Marantz - MCR603 Music Server Search?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Well I've finally got the Marantz and Dalis all set up and connected to my Music Server (Running Asset UPnP).

However, I don't seem to be able to search the music on the server via the Marantz!!! I can navigate to a folder (artist, title, album, etc.) but then I can only appear to search by the first character!!! this is next to useless!! I have over 50'000 tracks in my music library, I can't believe I have to scroll through every entry under each letter before I find the one I want.

An example...I want to play "Cinnammon Girl" I have to navigate to the Titles folder then I can select the "C" folder but then I have to scroll through pages and pages till I get to he "Ci's" and I have nearly 3500 entries just in the C's

This seems crazy as to search internet radio etc, you can key in a search string using the numeric pad on the remote and away it goes...but for Music Server files it only appears to let you select one letter (by pressing left or right until you get to the letter you want)

I hope someone can point out where I'm going wrong because if this is how it works it is useless to me and I've wasted my money (the iPhone app does not have a search facility on it either)

Hope someone can help

Thanks,

Mark

 

[DIB]

Can't help you myself. I never use the music server function, though I've experimented with it. I don't have a dedicated music server, just have all my music ripped to my PC. I can use the Foobar 2000 UPnP from my PC and I also had Twonky Media for a trial period. Both worked well enough but yes it can take an age looking for an individual track or artist etc if you've got loads on your HDD.

When I'm playing my Flac files or any audio from my PC I use the Opt 4 aux input via Toslink.

For what it's worth the Naim Uniti navigation was just as slow when I had one last year.

.

 

[chebby]

The M-CR603 instructions (available from the product page on Marantz' UK website) confirm what you have found...

"Press [SEARCH], then press < > to select the first letter you want to search mode"

...but, I agree, it must be a pain.

(Instructions .PDF file p21)

In your situation I would return it and find an alternative solution.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the Marantz is probably a wonderful machine, but one of the reasons I discounted it was because I run all my music off a net book. In cluding Spotify, iTunes, Monkey Media for HD tracks, and Tune in Radio. I have more music than I can Shake a stick at. My point is that I like having the 10 inch screen to enable me to look at art work and to search properly through my music library. The Netbook is also connected to the plasma for big screen view if I want it and is controlled by my iPad as the remote. The Marantz as a one box solution is great , but if I owned it I would still have my Netbook connected to it. So that's why I have the dedicated stereo amp and a DAC od high quality that takes up very little room. In fact my amp and DAC take up less footprint than the Marantz. and I think that I get better performance out of my amp. I can see the point of the Marantz if you are playing loads of CDs and have a NAS drive but if you run your music from a Netbook I cant see the point

 

[chebby]

As DIB mentioned earlier, the NaimUniti (£2500) and the UnitiQute both suffer the same limited one letter search.

See John Duncan's 1st post here...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/naimuniti-long-term-view

...he mentions it too.

Ok that post is rather 'dense' to read. Here's the salient bit...

"The Uniti has functionality to search for music by using the numeric keypad on the remote in a 'mobile texting' sort of way, but on the EyeConnect-produced playlists, it doesn't work. In other words, if I select the 'Artists' option on the menu, and then type the first letter on the search facility (you can't do more than one letter), it doesn't find anything. I have to scroll through dozens of artists (really rather slowly) before getting to the one I want. This is a serious PITA, and I've resorted to putting oft-played artists in their own playlists so I can get to them more quickly. I did download the n-Stream App for iPhone, which solves some of these issues, but more of this later."

 

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a strange oversight to me for both the Marantz (in my case) and the Naim.

It is really putting me off the unit, I'm impressed sonically but it is a real pain to use with a large music library, the response whilst paging through artists, tracks etc. is not good and the iPhone app is very slow and unresponsive also (and adds nothing that can't be done via the front panel anyway).

My Slimserver Squeezebox which I've had for years is like lightning in comparison...responsive..able to search quickly and efficiently...is up and running in less than half the time of the Marantz and hardly ever drops a WiFi streaming signal. The iPhone app for the squeezebox is superb and functions excellently with lots of useful features.

I'm beginning to think I need to forget the network side of the Marantz and just plug my Squeezebox into one of the Aux inputs (which sort of negates my reasoning for buying a "one box" solution in the first place)

Still, my Tecnodec sounds great through it....

Dissapointed to hear the Naim suffers from the same problems!! that would have been my upgrade path...can't quite understand why the current crop of network players seem to be less responsive and lacking in search facilities compared to the much older squeezebox

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

This sounds like a strange oversight to me for both the Marantz (in my case) and the Naim.

The TEAC H500DNT has exactly the same basic search functionality. Interesting to see whether the latest iteration of mine has improved on this feature.