I sold my CDS3 and bought a Naim HDX some 7 years ago.
Subsequently, I bought an NDX2 (with XPS2 left over from the CDS3) and to be frank, I now play more music as streaming both from my ripped CD’s and via Tidal, has just made it so much easier to find and enjoy music I own and also new music.
Mind you, for a serious listening session, the vinyl comes out to play on my LP12 more and more these days!
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I’m not sure if this helps the conversation, but when I had my music on a Mac and streamed to my 272, it was background quality only. I moved the collection (so no re ripping involved, just the same files) on to a Synolgy NAS, running asset. It was clearly so much better it was no longer ‘background’ quality.
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That’s brilliant. Thanks. I am actually using Asset UPnP. It’s installed on my Mac. The portable hard drive is plugged into the Mac and my ripped CDs are stored on that hard drive. I know this is not quite as ideal as a NAS
Yes. The plan is to get a NAS. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I presume I don’t have to re rip all my CDs again? Will I just be able to move the flac files that I’ve ripped to my portable hard onto the NAS drive?
Total newbie to ripping/streaming.
Were they flac files? Or iTunes?
If you search rip you’ll find several threads worth scanning. This is a current one:
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Unfortunately I’m not able to connect directly to my hub. My hub is situated downstairs. I have a mesh system and my streamer is hard wired by Ethernet to the mesh box in my music room upstairs. I’m sure people here will explain the downsides of that set up but it’s the best I can do at the moment. Comments and suggestions welcome but I’m pretty limited as to what I can do.
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I use iTunes, as my collection was already in it for other uses. I think you are doing it better from the start using dbpower ripping software. If I didn’t need iTunes I would do that way as well. iTunes does seem to take a variety of file type now, so I have some 24/96 albums stored the same way which seems ok which I was surprised at to be honest.
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Yes, drag & drop, simplez
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And with a good, stable wifi network the ND5 XS2 works great too.
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No worries, there are no real downsides to this if the mesh delivers the bits fast enough, which is no problem.
There are options when you are bored:
If you feel like it, you can later try to put an “audiophile” switch and/or a different ethernet cable in the ethernet run from mesh box to the streamer. It may or may not make a difference.
And in the event that you have lots of multicast traffic (such as IPTV, VoIP, or home automation that is active on the network while you listen to music), you can try to isolate the run from the mesh box by adding a managed switch that does IGMP filtering. Advantage would be that the streamer does not have to deal with throwing out the multicast packets it is not interested in, lowering its processing load and hence noise emitted by these circuits.
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Thanks. I am actually using a supposedly high quality Chord Ethernet cable as opposed to a basic one from mesh box to streamer. I’ve also set it up so only my streamer, Mac and iPad are using the mesh network.
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You will be fine
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Thanks. Yes, to begin with I set up the streamer to access my iTunes. The only downsides to that were all my CDs in iTunes were imported at 320kbps and because of the way artwork is applied in iTunes there was no artwork on the Naim app. I assumed the SQ would be far better if I ripped using flac hence my quest to now rip all my CDs using that format. I used my iTunes mostly for on the move where 320kbps seemed well adequate. That’s an interesting question…will a flac file definitely outperform 320kbps in terms of SQ when playing back through a reasonable system i.e. my 282/250 combo using the ND5 XS2? I’m hoping so otherwise I’m wasting a whole lot of time ripping 2000CDs!
Flac definitely out performs the 320kbps, so the way to go. iTunes wont read flac though. Although you can use lossless m4a files that iTunes can read, but then that will take up more space on your iPhone, so I tend to rip in both flac for Naim stuff and mp3 for iTunes. Dont forget to backup (time machine) your rips
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I have used a similar set-up for over four years and it works brilliantly. I have a dedicated Windows 10 PC and 2TB WD Elements external hard-drive with Asset and Serviio installed on the PC. It runs 24/7/365 as does my network. My network is wired. No need for a NAS.
Remember to buy a second hard-drive for backup - mine is 4TB WD Elements (cost £85).
A 4TB hard-drive will easily hold 2000 lossless flac rips.
I found the quality of the ripped CDs using dBpoweramp into flac better than the original. Maybe because you are reading the digital source file when ripping not the extracted analogue.
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Sound advice.
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You are using the CD drive to read a computer file and, as suggested, dBpoweramp will double check the file read and also compare it via a checksum with the AccurateRip database for content accuracy. Perfectly ripped files.
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A couple of things, if you have settings right for iTunes it imports the full file, not a reduced bit rate. Secondly, if you import artwork instead of relying on iTunes artwork it will appear in the Naim app using Asset. I have some purchased iTunes albums and whilst they lack the realism and impact of a 16/44 file it that bad, in-fact it is better than it has any right or be.
Many thanks indeed. I’m afraid the horse has already bolted on the bit rate. My iTunes library has all songs already imported at 320kbps. My Mac has limited storage. There’s no way I’d get 2000 CDs on there in lossless. Yes, I worked out that by actually downloading artwork it shows on the Naim app. Such an arduous task to do that for every album. I was to begin with when I first got the streamer just streaming my iTunes library and have to admit I was surprised at how good a 320kbps file sounded. Has anyone out there compared a flac lossless file to a 320kbps file?
Of course I’m aware that the Naim streamer really comes into its own when I’m streaming from a music provider such as Tidal but once my free trial expires I’m reluctant to spend £15 per month when I’ve got 2000 CDs laying around.
Thanks again for the response and advice my friend.