Server recommendations

Streaming Audio
1

Hi, I have ripped most of my 200 CDs to .wav files. They are hosted on an aged WD NAS running Twonky media. I see Twonky only lists the CDs under the “folder” folder and doesn’t recognise any metadata from the .wavs to sort the album, artist genre, etc. also it doesn’t show the art until you select the album

Neither are the end of the world, but would be nice to browse the CDs in the various categories.

  1. Are there any easy ways to get Twonky to recognise that data?
  2. If not, what modern servers work well with WAV?

A few have recommended I move to FLAC, but I’d rather not, then that introduces a whole new set of problems, not least the tracks listing in alphanumeric order.

Many thanks

2

You say ‘aged’, & its seems you have a plan to investigate a modern one??
Twonky is not the best, the old versions seemed a bit clunky when I played with one.

Modern NAS is easy, any one that suits your budget from Synology or QNAP. They all work well with WAV, in fact they all work well with any file format.
I don’t recognise your comment about problems with alphanumeric, I suspect thats a tWonky quirk.

Forget tWonky, Synology comes with its own (basic) media server & Minimserver & can also now install Asset UPnP, not sure what QNAP include but everyone on the forum have either Asset or Minimserver.
But whatever NAS you choose, Asset (my choice) or Minimserver are ‘must have’ software.

3

Hi, great recommendations. Yes, I say “aged” as it is 8 years old, so I suspected more modern equivalents would be the route to go. It was originally bought just for PC file backup.

4

I’m using a QNAP server. If you use Roon, you can run the core off the QNAP’s AMD R7 processor.

5

I’d recommend AssetNas by Ripcaster. Its rock solid, configured with asset and can be expanded when required

6

Asset uPNP or Minimserver, on any NAS that will run it. The overheads are not big. You don’t need a mega processor or tons of RAM. As a starting point, I would recommend putting Minimserver or Asset onto your current NAS and having a play with it.

If you can’t hear a difference between WAV and FLAC, the latter is considered easier to tag and work with. I don’t agree with this. WAVs can be tagged just fine. Which is just as well, because I think WAV sounds superior to FLAC.

7

Or leave your NAS doing its intended NAS duties, at least for now, and use a separate UPnP media server such as Asset or Minimsrver running on a PC, Mac, that you have on in the background, or if you are feeling adventurous a Raspberry Pi, that attaches via the network to your NAS. Once you are happy etc, you can get a new combo NAS / media server such as Mike recommends above, but at least you can go confidentially with a media server programme that you know works well with your media.

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8

Now that sounds challenging. I have a Raspberry Pi sat next to me on my office desk.

9

Twonky support is pretty good. Why not update to the latest version and contact them, before messing around with something else? Unless, that is, you are unhappy withe sound. Some prefer Minim and Asset (my own preference though I have now moved to Roon), but some are equally convinced of the sonic superiority of Twonky.

10

I’d say that the make of the NAS is less relevant (WD, QNAP, Synology are all good). It’s the hard-drives that are mor likely to fail, than the NAS itself.

So whichever NAS you end up with (personally I use QNAP), be sure to use compatible, quality hard drives. And don’t forget to make back-up copies of your music.

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11

Actually I hate to be contrary, but the item most likely to fail in the NAS is the power supply , then the the disk, then the controller.
For best longevity I find using a UPS helps… it takes strain away from the PSU due to interruptions and surges… a failed PSU can be a pain as it can destroy a RAID controller and take the connected disks down with it… it’s happened to me twice over previous years… Since I have used a UPS on my two NAS not had one single issue.
Commercial units will often have resilient power-supplies.
The same goes for other network equipment such as switches and routers.

13

My UPS powers NAS & also phone, wifi hub & LAN switch.
Very handy in a power outage for phone calls & saving computer work in progress before shutting down.
Also the NAS, phone, hub & switch SMPS noise is somewhat isolated by the UPS’s internal isolation transformer.
A good £60’s worth & cheap considering the money some folks around these parts spend on cables

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14

Simon, Mike, ‘UPS’? other than a parcel service, that is …

15

Uninterruptible Power Supply
When main power goes down it will instantly power up from its internal battery to provide a 50Hz 230v for a limited time & a controlled shut down of the NAS.

I have mine set to shut down the NAS after 10 seconds of no mains power, then it will continue powering the phone & wifi hub for a further 30 to 60 minutes

1 Like
16

I agree with all the comments above a UPS is a must on any NAS, the UPS I use is an APC ES550 and has done a sterling job protecting my ancient QNAP TS459 that’s in its ninth year.

17

Thank you, Mike. That’s allnew to me, I will investigate.

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18

Setup MinimServer (https://minimserver.com/) on a Raspberry Pi and connect a USB drive with a copy of your current library to it. Make an image of the Pi’s SD card and backup copies of your USB drive. If either the Pi SD card or the USB drive fail, just replace them with the backup copies. If the Pi fails, buy a new one for 40$. This gives you have the best UPnP server running on one of the most reliable platforms. I have 4 RPi in my household. They run 24/7 since years and I have never experienced a failure.

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