I’ve recently bought a Uniti Star to replace my CD player. I don’t (yet) stream music from web based services and I don’t listen to a lot of internet radio.
I want to eventually put my CDs onto a NAS drive - ripping them from the Star. With the option of playing CD ‘live’… I will continue to buy CD and records.
I’m wondering, Star users, how do you get on with CD listening. Or in general, how do you find the Star?
I’m looking for a steer on the NAS drive and also whether a small, 1TB SSD USB drive is a good way (only way?) to rip and move music to the NAS, via a PC?
I’d appreciate any thoughts as I bumble into the modern world.
I found the best way was to rip and store to an SSD. I rip WAVs and my NAS with Plex didn’t like the Naim WAV files.
I only used my Star as a CD player once or twice, finding it easier to listen to the rips. AFAIK the Star rips the CD and stores it in internal memory to play it back rather than reading the CD and playing directly.
I agree that an SSD drive is a better option. In my case, though, I’m converting LPs to WAV and the burned CDs I have onto an internal Samsung 870 2 terabyte SSD drive. Having a wireless whole-home network and an AV setup enables me to stream my music without using a streamer player/riper device, of which I prefer a steamer server.
As apparently one of the odd ones that does use a NAS (mostly a Synology but I have my own home rolled too), I prefer non-proprietary music storage and rip from a computer to the NAS. This way, when I’ve ripped points to bookcase of CDs I don’t have to do it all over again if I want to use something like a Cambridge Audio speaker or something in a different room. It also allows me to load it onto my phone using Media Monkey at a lower bitrate for use on the go (I contract away a lot). It also means it’s somewhat backed up being part of a raid set in the event of a drive failure.
That said, my mileage may vary to yours. I very much prefer my data to be internally open, however.
Honest truth - waste of time getting a Uniti Star. Should have just got an Atom really. Or maybe the Nova! The CD player has very odd behaviour.
I had in mind to use a NAS too though I had gone the whole home wireless Smart TV network route that enabled me to stream music from my computer to any TV or to be shared with family members. I found having a wireless home network a much better option and a great deal fewer headaches than other options and not to mention the money saved. Having a wireless smart TV and an AV receiver in the mix not only extended my home entertainment enjoyment but also did not need another ad on options other than NAS or a streamer server such as either an Aurender N200 or A200. There’s no need for a streamer ripper for the reason that I am a vinyl listener and have a fairly large collection that I record to WAV onto the internal SSD drive of the computer and make playlists. On the other hand, having the Spotify and YouTube app on my computer and TV is another reason that I do not need a stand-alone streamer, preamp-streamer or other streaming options linked to streaming services.
I did try the atom with a CD5si to satisfy my urge to play physical media… but it did feel odd. Maybe star will begin to make less sense in time. I did need a means to rip ‘bit perfect, and nova/core felt a bit too ‘certain’ in terms of committing to ‘non-physical’…
I m hoping my experience with the player will be ok!
If it were me I’d forget the Star. The Nova is much better. If you have a large collection I’d suggest getting a proper NAS by Synology or Qnap, and running Asset upnp. RIP with dbpoweramp on your computer. Just rip the CDs you want to listen to, and complete the job over time.
It will be a ‘labour of love’ getting the CDs onto a server for sure. I tried this once before when my car went CD-less. I had a drive with a couple of hundred on. It became a problem after a few changes of vehicle: meta data list, files not recognised… I’m hoping I can get to a point where all of my CDs are on a NAS, which I can access from the star and other devices.
I just won’t let my CDs go, or my records - and I continue to buy them. I’m afraid to say that Spotify etc., downloads and streaming just hasn’t attracted me.
But if they ever clicked with me, who knows, it may open up new horizons!
In terms of nova/star - I see the star cd compromised the internal package and star doesn’t get a din pre-out. That said, as a stand-alone playing ripped CDs from a NAS I don’t think there was much between them sonically.
I do want a NAS ‘hub’ for my music - and also for my DVDs (remember them?!) because I have a pair of network enabled TVs tgat should be able to see them
true WAV does take up more space though in comparison to sound one’s ears will most likely hear-tell the difference. For example, I listened to LPs converted to MP3 and WAV. From another perspective burned the WAVfile - a playlist to CD and then recorded them onto cassettes. In doing so, a CD/DVD writer was used to burn the playlist to CDs. Whereas, a Sony CD cassette recorder to record the CDs onto cassettes which were then played on an Akai cassette player connected to my system. The result is that the ears will not hear the difference in sound as would when comparing speakers.
I just use a SSD into the rear USB socket, variety of formats, mp3 Wav etc.
The in I want to edit albums or add cover art I can use the SSd with my Pc and MP3tag.
In which case, set the server to transcode flac to WAV. It’s what I do, even though I’d probs may not be able to hear a difference. This was more important with the green screen streamers.
I’m going to have a play - flac v WAV to see if there is an appreciable difference. A server with a hefty storage will be a plan. I see mentioned the types of drives that may work best and I’m indebted - I’m in the dark on this and any help is very welcome
A small-ish SSD in the rear usb will allow me to listen and rip and periodically fill up the NAS.
I do tend to listen to albums in their entirety - I’m not into shuffling, playlists or best of complications - although I do have some. I may be on the edge of ‘shuffling’ my entire cd collection via a server - and I may rediscover some of my old music.
I was told a 1TB is about as large a USB SSD the star can use and not become clunky. With the Star linked with WiFi does it find/store the meta data on the SSD after the cd is ripped? I believe it does.