As per title - I’m setting up a streaming system for a lady who’s dear to me. She has a Qute2 and I want to put music in a NAS for her but I’m unfamiliar with models (and prices). The goal is to store about 3/400 albums in ALAC/FLAC/AIFF. I happily consider suggestions from experienced users. I know how to set up the thing.
Also, what server (meaning app) you would suggest?
Thanks
M
If she wants to meticulously catalogue a collection of classical albums, Minimserver, but it requires a more hands-on approach. Otherwise Asset.
These both run well on QNAP or Synology. They do not present a large workload, so the cheaper, more basic models are all that is required.
Before committing to either of these servers, the one that’s buldled for free with the NAS may be enough for some people’s needs, so maybe try that first.
Ciao Max, the forum favourites are Synology and QNAP.
With a UQ2 I would look for a 1 bay but you MUST also include a backup, WD ‘My Passport’ is a simple plug in, Synology and QNAP both have good backup packages to work with the WD Passport.
Alternative is a 2 bay, slightly more security, but still with a backup.
Prices depend on CPU power, basic is all you need, but there are models with more CPU, these will connect/operate faster, but the SQ remains the same.
Chris, Mike,
Thanks for your suggestions. I’ll start searching. In time I studied the streaming thing accurately so I think I can sort it without too many 
.
Max
Synology works well - I use one for my primary Plex server which I use for my ripped DVDs. I moved my Roon server to a NUC instead because I like being able to have the Roon UI on my big TV, I have a wireless Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard on my coffee table for that purpose. Roon works well for seamlessly integrating Tidal into your ripped albums. With synology you can log in to the NAS with a web front end so that’s pretty simple too. Setting up directly on a PC or a Mac is a little simpler. If you go NAS, I’d recommend watching a few youtube videos on initial set up. That will make it way easier to understand the various choices you are presented with.
In case not obvious a NUC is a small form factor PC. You can find many places online that will allow you to specify one. Worth researching one with either no fan or a very quiet fan if you plan to have something next to the system or a TV. My NAS is stored away in a cupboard hard wired into my ethernet network, but my NUC sits next to the TV.
Hi Max - I’ve got an UQ2, UQ1, and NDX running in the house and just went online with a single-bay Synology DS124 4TB HDD NAS over the holidays (Merry Christmas to me 
) Using Asset UPnP server on it. Similar CD collection of c400 CDs. Works extremely well at a good price point with minimal technology intervention required.
Spent 2 months researching lots of options these were my takeaways:
Overall, I’m extremely happy with the Synology/Asset combo. SQ is excellent and usability with the NAIM app is great. Could have spent more money for dual-bays, more/swappable RAM but this seemed to be a great entry-point into the world of NAS streaming. Previously I had everything on a MacBook Air and this is much better.
Just one more piece of advice to think about placement. You’ll want it hardwired into a router/satellite and the HDD when it spins up can be louder than you may want in the same room where you’re listening.
Hope that helps and good luck!!
Thanks, I think I now have all I need to build the streaming system for D.
Best,
Max
P.S. I am not sure I fully grasp the ‘single bay’ ‘dual’ bay’ thing but I guess it’s got to do with the number of HDs you can use…
Dual bay allows a continuous mirror copy ie via RAID. I wouldn’t rely on that exclusively as a backup though. Most of us have at least one other device. Obviously you could re-rip the CDs but with a NAS installed for many the next move will be buying new music as downloads.
I’d also suggest Asset on a Synology NAS. Reliable, simple to set up and use, but you will want to put it away somewhere because they do make a bit of noise (HDD and fan).
Bruce
Thanks,
Max
This was one my considerations at the beginning - I wanted to have some degree of resiliency with two drives in a RAID configuration (which, as Bruce says, mirrors the data across the drives in the event one of them fails.)
There are two main drawbacks to that - the first is that you need to double the volume to get the desired storage (i.e. you need 8TB of drives to get 4TB of ‘useable’ space.) The second is that in the event one of those drives fail, I have no existing technical knowledge on how to recover the good one.
With that, single bay was the most logical outcome.
Not tricky to be fair, but just make sure you have one more layer of backup. The CDs would suffice if you are happy to re-rip in a disaster!
I’m technically adept enough to figure it out, I think. Just don’t want to devote any more limited brain power to stuff like this. Saving it for more important things: cancer research, world peace, getting the Smiths to reunite. Stuff like that.
I do have a back up on an external SSD and the original CDs in the event the streaming rapture comes.
I like the idea of a streaming ‘rapture’.
My system is good, but not that good
Having two or more drives is a good idea, but putting them both in the same NAS isn’t. There are any number of things that can cause data loss, and the failure of a hard drive us just one of them, in addition to software corruption, fire, theft, flood, etc.
The best time to decide on a backup strategy is at the same time as you set up the NAS. It could be as simple as copying the files to a cheap USB drive
As the drives are mirror images of each other if one of them fails it carries on working as before. You would then need to remove the faulty drive, plug in the new replacement drive and it will rebuild automatically, which just means copying everything from the good drive across to the replacement so they are both the same again. Depending on the NAS Box and the drives used you may need to shut it down to swap the drive over.
Comforting, thanks.
Would it not be cheaper and easier to have a portable ssd then just connect via usb, ?
It would be simpler/cheaper, but navigating with the remote folder by folder is clumsy. Having a upnp server gives a much better user experience.
If you mean connecting a USB drive directly to the streamer, that can be a good solution for some, but not for the OP as the 1st gen Naim streamers only give you a very basic folder view which is not intended to be used to browse a whole music library.