NAS drive setup

[trekker]

I have been recording my LP records to my W7 PC as .wav files, and play them back to a mini stereo system amplifier and speakers.

I would like to move on to where the music files are off my PC and on a NAS drive connected to a seperate amplifier with multi speaker connections and remotely controlled from a laptop , Ipad or Android, without the need to have the PC on.

The Marantz PM6005 amplifier has full remote control and seems to meet my requirements, but I need to to clarify the network audio player connection. I have no laptop or Ipad but I do have an Android smartphone.

What I do not understand is NAS drives, and networking. Is an audio network player similar to NAS drive?

How does one access's the individual files on the NAS drive to create playlists etc, do they have a flie manager pre loaded. Can they be connected to a standalone router which gives a wifi connection to my android smartphone using an app.

 

[Gray]

A network audio player (or streamer) is an interface between your network attached storage (NAS) device and your audio system.

By wireless or wired connection, it sees the NAS on your network and displays info / album art on its own small screen. It can also see music stored on USB drives via local front / rear USB sockets, as well as receive internet radio via the network. With its built-in DAC it does the conversion to analogue and feeds this to your amp. On the likes of Pioneer N50a and Cambridge CXN streamers you've got the option of bypassing internal DACs and feeding your choice of outboard DAC either by optical or coaxial digital connections.

The streamer manufacturers supply apps that will allow your Android phone to control the streamer also via the network.

Although don't expect the control app to necessarily be as comprehensive as whatever you may have been using to play off your PC.

I've been using Foobar 2000, for instance, to play off a laptop via DAC to amp and in terms of searching etc. it seems there's not much that can't do. From what I've heard the control apps aren't as good.

It's worth checking forums / user reviews on the subject as many users discuss folder organization etc. many seemingly learning as they go along - which is what I may be doing as I'm considering the streamer option myself.

 

[trekker]

Thanks for your reply, starting to understand it now. I am changing over in steps and just integrating a new amp could be step one. The Marantz amp has input connections for a Network audio player and seperate connections for Recorder input, I should be able to use one of these to connect to my PC audio out socket, reconnect the speakers and step one done. You mention DACs, at present I assume there is a builtin DAC doing the conversion as my .wav files play reasonably well through the Realtex HD audio manager, not sure now if the Marantz amp will accept an analogue file.

I am stiil unclear about control and file selection, the aim is to control it all away from the PC and with it turned off , if the files are on the NAS drive how are they accessed does the NAS drive have a small operating system which can be accessed, by wifi, to select files and create a playlist, and is this done from a media player on the laptop?

I will be looking at other options for an Amp before commiting myself, as for Streamers , Network players, DACs and NAS drives, a bit more research. One step at a time.

 

[Gray]

A LOT more research Trekker, that's what I'm doing as I'm in a similar situation to you. Having stored CDs and some high res downloads onto hard drive, I would also prefer a standalone player so that the computer can be left off.

It sounds as if, at the moment, your PC sound card is doing the D to A conversion and you're using its analogue line output, that output could indeed be connected to either the 'network' or 'recorder' line input on the Marantz amp.

The PM6005 also has optical and coaxial digital inputs to feed its own internal DAC and you could experiment by using any digital outputs from your sound card whilst still using PC to play.

If you want that separate player option though its back to the research, especially on file / folder / artwork issues - no one knows all the answers, even the manufacturers are often alerted to shortcomings in their software by users.

That's why I mention the usefulness of user reviews. For instance, look at the user reviews for the Pioneer N50a on Amazon. There's one from an owner of the previous model N50 comparing the two. These sort of reviews can tell you a lot about small but essential details concerning control apps etc.

As someone who prefers hi-fi to computers/apps myself all I can say is, good luck with your researching.

 

[expat_mike]

if the files are on the NAS drive how are they accessed does the NAS drive have a small operating system which can be accessed, by wifi, to select files and create a playlist, and is this done from a media player on the laptop?

Certainly the synology nas drives also contain an operating system, plus a choice of which file storage software to use.

Andrew Everard wrote some interesting blogs about setting up NAS drives:

http://www.whathifi.com/how-to/how-to-build-nas-to-store-your-music