Seven Years with Uniti Core

I own one and it works perfectly and does all I want it to do. No complaints or moans from me.

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ic I compared the SPDIF output with the sound when the Core sends the music files to the LUmin U1 Mini via Ethernet, with a Netswitch English Electric Sw8 with PSU Ferrum Hypsos and Furutech patch cables in between. Result: Sound via Ethernet is much better than SPDIF!!!

Could you please describe in more detail how this works with copying Wav files and converting them to Flac and then editing them with mp3 tag?

I believe the next replacement for the Uniti Core will be a significant step forward, with regard to metadata handling. :blush:

  1. Copy the WAV files from the source folder (if your Core hasn’t identified them they’ll likely be in a folder with a random filename - if you spot an album that hasn’t been identified as you’re ripping it, sorting the folders by date (newest to oldest) will have the just-ripped album at the top of the folder list.

  2. use a converter app (I use dbPowerAmp, which is very good, and runs on both Mac and Windows (I have both) to convert the files from WAV to FLAC

  3. Drag the files into your music metadata tag editor (I use MP3tag).In MP3tag you can map metadata using file and folder names, or provide an album name and artist, and allow it to find options from metadata sources such as discogs. To do this, go to the Tag Sources menu and choose Discogs - Artist + Album . You enter the name of the artist and album, and MP3tag will find available release options. Click on the search buttom

  4. You’ll sometimes need to find the right release (if there are multiple CD, vinyl etc releases). Select the correct release, and click next

  5. If there aren’t exact matches, I’ll choose the one that is closest, and then manually match the track details to the release that I’ve got. The updated metadata will usually include album artwork as well

  6. Click save. You can choose to rename the files using the Convert/Tag-filename menu (which will take the updated metadata tags and build file names from them)

  7. Copy the updated files back onto your Core. They are best placed in the Downloads folder (I create an artist/album folder hierarchy to keep everything tidy).

  8. Give you streamer a couple of minutes for the Core to update its database, and listen to your music, happy because the correct album names and artwork are being displayed.

Wow, thank you. Not very simple. But I will try it in this way. Best wishes.

To be honest, the easiest way (if you have a computer with an optical drive) is to re-rip the album with dbPoweramp, and make sure that the metadata is correct.

This is what I did when my PC had an optical drive. Unfortunately I replaced it last year, and haven’t got around to getting a replacement optical drive :roll_eyes:

And in which way do you rip your CD now? The rips by Uniti Core are very good in my experience, so that I dont need my Apple Superdrive and my MacbookPro.

Just ripped Mudd Club/ Munich 80 Frank Zappa - 3 disc set. On Uniti Core, it ended up ripping as being 2 discs. Doing the same process on Innuos Zenith, everything as it should be. So if the Naim Core is so right, why do we have so many metadata errors with it :shushing_face:

I mostly rip with my Core. If it doesn’t find the metadata correctly, i usually copy the rips and edit the metadata with MP3tag as noted above.

Sometimes I’ll use an optical drive on my PC (mostly when I’m wanting to extract a 24 bit audio track from a Bluray for example)

Because the metadata sources are not properly updated by the album publishers.

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If so, would that not be true for all audio cd ripping manufacturers?

It depends what metadata lookup a ripper uses. There are quite a few.

This is the area which lets the Core down. The ripping process, is absolutely bang on. However, when you interface the Core, with something like Roon. Well, hold on to you hat, because the outcome is not predictable. The problem can arise from a straight forward rip, or when editing on the Core has been done. These are not see when using a Innuos Zenith, when in Sense or Roon mode. Before anyone jumps on the bandwagon, I genuinely think the Core is a very good product. However, the metadata side of it, has some serious shortcomings as compared to other products. I fail to see after seven years, why you still cannot combine multiple discs, into one album. I realise you can do this by manually using the playlist method, seriously!, this is 2024. As stated previously, I can only presume that Naim are holding back on further development of the Core, as they have something in the wings under development. I will go get my tin hat now :blush:

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Roon uses its own metadata source by default, ignoring any metadata associated with the files. If you prefer your own edited tags, you can set Roon to use these instead.

I have had my Core since its early days. I almost entirely buy high res downloads from the likes of Qobuz and Presto Classical, of classical music. The metadata on probably 80% of these downloads needs correcting before it stores correctly on the Core. I use Jaikoz for most of these edits, which manages to correct most problems. I have little experience ripping CDs to the Core.

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