I have been having issues with the HDX-SSD and my solution in the past has been to demote and promote my NAS drive. I’ve given up on the NAS drive and am using USB drives (Samsung T5). I have not had any issues in the past.
This morning, I shut down the HDX (following procedure to put it into sleep mode and then turn off and on the mains switch)
Everything appears in the library , but no music plays. When I check the system status report on the N-serve app one thing stands out. Everything is up and running except for Channel 1. It says “Unknown (SoundCard) - Initialising”
Is this one of those deals where I have to wait a long time for the database to be rebuilt? Should I manually rebuild the database?
Any help is really appreciated. When it plays, it sounds wonderful. It has probably been the biggest pain in the ass audio gear I have ever run across.
And I have owned a fair amount of Naim gear in my time. Never had any issues.
I hope that’s not the case. I followed the shut-down procedure to the letter. 1) hold down front button for 1 second 2) let it power down 3) to start back up, turn off and then on the mains switch 4) wait for it to come back on line
By “reboot” he means restart it again exactly the way you describe.
If that doesn’t fix it then I suspect that it is either a hardware failure or possibly a CMOS battery that is low so that the CMOS settings are not being maintained, although normally a CMOS battery needing replacing causes a failure at an earlier part of start up. @NeilS may be able to advise.
Changing a battery is doable yourself if you are happy doing it in a normal PC, but apart from the usual electrostatic precautions you also need a VGA display and a PS/2 or USB keyboard.
When my HDX was only a few months old, I had a similar issue where the sound card was “initialising”. Sadly, the diagnosis by Naim Technical Support, was that it required a replacement sound card, which was sent out by Naim to my dealer who fitted it at my home a couple of days later.
I would imagine if it is hardware related it might be time to look elsewhere. Its an inevitability of computers sadly, you can certainly encourage them along but probably not for ever.
The fault described is indeed a case of the operating system being unable to detect the sound card. It can be a permanent state or intermittent.
You may be lucky, removal & careful cleaning of the PCI card interface pins may well help.
Not a difficult job to replace the card either. But I would advise following the restore Naim defaults BIOS excerise afterwards.
I was able to get it to function again. I guess my main question is this.
Right now, it has a NAS drive set up as a network share. To be honest, when I promoted it to store, I would get spotty playback. I suspect this is due to the fact that I am not directly connected to the NAS via ethernet from the HDX, but indirectly connected via a Google WIFI point with ethernet connection.
What I would prefer to do is simply use the HDX as a digital player with a couple of 2TB SSD from Samsung. I have found them to be functional with the HDX when configured to FAT32.
Is there a way to simply reboot the entire thing so that it does not recognize the NAS and only sees the external SSD connected via USB? When I tried to demote the NAS from store to share and then remove it alltogether, that seems to be when the trouble started. I powered it down (following the specific steps) repowered it and then it was trying to reacquire the sound card. I powered it down again and when I restablished connection with the NAS as merely a share… violla the external usb drive music was not only recognized but played.
I bought this unit from a reputable dealer (used) who informed me that the unit had been thoroughly serviced. This was back in February of this year.
Anyway, is there anyway I can completely eliminate the NAS and just use it as a digital player (via USB SSD)? It’s great when it works, but it is extremely finicky and is the only NAIM product I’ve owned to date that has been unreliable. All my other NAIM gear has been rock solid.
As mentioned, you need an external storage for storing the ripped files. Plug it in via Ethernet and live happily ever after.
I use mine with both nas and internal storage (non ssd hdx) - works perfect. Never have used usb. I read somewhere that the sound is better via ethernet than usb - could be voodoo. Do not know.
Ich prefer the internal disc, but could not hear a difference between internal and nas (wav conversion via mimin server)
Great idea and if I had easy access to modem I would do that. My listening room is on second floor, modem and Ethernet is on first floor… hence the google WiFi solution which does not work well.
If there is a better solution, I’m all for it. But it sounds like I would have to move the HDX into my wife’s office where modem is. That would not go over well
I can’t give you a technical explanation for why this is the case. Neil may be able to explain.
From a practical point of view, the USB drive is rescanned each time the HDX is started up, and the contents can’t be browsed until that’s finished. You can always try putting in a larger drive, but it’s not how Naim designed it to work, so I would say it’s best to try to get it working with your NAS as it’s designed to do.
I’ve owned Naim gear for well over 30 years and apart from routine servicing, it was the first problem I’ve ever had.
A failed sound card can happen on anyone’s kit.
Thanks. I appreciate the perspective. It seems like this player is really designed to be hardwired into Ethernet. I get that, but don’t understand why there are so many USB ports if they didn’t really want you to use that way.
