Anyone had any experience comparing whether SSD or hard drive is best in the Unity Core Server.
I swapped my 2TB seagate pipeline HD for a similar capacity Samsung 860 EVO SSD and I prefer the latter.
I agree 
Thanks for the advice.
It’s not just a question of sound quality, where there seems to be no particular view, taking what people have reported over the years.
The main reason for getting an SSD is that it is completely quiet and runs cool. This is important because unless you put the Core into Deep Sleep, the HDD runs 24/7 and gets really quite hot in the process. And of course if you are listening near the Core, you are likely to notice the HDD noise.
Best
David
1 Like
They are much cheaper (ssd) than when i purchased my Core…tempting at some point?
1 Like
Cost was the reason I had a pipeline to start with but I had an issue after a few years with my Core hanging while trying to rip a particular CD and needing a full power cycle before it would rip any others. A dodgy hard drive was suggested as a possible cause part way through investigating this so I ordered an SSD to replace it. Meanwhile the Core had gone back to Naim, with an internal rattle and no longer ejecting CDs without the aid of a pin. Naim said they found nothing wrong but the rattle had gone and the CDs were ejecting again when it came back. My old HD went back in and was fine, it still wouldn’t rip that disc but no longer locked up trying. EAC managed it to but with check sum errors. I haven’t tried it in the Core since the last firmware changes, error handling has improved a couple of versions ago.
As I had the SSD anyway it was only a matter of time before I tried it and it never came out again.
1 Like
Is it my imagination, or is the Core getting worse at metadata matching a ripped CD. When I first purchased my Core and ripped all my music collection, it was correct for the vast majority. Just ripped B.B. King/Eric Clapton - Riding with the King. No title, tracks, artist or artwork recognised, in any of the Core metadata providers. Checked in Roon, all metadata perfect.
As long as your Core firmware is up to date, the metadata lookup should be ok. I find occasional relatively obscure and new classical CDs don’t find any metadata but mostly it’s ok these days.
Incidentally if you leave the unknown disc unedited then the Core may find the metadata later. If queues the job of looking up unknown albums. But once you edit it, it doesn’t do that automatically, although you can always tell it to look again in the Naim app.
Best
David
It just surprised me it did not find the metadata for this album, which I would not describe as being obscure. In fact, probably like you, I have some real obscure recordings it has found without me having to do some manual input. David, can you remember who was one of the original metadata providers for the Core?, but then withdrew support. I cannot remember for the life of me.
Secondly David, do you use Flac or Wav ripping with the Core. Did you do any investigation into metadata or sound quality into your preferred ripping standard?
The Core metadata providers were always as they are now. My point about recent firmware was because the last released firmware update (or maybe the one before last, I forget) fixed a problem that meant the Rovi metadata lookup very rarely returned any useful results. The update fixed that and made a dramatic usability improvement.
I think you may be thinking of AMG which was the first metadata source for Unitiserve and HDX. Firmware update 1.7b to those servers added MusicBrainz as a second lookup and 1.7c deleted the lookup for AMG that was now no longer responding, causing all manner of issues as the queue of work for the US/HDX grew ever longer, never to be successful! So 1.7c is a critical update for US/HDX.
I use Wav. I never bothered to try Flac. Apart from sound quality, where I think many prefer Wav, the main issues are that Wav files take up more space and the Wav metadata is handled by Naim in a way that means you can’t really ever swap to using a NAS instead of Core because of the world of metadata pain you open up.
Best
David
Thank you David for your reply. I must be getting confused, brain not as agile as it used to be. I had in the back of my mind that Naim made a announcement in Connection of withdraw of metadata support for the Core by XYZ. Oh to be young, again 
That’s true of us all.
But I seem to have got myself into a place where I am doomed to help other people with Naim server issues, until the day when I no longer understand them at all!
Best
David
4 Likes
It would have been much better over the intervening years if Naim had spent more time on the Core…thus not needing your attention almost every day.
Many thanks for your help in the past and undoubtedly…the future😉
2 Likes
Speaking of noisy hdd in the Core ( I remember, I had the Unitserve before), I have now the Melco n1z2. It runs hdd but it’s absolutely dead silent, even if my ears are touching it.
The gromling of the Serve during quiet nights was very annoying.
So better go for ssd with the Core.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.