I have been using Minimserver 0.8 on my QNAP NAS for a while now but today it updated itself to Minimserver 2. Unfortunately that means that the on-the-fly transcoding from flac to wav is no longer available in the free version. Now as a Scotsman I don’t mind spending money, but only no more than I have to 
so I figured that if I’m going to have to pay for Minimserver I’d finally take a look at Asset as well. I quite like the look of Asset so far and the idea of a one-time payment and getting all future updates is also more appealing than the Minimserver model of annual payments to ensure that I still get updates. Asset looks a bit simpler to configure as well (though perhaps ultimately not as configurable) and as I don’t have any classical music in my music library the way Asset handles metadata works for me as it does in Minimserver.
So, all that rambling aside, in Asset there is a transcoding option and from flac there is an option to LPCM. I have it set currently to transcode to wav but is LPCM something that will work (better?) with a ND5 XS2?
Is transcoding really that important on an ND5 XS2? I can’t hear a difference on my Atom, or on my much pricier Auralic streamer/DAC. That seems to be a pretty general experience too, unless you have some 1st generation devices. If transcoding is the only reason for changing why not just stay with Minim?
Roger
Transcoding doesn’t make much (any?) difference in the ND5 XS2 but Asset has a few features that the free Minimserver lacks; proper handling of artists/albums that begin with The, recognising the artist sort tag so that David Bowie is shown under B rather than D and a recently added albums view. It also shows artwork when browsing by artist in the Naim app which is a nice touch.
FLAC ‘play as’ WAV is all you need
Yeah, that’s why I have both Asset and Minim 2 on my NAS, although I generally prefer Minim for my classically-heavy collection. Have to say I thought that the original Minim was supposed to continue working, but there you go. Enjoy Asset.
Roger
I just stumbled across another Asset feature this morning, it works with Sonos so I can now browse and play albums on my NAS through the Sonos speakers in the kitchen and study. That’s a no-go with Minimserver
Trial on Asset was almost up and as I’ve preferred it to Minim I stumped up the cash for it today. The disappointing thing is that it would not convert from trial to registered in-place so it is having to rescan the library and I’ll have to re-do my customisations.
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