NAS Drive - Please Help!

Richy1984

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I am soon to have a Naim Uniti2 and would like to be able to stream music to it. I'll use an iPad as the controller.

To do this I am told that I will need a NAS Drive. ?

If so, could people give me an idea of what i should look for when buying one. Will any NAS drive do? or do I need to ensure it is of a certain size, quality, or has certain specs?

Any help is much appreciated.

Richy
 
Naim supply their own controller app on the app store which ties into UPnP servers running on the network.

Looks like this has a UPnP client built in which means it can access media from a UPnP/DLNA server which can be found on any NAS. A Western Digital My Book Live or a Buffalo NAS will do the job.
 
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Any NAS that has UPnP/dlna will do it. Personally I run Windows Home Server with Asset to stream music to my uniti. Whatever you do, make sure your uniti is hardwired to your network. It will work wirelessly with low bit rate files but wired is the way to go.

The iPad app is ok - not great compared to the Linn apps but it does the job.
 
A Nas is not necessarily needed, but much better than having a pc on all the time IMO. QNAP are another good brand.

As said, any Nas with UPNP/DNLA support can do the job but which one depends how much data (music/Fims, etc) you have now and any future potentials, cpu speed and ram, drive bays (hot swappable or not) and other potential usage. Also wifi support if required.

Since hard drives are relatively cheap (was cheaper still before availability became restricted, i think due to the Japanese earthquake), you could get the biggest you can afford if you want to, but depending on how much data you have, 500gb-1tb hdd is a nice place to start.
Also check with the potential NAS manufacturer which hdd they are compatible with as they work best with some but not all.

Also how will you be connecting to it, ethernet or wireless. Ethernet is best where possible, but a decent wifi connection can also work well. If the nas and Naim are in different rooms, not close enough for a direct ethernet connection to the router and if wifi is not suitable, You may need to consider using homeplugs, of which you will need at least 2.

So the question is How much are you willing to spend altogether - hdd included?
 
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I am willing to spend as much as neccessary to get it all working well.

Sevenoaks and Naim also reccomended the Western Digital My Book Live so this is what I'll go with. At £100 for 1TB it seems reasonable to me.

Regarding wired or wirless connection, I hadnt really considered this as i had assumed it'd all work well wireless. If wired is best, then what standard of cable should I be looking at?

We have a wireless router one one side of the room and the Uniti will be placed on the other, about 4m away. I can put the NAS drive either next to the router or next to the Uniti. Which makes the most sense?
 
Wired everytime. The uniti is only 100Mb so Cat5E will be fine. You need the NAS and the uniti plugged into your router.
 
Wired everytime. The uniti is only 100Mb so Cat5E will be fine. You need the NAS and the uniti plugged into your router.

Righto.

So I just need 2 decent Ethernet cables -
One from the router to NAS
One from the router to Uniti2

...With the Western Digital My Book Live, I just had a look and I think they come with an Ethernet. So I can just sit this next to the router and plug it in. So really, all I need to sort is an Ethernet cable to the Uniti2 - I'll probably need a 10m so I can route it round the room.

Once all is connected, is its just a matter of using the UPnP functionallity on the Uniti and using the n-stream app on the iPad as the controller. ?
 
Your router should be setup for DHCP so both the uniti and the WD NAS get an IP address as soon as you plug them in. Make sure UPnP is setup on the WD and pointing to the folder that contains the music. The uniti will automatically find the NAS and list the folders - it's as easy as that.

The ipad app 'talks' to the uniti, not the NAS. Once the app has found the uniti it just acts as a large remote control allowing you to select the inputs, change albums/tracks, change volume etc.
 
Your router should be setup for DHCP so both the uniti and the WD NAS get an IP address as soon as you plug them in. Make sure UPnP is setup on the WD and pointing to the folder that contains the music. The uniti will automatically find the NAS and list the folders - it's as easy as that.

The ipad app 'talks' to the uniti, not the NAS. Once the app has found the uniti it just acts as a large remote control allowing you to select the inputs, change albums/tracks, change volume etc.

Cheers,

What is DHCP? Also is it worth me getting a decent router? As I suspect ours is a cheap one that the misses got her hands on.

Finally, do Ethernet cables have any effect on sound quality?

Cheers

Richy
 
What router have you got now?

DHCP is usually enabled on all home routers by default and if you currently use a laptop with your router (wirelessly or wired) and have web access then chances are DHCP is all working fine.

Ethernet cables do not affect sound quality - all they do is ship packets from one device to another.
 
What is static IP address/dynamic IP address?

DHCP is basically a leasing service, where by it leases an ip address to a network device (Nas, PC, laptop, etc) from a predefined pool of ip's for a period of days (3 -7 days is common but can be whatever period the router is setup with), to roam around the network with. When that time is up or the device is shutdown/rebooted/ removed from the network for a period of time, it will get another ip address on next logon. If you think of renting a car, it is very similar ecept we have to give over cash.

However, if other devices on the network rely on the ip address of a another device whic is central to others ( nas, printer, etc), when the lease has ended and renewed with another ip, that device will not be found on the network, and you will have to let all the other reliant devices know what the new ip address is.

With devices that are central and is accessed by others (like a NAS) then it might be best to have a static a ip address for that particular device. As that will make that ip address constant for that device and ensure it will always be found unless there is a problem. Had to do this with my Squeeze boxes. simple process to do.

Static ip's are not leased out and are chosen from a predefined or manually set range of ip's specific for static configuration.

As said about the cabling, Cat 5 or 6 and I agree with the sound quality part.
 
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