Building My Home Network: Would Appreciate Comments & Advice

Moose68Bash

This is a follow-up to and earlier discussion '"Esoteric K-03: What Experience Have You Had with This SACD/CD Player?" that I posted some months ago.

Since my last post on that thread, I have installed my Synology 713+ NAS with two 4TB hard drives, upgraded my main DAC from the PS Audio Perfectwave MkII to the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, moved some "test" files from my iTunes Library on my iMac to the NAS, and begun to stream music from the NAS to both the DirectStream in my main system and my PS Audio Perfectwave MkI in my exercise room system. (My PS Audio PW MkII has been returned to PS Audio for some warranty repairs.)

The SQ of music streamed to the DACs from the NAS is extremely good. As the DirectStream gets more and more hours on it, it continues to improve. There were some early concerns from my wife. At this point, however, I would say the quality of the sound is comparable to that of CDs played on the Perfectwave Memory player through the DirectStream. (By the way, the SQ of AIFF files from my iPod through the coax connection and either a Wadia 171 or Cambridge Audio 1D100 dock is also comparable to CDs.)

So, I've gone through the proof of concept stage. I know I can stream music from the NAS to my two systems.

However, I'm now trying to figure out exactly how best to download my entire iTunes library to the NAS and then serve it to the DACs. I don't want to use iTunes, and in fact do not believe that I can use iTunes on my iMac to serve music from the NAS.

The iMac is not connect by a USB cable to either DAC or the NAS. All connections are through my home network. The NAS and the two DACs are hard wired with CAT 6 cable. The iMac ethernet connection is wireless. I also use an app on my iPhone to serve music from the DAC. The latter works tolerably well, but not as well as serving it from either my iMac or my MacBook Pro, which also connects to the NAS via wireless ethernet.

As a music server, I am currently using the software that came with the NAS (Synology Disk Management System), which works, but is far from elegant with respect to ease of use v. iTunes. I first downloaded music from my iTunes Library in groups of tracks -- each group consisting of all tracks from a single album that I had ripped into iTunes. I quickly learned that this process did not transfer album art.

Then, I began transferring the file for each album from the iTunes Library and added the album art to each file on the NAS. This process works, but it is very time consuming.

I have looked at various software programs that claim automatically to find, download, and import album art for files in an iTunes Library. It appears that none of these works if the music files are "AIFF" files, which is the format I prefer and have consistently used when I rip CDs.

I have also looked at various software apps -- e.g., JRiver, Audirvana -- which would run on my iMac and serve music from the iMac to a DAC, if the DAC were connected by USB to the iMac -- if I understand how they work. These would also bypass the less than satisfactory playback quality of iTunes and the iMac. I do not believe these apps will manage and serve music via ethernet from an iTunes Library that is stored on a NAS. The iMac itself will not serve music through ethernet, and as far as I can tell, these apps do not overcome that limitation.

Can anybody who has experience with this sort of problem help me figure this out?

Can something like MinimServer be installed directly on the NAS, manage an iTunes Library installed on the NAS, and serve music to both DACs via ethernet? I am concerned that Synology DMS will not allow me to serve hi-res files.

If necessary I am willing to live with a "clunky" system for downloading files to the NAS until better software is available, but one of the main reasons I embarked on this journey is to enable me to stream hi-res files from my NAS to my DACs.

If it is my ignorance that is inhibiting my progress, I'm not embarrassed -- only apologetic! I simply want to learn and to move forward in the most expeditious way.

Any and all help will be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

GospelTruth

I use a Synology NAS to hold all my movies, mp3s and flac files. I don't use a DAC to play the music files, but a WD TV Live player access and select the music to output to my receiver for sound. It's not high end, but it works for our main room system. Some day when I have my dedicated home theater room or listening room, that may change.

The Synology software (access the server via the web interface) will allow you to install an iTunes server on the NAS. I don't know if you have done that or not, but that would be my first place to start. You can install all kinds of software on your NAS through the Synology interface. You probably already know that though.

This site Synology Wiki should help you out with what file types are supported by which services on the Synology NAS. Based on what I see there, the iTunes server on the NAS does not support aiff file types. You can install the Media Server from Synology which will support UPnP and aiff files. I try that path if you need to play aiff files. I believe you can go to the iTunes store and download the Synology media player app as well. I don't know if that app will help in your situation or not though.

Sorry if I can't help out more. I'm not familiar with the PS Audio DACs and after looking them up and reading the manual a bit, I have a hard time understanding how they work and play music directly hooked up to a NAS.

If you have any other questions that you think I can help on, let me know.

OleBoot

I use JRiver, so can only speak to that, but I think it should do all that you have asked about. It does support AIFF files, and should be able to automatically tag the files with both metadata and cover art via web lookup. I do not use AIFF files, but the JRiver documentation says it will do this.

If you installed JRiver on your iMac, you could auto tag the whole library, and move it your NAS using JRiver. If you can currently access yor NAS from both DACS, you must have the PS audio add-in Network card (unless I am misunderstanding how you are doing this), which JRiver would see as a UpNp "renderer". Each DAC would be a "zone" in JRiver, and you can play same or different selections to either or both. Their are apps (free) available for both iOS and Android so tablets and phones can be used as a remote control.

The downside is that JRiver has quite a learning curve Their support comprises a Wiki and forums, and they are very responsive on the forum. The upside is that it's cheap (!), and is far more sophisticated than a lot of people think.

If you want a more "out of the box" solution, I can't help, but maybe others here could chime in.

Moose68Bash

GospelTruth wrote: »

I use a Synology NAS to hold all my movies, mp3s and flac files. I don't use a DAC to play the music files, but a WD TV Live player access and select the music to output to my receiver for sound. It's not high end, but it works for our main room system. Some day when I have my dedicated home theater room or listening room, that may change.

The Synology software (access the server via the web interface) will allow you to install an iTunes server on the NAS. I don't know if you have done that or not, but that would be my first place to start. You can install all kinds of software on your NAS through the Synology interface. You probably already know that though.

This site Synology Wiki should help you out with what file types are supported by which services on the Synology NAS. Based on what I see there, the iTunes server on the NAS does not support aiff file types. You can install the Media Server from Synology which will support UPnP and aiff files. I try that path if you need to play aiff files. I believe you can go to the iTunes store and download the Synology media player app as well. I don't know if that app will help in your situation or not though.

Sorry if I can't help out more. I'm not familiar with the PS Audio DACs and after looking them up and reading the manual a bit, I have a hard time understanding how they work and play music directly hooked up to a NAS.

If you have any other questions that you think I can help on, let me know.

Thank you, GospelTruth, for your advice and for taking the time both to read my "shaggy-dog" post and to reply.

I went to the SynologyWiki site to which your referred me, and I was able to confirm what I had suspected about the iTunes Server app for the Synology NAS -- that is, it only serves files to devices running iTunes and only in the formats that it supports. My PS Audio DACs do not fall into this category; so, iTunes Server will not help me.

A couple of things I failed to note in my original post:

1. Right now, I'm only interested in streaming music to my two DACs from the NAS, and all my files are in AIFF format. I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible because I'm a real neophyte in this area (and many others with respect to audio topics).
2. I have installed Synology's Audio Station on my NAS, and that is the app I am currently using to serve music to the DACs. I had incorrectly referred to this as Synology's Disk Management System ("DMS"); it is, of course, and app that runs on the DMS.
3. The Audio Station does the job that I want to have done, but it is "clunky." By that, I mean it requires too much manual labor to ensure that each album has its own file in "File Station" and that album art for each album is also located in its file and properly named so that Audio Station will display it in "Album" view.

I think this leads me to another question:

If I simply use the functionality of "Advanced Preferences" in iTunes to download my entire iTunes library to the NAS, preserving its organization and checking off the function that will store all future additions in the iTunes Library on the NAS, will Audio Station recognize the music files in the iTunes Library and allow me to serve that music to my DACs? Or, will I have to convert the iTunes Library to something Audio Station recognizes?

This is a long question to which I have been unable to find an answer. I suspect I'll just have to do it and see whether it works!

Perhaps, I can install on my iMac one of the many programs that finds and adds metadata to the iTunes Library before I move it to the NAS. This should help reduce or eliminate the manual "labor" I've been doing up till now.

Again, thank you for your help.

Moose68Bash

OleBoot wrote: »

I use JRiver, so can only speak to that, but I think it should do all that you have asked about. It does support AIFF files, and should be able to automatically tag the files with both metadata and cover art via web lookup. I do not use AIFF files, but the JRiver documentation says it will do this.

If you installed JRiver on your iMac, you could auto tag the whole library, and move it your NAS using JRiver. If you can currently access yor NAS from both DACS, you must have the PS audio add-in Network card (unless I am misunderstanding how you are doing this), which JRiver would see as a UpNp "renderer". Each DAC would be a "zone" in JRiver, and you can play same or different selections to either or both. Their are apps (free) available for both iOS and Android so tablets and phones can be used as a remote control.

The downside is that JRiver has quite a learning curve Their support comprises a Wiki and forums, and they are very responsive on the forum. The upside is that it's cheap (!), and is far more sophisticated than a lot of people think.

If you want a more "out of the box" solution, I can't help, but maybe others here could chime in.

Thank you, OleBoot.

JRiver may, indeed, do what I'm looking to do.

From reading about JRiver I could not tell whether running it on my iMac or MacBook Pro would overcome the problem I've had with trying to stream music from the NAS to my DACs, given the limitations of the iMac to play music only through the internal speakers or to USB speakers. I want to stream over my hard-wired ethernet network because that is my only connection to the DACs, which both have PS Audio Bridges installed. (And they work very nicely!)

If, as you suggest, JRiver will do a lot of the "leg work" to gather and deploy metadata to the iTunes Library and if JRiver will also allow me to stream music, running it on my iMac, to my DACs, then is there an iPhone or iPad app that will allow me remotely to interface with JRiver on the iMac? In other words, can I interface with JRiver remotely via my wireless LAN. I now can use my iPhone to control Audio Station via my wireless LAN, albeit somewhat awkwardly at times.

My iMac is in my study at the other end of the house from my main system and on the floor above my exercise room system. My goal is to control the streaming from the NAS from anywhere in the house, not just from my seat in front of the iMac.

OleBoot, do you -- or does anybody else -- have any thoughts about this?

Does JRiver have a "remote" feature like what I'm seeking?

GospelTruth

Moosebash...

Your thread got me thinking about the Synology NAS options for playing music. I did a search and found some iOS apps that might work for your situtation. Look up ArkMC Lite to see if that app works for you. I don't know if music is streamed through the device or how it works. Regardless, it should find your Synology NAS player as a source and then you can play to any DNLA or UPnP device, so your DACs should show up. You can also play the music on your apple device as well if you were wanting to play through a set of earbuds (probably not the case though).

I hope this app works for you. Looks promising. If you decide it works well, I think the full version is only 2.99.

Moose68Bash

GospelTruth wrote: »

Moosebash...

Your thread got me thinking about the Synology NAS options for playing music. I did a search and found some iOS apps that might work for your situtation. Look up ArkMC Lite to see if that app works for you. I don't know if music is streamed through the device or how it works. Regardless, it should find your Synology NAS player as a source and then you can play to any DNLA or UPnP device, so your DACs should show up. You can also play the music on your apple device as well if you were wanting to play through a set of earbuds (probably not the case though).

I hope this app works for you. Looks promising. If you decide it works well, I think the full version is only 2.99.

GospelTruth,

Thank you for the lead. I checked out the ArkMC app. It looks promising as a possible control point to use on my iPhone after I get all my music files organized, complete, and downloaded to the NAS.

I did see that, while it mentions music, the marketing literature for ArkMC focusses on visual media more than audio, and there seems to be a limit on the number of files it will deal with at any one time -- but I have more homework to do.

Thank you, again, for your interest in helping me. This has been a more complicated project than I had envisioned. I now understand the reasons that a number of folks I know have laid out big bucks to professionals "to wire" their homes for sound in much the way I'm trying to do. However, they are only trying to deal with "Muzak" quality sound (MP3 files), and they are trying to wire every room in their houses, more or less.

I'm shooting for the best SQ I can get, and I'm only aiming to wire two systems -- for now.

GospelTruth

Thank you for the lead. I checked out the ArkMC app. It looks promising as a possible control point to use on my iPhone after I get all my music files organized, complete, and downloaded to the NAS.

That's the hardest part in my opinion - organizing your music. I have, from the start, organized my music in folders. Artist > Album > Songs (within the album folder). I have never downloaded music from iTunes, but rip my own music and have done it that way just so it's organized nicely. This is outside any program that organizes the music by the tags within the file itself.

I tested out the ArkMC app, and it lets you browse your music by any method be it by folder or by tags. Looks promising.

I did see that, while it mentions music, the marketing literature for ArkMC focuses on visual media more than audio, and there seems to be a limit on the number of files it will deal with at any one time -- but I have more homework to do.

For media, I think it's fine with audio, but I think the Lite version may be more limiting on the number of files it will deal with. It definitely worked in bringing in all the album artwork and what not into the application.

Good luck and let us know how that application works. I'd be interested in how things turn out.

OleBoot

[quote="Moose68Bash;2086551"

Thank you, OleBoot.

JRiver may, indeed, do what I'm looking to do.

From reading about JRiver I could not tell whether running it on my iMac or MacBook Pro would overcome the problem I've had with trying to stream music from the NAS to my DACs, given the limitations of the iMac to play music only through the internal speakers or to USB speakers. I want to stream over my hard-wired ethernet network because that is my only connection to the DACs, which both have PS Audio Bridges installed. (And they work very nicely!)

If, as you suggest, JRiver will do a lot of the "leg work" to gather and deploy metadata to the iTunes Library and if JRiver will also allow me to stream music, running it on my iMac, to my DACs, then is there an iPhone or iPad app that will allow me remotely to interface with JRiver on the iMac? In other words, can I interface with JRiver remotely via my wireless LAN. I now can use my iPhone to control Audio Station via my wireless LAN, albeit somewhat awkwardly at times.

My iMac is in my study at the other end of the house from my main system and on the floor above my exercise room system. My goal is to control the streaming from the NAS from anywhere in the house, not just from my seat in front of the iMac.

OleBoot, do you -- or does anybody else -- have any thoughts about this?

Does JRiver have a "remote" feature like what I'm seeking?[/quote]



The answer I think is yes to all your questions.

Here is a link to the JRiver Wiki:

wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Main_Page

Specifically about controlling multiple systems:

url="http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Zones"]wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Zones[/url]

Specifically about remotes:

wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Remotes#JRemote

I said JRiver was a steep learning curve.

If you need help with anything you see there, I'll willingly answer questions, but if you find the whole thing is gibberish, then a more turnkey type solution may suit you best.

Moose68Bash

OleBoot wrote: »

The answer I think is yes to all your questions.

Here is a link to the JRiver Wiki:

wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Main_Page

Specifically about controlling multiple systems:

url="http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Zones"]wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Zones[/url]

Specifically about remotes:

wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Remotes#JRemote

I said JRiver was a steep learning curve.

If you need help with anything you see there, I'll willingly answer questions, but if you find the whole thing is gibberish, then a more turnkey type solution may suit you best.

Thank you.

I'll do my homework on JRiver.

Mr_Hz

"I use JRiver, so can only speak to that, but I think it should do all that you have asked about. It does support AIFF files"

I am also a JRivers user. I use a Drobo Pro NAS solution to house a combo of movie and music files. From my HTPC I run the data stream in to a Bryston BDA-1 DAC before feeding my Pre/Pro and out to the speakers.

I readily admit that I have no experience in the iTunes consumer space... I'm just adding my confirmation in the whole digital files/server delivery method. With quality files as a source, and quality gear along the path, there is no reason to assume that digital music is any less 'musical' than delivery from other sources. I've been very satisfied by the musical acumen of my set up, and doubly pleased by all the playlist and other db flexible delivery options to experience my music.