. Both being fed via the Innuos Zen Mini. So I would say if you can update the streaming side of the SuperUniti there is still a decent amount of life left in one.
If you don’t need the storage or your Nas works well. There are a few good streamers out there that can upgrade the SU and don’t have to cost the earth. The bluesound node 2i, iFi Zen stream, NP5 Prisma or even one of the Sonore devices.
If you look in the USB input you will see a basic folder view which will probably load quite fast, but I don’t think you’re going to want to browse a large library like that.
Look in the Server input and you’ll be able to browse metadata and album artwork but it’s this that can take a long time to load.
We have a SuperUniti in office and had been considering moving it on due to lack of Tidal Connect. However we connected up a Raspberry PI with a digi SPDIF hat and quality digital cable which provides Tidal Connect. This sounds just as good as using the SU streaming stage (both for Tidal and playback of flac from NAS). The only thing the PI hat doesn’t support is DSD over SPDIF but that could be solved with a more expensive hat.
The SU is still a great amp. We recently tried our nDAC into the SU (standard naim DIN cable) and it sounded brilliant so I suspect keeping the SU and adding an up to date streaming transport would make a lot of sense.
I am happy to report that I now HAVE a backup of my 1.4 TB music collection. It was a very slow process ( circa 48 hours !). It is now being transferred to a 2TB ZenMiniMk3 . I fully intend to have it home and setup. Interesting to note that my QNAP HS251 (2x3TB) just made it over the line with the transfer before crashing. It is EOL now but I thank everyone who offered advise and responded to my appeal for info/help.So, it looks like I’m going to stick with SU and run with the Innuos. I cannot justify an upgrade to the Nova …for the moment …and trying not to even think about Atom. I’m happy with my SU. A great bit of kit !
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Good to hear you got all your music safely off the NAS. I’m the same as you, don’t have the funds at the moment to update the SU to the Nova. And in reality I’d rather wait and get a SN3 and a good DAC anyway. But the ZenMini + SU are a great combo for now, and the latest innuos OS update should allow for UPNP streaming to the SU via the Sense App.
Enjoy!
Thanks for your reply Dom. You have me ‘thinking’ …let me explain. I have an ex-demo Atom at home with me and I’m adjusting my ear to it (in comparison to the SU). To my ear it is much clearer. My wife commented its sparkle and is approving the decrease in bass ! I playing through Kef LS50’s and it is bright, there is no doubt. The DAC is greatly superior to the SU so maybe the combination is ‘the way forward’. Sticking with the SU is not taking me anyway forward. With trade in I can recoup some of my outlay for the Zen too. I also am loving getting Qubuz, something I couldn’t with SU. I am not too up-to-date with the latest steaming option and maybe I am missing out on the point you were making. Please elaborate, I have not made a final decision … yet !
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Hi Richard.
I demoed the Atom a few years back, and also had the SU at the same time. Paired with the LS50s as well. As much as I liked the small shoes-box size. There were a few features missing on the Atom - which I had gotten use to on the SU - and I also found the SU drove the KEFs just a bit more deeper. So I decided to go for the SU at a discount price.
If I had to do it all over again. I’d probably go for the Atom, or just splurged for the Nova. it was a much better price back then as well.
However, the ZenMini gives me the option to stream my ripped CDs, Tidal, Qobuz (even Spotify connect if you so wish) with the Innuos App or you can use Roon (which runs great on the ZenMini) . And when new tech comes along, I can just replace the streamer, not the whole Hi-Fi.
So it’s not a simple answer, you need to decide what works for you and how to future proof your system.
I totally agree, your last six words sum it up ! TBH if my QNAP hadn’t started to fail, I would happily be still on track with the SU …but not Qubuz. That would only be available upstairs on my Qb2 and I know I can link rooms and all that. I think I’m going to go with the Atom as it provides a doorway and reasonable platform to bounce into whatever’s next. My beloved SU does not, so I think it is goodbye. What a lovely piece of kit though for its time.
Thank you for your response(s), much appreciated.
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Good though the Atom is, its amp is not in the same league as the Superuniti, and in your situation I think I would miss that.
Given that you have a Zen Mini, you have the option to bypass the streaming board of the SU and use the Zen as a streamer using an SPDIF connection. You could even go a step further and use the Zen DAC and an analogue connection to the SU, although I couldn’t say which of these options would sound best.
This would future proof your system without additional changes as the Innuos has built in support for Qobuz, Roon, file downloads etc.