I’ve had my 2TB QNAP TS-212 (using RAID 1) for almost 10 years and I think it’s probably well past its ‘sell by date’ … fan increasingly noisy and the latest QNAP firmware update has somehow ‘locked me out’ from logging in (which is something I need to investigate) and now won’t let me reset etc.
As such, I think it’s probably on borrowed time.
What’s the latest thinking on continuing to use a NAS for music storage and server (Mimimserver currently installed on the QNAP) or should I ‘move with the times’ and look at something else (e.g. Melco)?
I have been very happy with my Qnap ts251+ with 8gb of ram and recently updated drives - 2 x 8Tb running raid 1.
I run MinimServer, QVR Pro and use it as a file server and backup for my desktop pcs.
Plenty of support on the forums and I have found Qnap support very good.
If you’ve the capability to run a NAS then it’s a small step to perform basic maintenance. A whole NAS doesn’t require replacement because there’s some fan noise. It just needs opening up and giving a damn good clean. Disc replacement is a fools errand as a new disc is as likely to fail as a decade old one. You just need rigorous backup processes in place for a failure. If the fan remains noisy after a clean then just replace the fan. It’s an easy job.
Whilst I’m saving up for an Innuos Zenith I’m under no illusions re: these same issues. It’s a sophisticated NAS plus other functions but it has a fan which will eventually gather too much dirt. A decision between a NAS and a proprietary server box is really one about convenience and sound quality.
If you’re happy with the sound of your NAS then better to explore and fix the lockout. If speed of access is an issue then faster discs can sort that.
I changed an old QNAP for someone, it was a 4 bay & getting noisy with periods of intermittent clicking, not sure how old but probably 2010 or earlier.
He no longer needed it for business, now needed only video, a load of photos & aprx 1500 albums from rips & bought in HiRes, mostly all jazz, plays over ethernet on a Linn.
He wanted good 4k video performance, low power consumption & as he used it infrequently during the week & mostly at weekends would like to be able to hibernate.
He (we) chose Synology DS218play & all new WD Red HDD’s.
He’s chuffed to bits, quiet, cool, sleeps nicely & wakes up quickly & unlike the old QNAP it updates software automatically.
I bought a new Synolgy NAS from Amazon fro £300 earlier this year. Popped my 2 6TB drives into it from my older WD NAS. Sold the bare WD on ebay for near £200.
The Synolgy allowed me to use Asset and Minim as uPNP servers. The Synolgy was also a loat faster and smarter than the WD which was 4 years older.
I cant fault the rips ( I use Itunes to ALAC) that the Synolgy/Asset pipes to my NDX2. Really cant. The NAS sits on the home network away from the HiFi.
I did consider a Melco or Zen Mini3 or even a Core, but why bother? And I can use the NAS to do other stuff too.
I moved from a Qnap (8 years old) to a dedicated music server (Audiostore), which is fan-less and runs Roon. I’m pleased with a perceived improvement in SQ.
The old Qnap does service as a backup.
Had a Synology Ds118 changed for a Innuos Mk2 mini with psu. Fait bit better
Recently tried the latest Synology DS220 with SSD - this on par with the Innuos with no power supply.
Now have the Innuos Zennith mk3 running upnp into NDac 555 and the difference is huge. Well worth checking out the Innuos Melco servers- the jump with the Zennith is not far off the XPS2 to 555 on the dac
I was unable to reset the QNAP and had to dismantle it, remove the HDD’s, restart the NAS setup and replace the disk drives etc.
Since the NAS was dismantled, I took the opportunity to give it a full spring clean and now it’s working as it should … no noisy fan and seems more responsive
I have MinimServer installed on the NAS and all music is stored in FLAC Format. I transcode on the fly using FLAC:WAV24 (MinimStreamer setting via MacBook) … which got me thinking …
Should I simply be using FLAC:WAV as opposed the the existing FLAC:WAV24 for the Naim ND5XS2???
Have you tried it to see if you hear any difference? If the source material is 44/16 in FLAC format, it’s not that WAV24 will be extracting any more info for you. I’ve yet to find a consistently beneficial upsampling approach, so tend to stick to the “minimalist” approach: simplest signal path delivery to the DAC and let it do its thing.
I would therefore try both conversions and see which one I prefer, understanding that it’s likely to be more a personal preference than providing greater information retrieval.
The reason for WAV24, is that I have some FLAC files that are 24bit/192kHz (e.g. Naim’s Hi-Res “Meet Me in London” ).
I presumed that transcending FLAC:WAV wouldn’t do those recordings ‘justice’ (transcoding from a 24 bit FLAC file to a 16 bit WAV) … but I might be totally wrong.
I just recieved a Synology DS220j NAS, and am waiting for the HDD to arrive tomorrow.
I just replaced my TP-Link switch, with a Cisco WS-C2960-24TT-L ethernet switch, so I’m looking forward to what I believe will be a nice gain in overall SQ thru my NDS/SN2.
I rip CDs with DBpoweramp, and I’ll use Minimserver for the extra metadata control with my Classical CDs. I’ll rip/save as FLACs, but send files to the NDS as WAV.
I can’t believe how much the Cisco switch upgrade improved my entire network. Everything is so much faster. We have 4 computers on the network, and 2 of them are downloading at 3 times the speed now. Very impressive.
From memory, the simple flac:wav command preserves the original bit depth and sample rate. I tried upsampling with Asset and all it did was make the recordings sound bland and airbrushed. You’ll be able to see what’s happening in the Naim app when you play say a 24/192 album. I’m 99.9% confident that flac:wav will achieve the transcoding but without upsampling, down sampling or or anything else.
All MinimServer does with lossless 16 bit material if you specify flac:wav24 is to pad out each sample from 16 to 24 bits with zeroes so there isn’t any “upsampling” going on here. As to why you might want to do this, the MinimServer doc says:
For best sound quality, it is recommended that you use the output sample bit depth that matches the maximum capabilty of your music player. For example, if your music player is a Linn DS, the best match is wav24 . Results may vary with different types of music player.
I’ve tried wav and wav24 on an NDS and didn’t hear any benefit with wav24.
Thanks Adrian, that’s exactly where I got the guidance from and set to WAV24
Having now set to simply using WAV (flac:wav), I have to say, it’s sounding a lot better.
In another thread I made reference to saying that Radio Paradise sounded better to me, than my locally stored music (DbPowerAmp ripped CD’s stored as FLAC on QNAP NAS) … maybe that has been the issue all along!!!
But now I guess you can see where I was coming from.
Unless it’s placebo, the change of setting or stripping down the NAS (or a combination of both) has resulted in a superior sound to my ears
