Actually, for the current Naim line up, Streamer is also the Dac isn’t it?
The.other side of the equation is just a Roon device and a storage.
But the Aries is a streamer only. The ND5 is a streamer and DAC. Apples and oranges?
Roger
I’ve had a reply from Naim customer support hotline, or whatever its called. They didn’t say that the nd5xs2 was not a LMS client. Which I was sort of expecting. They have asked for more details.
Who knows, perhaps the ND5 XS 2 is actually meant to act as a LMS client. In absence of proper user guide and documentation, it is hard to say what a device is actually supposed to do. Perhaps you could also try the internal UPnP server. This would make your NAS unnecessary and might even improve the sound quality.
I do currently use the generic UPnp server and that works OK. Odd way it organises stuff. But you can stream. I do have the opportunity to change out WD Nas and am currently looking at Synology to run my NAs requirements . And of course I can add minimserver and/or Asset. So I think I may do that anyway.
Aries G1 is streamer only as is the more expensive Aries G2. The Vega G1 is a streamer/Dac $3999.00 I bought the G1 because I did not want to be locked into a Dac…As I mentioned I use Chord Quetest … Sounds killer, totally stable, excellent software.
If you switch to a Synology ( Good Idea) You can use MinimServer which is pre installed on Synology Nas’s and works really. Lots of support and a good user forum too.
Good feedback on the Synology. Good support and ability to have a decent music server were part of my descion making.
Not difficult if you use the owners guide, and ask the users forum. I’ve even had Simon Nash the creator answer a question or two. What I really like is It seems to just run and update itself with very little input from me. And as far as I tell it’s Sonically pretty much invisible.
Oh and the Synology has hot swap-able drives. I had a drive start to fail was able to order a replacement pull the failing drive ( Tool less drive mounting) without shutting everything down. Pop in new drive and it simply copied everything over; Raid 1, Rocks Baby!
I use a Simaudio Mind 2 network player (as a streamer only) into a Chord DAC and enjoy the combination. Simaudio do a range of products from streamer only through streamer/DAC to streamer/DAC/amplifier. I’ve had excellent post-sales support from them too (they are the Canadian equivalent of Naim and continue to provide upgrade paths for old kit much like Naim). Another option to consider in any case…
I use the original Slim Device Transporter into the Chord Hugo via Optical, and it sounds very good. The transporter is controlled by Roon, and to optimize the transpoter SQ, I set the digital volume to 100 %.
But be aware Minim is moving to a subscription model. Not sure of the time scale and here’s hoping Simon and the rollout won’t be too severely affected by Covid 19.
I think the new version is intended to be more user friendly and at first run alongside the original which will continue to be free but unsupported.
Roger
I can understand that. Minim certainly requires a greater investment of time and thought to get to grips with, but is ultimately more flexible. I run both on my QNAP and find Minim indispensable for most classical albums but like Asset’s “recent albums” heading for artist-led rips and downloads.
Roger
Really? MinimServer has an excellent documentation (minimserver ‘dot’ com ‘slash’ userguide ‘dot’ html) and works very well for me, Great customization options and straightforward setup and control via MinimWatch. Have you installed MinimWatch?
Interesting, I didn’t realize that! I have been regularly supporting MinimServer over the last years and I will be glad to pay for the service in the future: my music collection consists almost entirely of classical music and MinimServer is indispensable for a good browsing experience!
Glad that Asset works for you! I am also using an own taging scheme. Here are the values of the indexTag field in my MinimServer setup:
Composer, Work, Conductor, Ensemble, Genre, Form, Period, Date, Incdate, Gramophone's top 10 violin concertos, Gramophone's top 10 symphonies, Gramophone's top 10 piano sonatas, Gramophone's top 10 piano concertos, Gramophone's top 10 string quartets
These are the categories that I get presented in the control point (Bubble UPnP or Linn Kazoo) at the top level. I often dig in via Composer > Work but also use other schemes, depending on what I am searching for. I use ‘Incdate’ (incorporation date) to find those albums that I have added to the collection most recently. ‘Form’ is filled with values that refer to the musical form of a given track: symphony, nocturne, etude, piano concert, partita, and so on. ‘Period’ is filled with values like baroque, romantic, modern, etc.
@PeakMan. Actually Minimserver 2 is out. from reading their forum as any new-ish software It’s got some bugs. IIRC it’s like $30.00 for a license first year, then $10.00 a year after. I’m sure I’ll transition at some point but the v.1 works fine for me. Also Auralic has their own Server software that’s free for me as an Auralic owner I may give it a try sometime
Thanks, I’ll check that out! In the last couple of years I have systematically used MinimServer in my household and I have donated about $50 per year to support the development of the software. If MinimServer 2 works as well as MinimServer, 30$ + 10$ / year is a very reasonable price. The combination MinimServer + MinimWatch is miles ahead of what Naim currently offer, in my view. I had very little problems with MinimServer over the last years but in a few occasions I asked for support on the Minim forum and Simon’s feedback was always excellent.
Last time I looked this was only for Melco and Windows. Support for Macs and NASs such as QNAP and Synology was still to be rolled out. I may be out of date, usually am!
Roger