I have a Naim Uniti Core music server. Its sound is phenomenal and I couldn't be more pleased with it. It has a couple of nagging problems, however. When I first purchased the Core, I imported a ton of music (85% my former CD collection) from my previous server, a Cocktail Audio X45, which was rendered useless by its parent company. Novatron opted to drop the very useful web server interface for accessing music files in favor of its iOS app, which was absolutely useless. But I digress... The files I transferred from the X45 to the Core were essentially intact, except some artist info and other tags that were missing. No big deal; the music was still there, if mishmashed. The big problem with the Uniti Core is that any file copied to it (as opposed to a CD ripped by it) is not editable. At all. This bugs the hell out of me. For now, I can live with the Core's chaos. But if there's a better server out there, which would allow me to edit tags in music files after they've been imported (while not including a DAC and/or preamp), I'd love to learn about it.
Why not just get a NAS? If you're just doing file storage it's cheaper and you can edit tags to your hearts content I believe.
I'm guessing this won't be what you're looking for, but for what it's worth I've been quite happy for years with a 2012 Mac mini running headless, controlled by the Apple Remote app from my phone. Super simple and easy.
I was just thinking about doing this, although a used Bryston BDP-1 is cheaper--but it lacks the wireless feature that would be necessary in my setup.
If anyone wants to run a headless Mac mini as a music server, be aware that with no monitor attached, the computer will not activate the GPU, resulting in dog-slow performance. The way around that is to install a dummy plug on the HDMI port, which will fool the mini into thinking a monitor is attached. These are dirt-cheap - I use this $6.99 one: Amazon.com
Exactly my thoughts. I've been using a Western Digital NAS for years. Dead simple operation, and files remain editable forever as needed. The big trick is organizing your files into a file-structure, and naming conventions which makes complete sense to you, and sticking with it religiously. Otherwise, it becomes possible to "lose" files on your NAS which you can still access via perfectly via DLNA but which you can no longer locate with windows explorer.
I‘ve used a Daphile System for more than 10 years now and you probably couldn’t pry it out of my cold dead fingers! In all that time regular updates and zero (!) problems - for free. Daphile is a software based on the Logitech Media Server and it runs as a headless server. It wants to be plugged into a USB-DAC, so the DAC is the component that will determine the sound quality (if you believe in such things). I have it running on a small, fanless barebone PC. The music (mostly FLAC) is on a portable USB-harddrive plugged directly into the barebone. The greatest advantage (to my mind) is that the Logitech Media Server is open source and maintained by a large crowd of enthusiasts. So you get good code quality and long-term service. And it‘s either totally free (like Daphile) or dirt cheap (the app I use to select the music I want to listen to costs something like 8 bucks). Another advantage is that you get to select software and hardware separately and so get the best of both worlds for the price of a barebone PC and a USB-DAC. Daphile – Digital Music Convenience for Audiophiles
When you say you want a server is that because you want local storage at the Hifi? You don't want to "stream" your music in the house you want to select it and have it play at the stereo? I say this because I think you could use something like a Brystom BDP-2 and higher. These allow you to add internal storage. Also the Eversolo A6 has a spot for a NVME drive and probably the A8. Innuos has servers like the Zen Mini and Zen Mk3 that have a cd drive for ripping. Melco is another audio server company. Aurender also although they may be more streamers than servers. What do you mean by server? Want local storage or also need cd drive for ripping?
Yes, I'm talking about local storage, which is what I depended on when I ripped almost all my CDs years ago. I prefer downloading and storing files to streaming, although I'm likely to add the latter feature sometime in the future.
The Innuous Zen or Zen Mini seems to offer the best of both worlds. Network area storage, reliable ripping, metatag editing, excellent network always-on availability, a backup system that makes use of connected (USB) or LAN-connected storage drives, a browser-based UI, and so on. I’ve been using a Zen Mini for years. For straight-up music NAS (no ripping, no streaming interface), the two I recommend and with which I’ve had the best luck over the years are the QNAP and the Buffalo Terrastation. There are some Synology fans out there too, but I haven’t spent enough time with any version to be able to recommend one.
The Innuos Products are most like the Naim Core you have now in that they support ripping with a CD drive. (Melco is a favorite on the Naim Forum as well) The others I mentioned are streamers with internal local storage. Good luck. Auralic has nice looking and sounding streamers with internal storage as well. Sorry I can't vouch for SQ as I use Roon.
What is your budget? Do you require Roon? And is not being able to edit tags within the device a dealbreaker?
Like you I started out with a Cocktailaudio X40. Ripped all my cd's using it. Great way of ripping as you can do it from your lazy sofa while listening to music. But the web server and most of all the accompanying app was useless to me. Used the remote most of the time. Then I discovered plexamp (app), now that is how a music app is supposed to work with your own files. So I ditched the Cocktailaudio (it's in the garage system now but hardly used anymore) and installed Plex server on my PC. It gives you endless possibilities of controlling and tagging your own music, stored on a hard disc. And you're not depending on a costly streamer, which likely has an inferior app anyway, because these companies (most of the time) have no clue how to develop proper software.
It should be possible to map the drive inside the Uniti Core on another PC on your network. Using that remote PC, you can open, edit, and save your music files with any tag editor. Are you able to do this?
Not familiar with Plex, etc., but will check it out. As an aside, my X45 is also in my garage. No one will buy it on the used market and a rep from the online dealer I bought it from years ago said they're discontinuing it because A: Complaints about them dropping the web UI in favor of their inoperable iOS app, and B: Because of their lousy customer service. I'm likely taking it to a local electronics recycler.
The Uniti Core was $3000+, if I recall. I'm honestly okay with it (the sound, as I said, is fantastic). It just bugs me that I can't edit metatags of downloaded files, as well as my old Cocktail Audio CD rips, which often makes choosing music akin to wandering through a minefield.
I have, and I can. I've had two. They have been reliable, and one thing I particularly like is that the Web-based interface is relatively simple. Good for the aging brain. Another plus is Synology's own RAID implementation, which works with drives that are not all the same size.
I'm unfamiliar with how the Uniti Core works. But I have the same metadata issue with my Aurender. While not ideal, I'm able to mount the Aurender's hard drive on my Mac desktop and then use the free MusicBrainz Picard to directly edit meta data on the Aurender. The files never leave the Aurender. Not sure if that fix would work on the Uniti.
For the Uniti Core you can try the Naim Forum. They really are helpful. This seemed reasonable to try: Short version being use the IP address of the Core to get to the files instead of Windows browser. "I suspect that this is showing you the contents of the core as a uPNP device, rather than mounting the drive in the Core as a network drive on your PC. If you’ve mounted the Core’s drive, you’ll see a number of folders (including download, store, scratch and recycle bin). If you know the IP address of your Core, you’ll be able to mount it in Windows by typing \ip.add.ress.here\ and pressing return (using the IP address - e.g. \192.168.1.51\ ) - this will bring up a list of drives that the Core has available to share, and you’ll be able to browse from there." I don't know if this works for the Naim Uniti Core, but in general this IP method for access to files does work. I do it with my Roon Rock Server.
