I appreciate your comparison.
When I first consulted Naim over the maximum number of files that an ND555 can index on a USB drive I was told the upper limit is approximately 10,000, yet when I looked more recently at the figure shown on the support page for the ND555, it shows 100,000. So I’m not quite sure what’s going on here. I did point out the discrepancy to the customer support guys at Naim a while back but I see that it’s still showing 100,000. Perhaps Richard could establish the correct figure.
I’m using a Melco E100 drive with a Plixir LPS, connected via an AQ Carbon USB cable to the rear USB socket on the ND555. Whenever I add or delete files to the E100, I make sure the total number of files remains within the 10,000 limit. Had no problems so far, although it does take a while to index the contents.
I guess it could be a typo. I must say that the quality and consistency of product information on Naim’s web pages is poor to say the least these days.
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Indeed: in current times when online virtues gain greater importance (weight) in sales, the brand must invest more and better ( on the official site)
New website is under development right now, I can assure you. In meantime, I will ask re the correct figure.
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Ok, I have the facts!
There is no active capping on the number of files, but we do have recommended limits - these are the quantities we’ve tested to and are happy will work fine.
For Uniti players/Naim streamers, we’d recommend around 1000 albums/10,000 tracks
For Uniti Core - a more dedicated music-management device - we’d recommend 10,000 albums/100,000 tracks
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In terms of recommendation, yes - though as noted, that’s just for guidance. In theory, it’s unlimited.
I will make digital team aware - i know that area of the website is being replaced.
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I would say that they do not know what they are talking about.
Please don’t make unfounded accusations, especially when I have clearly provided the facts.
I can apologise again for any errors, but in the hundreds of thousands of words generated around our products, there is bound to be the odd error - we are only human. As noted, we’re also aware many sections of the website need updating and are actively working on a far better, replacement site.
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I am actually not accusing anybody, just drawing the logical conclusions from the known facts: The Naim streamers have been around for a while, the question of how many tracks the UPnP server of the Naim streamers does support as compared with the UPnP server of the Uniti Core has been raised a number of times in this forum and no definite answer has been provided by Naim so far. Hence my conclusions.
But… I provided the answer in detail above.
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Clare, I sincerely apologize for my post, I had missed your reply to @JP45 !
Thus, the answer is that the pragmatic limit for the Naim UPnP server running on Naim streamers is around 1000 albums/10,000 tracks.
While I am not a fan of the Naim UPnP server and I would not use it to serve my music collection, I think that it would be meanignful to provide perspective ND5XS2, NDX2 and ND555 buyers with complete information: the posts on this forum very much suggest that, even after a visit to a Naim dealer, many perspective buyers of Naim streamers have been left under the wrong impression that they need an external device running a UPnP server (a NAS, a Uniti Core, a Melco, etc.) in order to enjoy their music collections.
Now we know that, as long as such collections are not larger than about 1000 albums/10,000 tracks, this is not the case.
Thanks for the clarification!
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Absolutely the case - Naim should make more of this simplicity (preferably with a better UI and library management in the future). I am now using my Atom as ‘server’ with an external SSD and playing these files (300 CD’s) from my NDX2 or the Atom itself.
People need an external server not for the track limit reasons, but for better sound quality. The reason most , with top Naim source, use Melco or Innuos.
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I am not sure you would get better quality with a dedicated server over a USB stick. The USB stick doesn’t have any moving parts, any power supply and the signal does not go through the network and a switch like a server.
You might possibly be right but, until the sound quality obtained via the Naim’s streamers internal UPnP servers has been carefully compared with the sound quality obtained with external UPnP servers, we do not know which one is higher.
Also, I very much doubt that the sound quality with external UPnP server will be higher in general: the outcome of the comparison will most likely depend on the details of the local networks, on the cables, on the switches and, finally on the device and on the OS running the external UPnP server.
Also, why would Naim have cared adding a server to the (already quite complex) package if its sound quality was systematically inferior?
The truth is that many owners of Naim streamers do not even know that, together with a streamer, they have also bought a server.
They think that they need an external UPnP server (perhaps an expensive one, and expensive cables and switches …) because the Naim dealer told them so, because Naim has stopped producing detailed users guides and because the documentation available for Naim streamers is lacking and misleading, as this thread shows.
I have tried.
With which device: ND5XS2, NDX2 or ND555? They are quite different and the advantages and disadvantages of the internal UPnP server vs an external one might differ for different streamers.
With my Nds. I see no real reason for the new streamers to handle better the sound via an usb stick. My feeling at least.
On the Nds, the usb stick sounded globally the same as with the Unitserve. But with a linear ps on it, it was a bit better.
With my actual Melco, the difference is very clear.