9D goes streaming !!

9designs2

9designs2

9designs2

Soldato
Joined
5 Jan 2003
Posts
3,523
Location
Somewhere in the middle
Dual location, and discs into two counties, has meant I'm getting all modern and trendy, a move into the world of media streaming !....... (Will my LP12 ever speak to me again LOL )

Now setting the infrastructure up......
NAS drive built, Qnap TS109 with WD 400GB drive. ( Big thanks to OcUK, ordered 1.30pm Friday arrives 8.10 Sat morning, as the one from the "other suppler" failed to, from the Wednesday order).

Riping has started with Ripstation Micro DS.
Nokia N800 acquired off the bay as a "controller"......

And finally the demo at my dealer for the "Network DAC" was done yesterday......... The regulars here will soon guess what it was ;)
 
Network DAC? With your preference for Linn, leaves me in the dark as I didn't know they did one.
Come on, tell us more...
 
Trick was very much on the right lines, The Klimax DS, is the top end model, getting some very high praise, as the finest digital source about...but at just over 9.5K one would hope so !!!..... of coarse there are more expense bit's of kit about.
Next down the Linn ladder is the Akurate version, same kit without the machined from solid case work... Plus I think a couple of tweaks to keep it's performance far enough way from the Klimax version.

I guess you would say these are Linn's answer to the Squeeze box...A UPnP complaint CAT5 network DAC. Music is stored on a NAS drive, in FLAC or WAV Format (latest firmware should allow mp3 !!) and steamed to the DS, using MediaTwonky on the drive.
Either a PC or Laptop can be used to run the Linn GUI, or something like a Nokia N800 Internet tablet, running a media controller.

Did a side by side demo in the shop with a 1.1 Unidisk, considering the the DS was a couple of days old, and not run in, it was equal or a little better than the 1.1. Giving a more open and airy sound, a little more "analogue" in nature.

I expect, and I told by other owners, this will improve quite a lot with running in.... for sure the 1.1 I have took a few months to finally settle in and open up.

For me SQ wasn't the only reason, any improvement was a added benefit, the reason was "she who was never obeyed" ;) has half "our" disc in the UK !!!
So now I have them on the NAS...

Business travel stops me setting it until the weekend.... so I'll post an account of the job then.
 
UPDATE - Installed and running

Update,

System is all installed and running now here in Torino :) …. Though it took a little time to re-install my AV pre-amp, as it has been away for repair. The set up went with out any problems, mixing computers and Hi-Fi doesn’t always seem so be successful !!

Rack.jpg

From the Top, Unidisk 1.1, AkurateDS, Kinos AV pre, AV5125 Power amp (for centre active and rear channel passive)

The little NAS sits in the main room, next to the equipment, so glad I went for a smaller fanless design.

NAS.jpg



As mentioned this all runs from the Twonky media server installed on the NAS. So the PC is not needed for listen to music.
My network seems to be holding up so far. I have been able to stream to the DAC, while at the same time download at 1Mbs FLAC files from Linn, and then load them onto the NAS, without any drop outs or breaks in playback.

Twonky.jpg


Set up of the DS, involved running “LinnConfig” install program on the PC, it searched the LAN, finds the player, and sends the relevant scripts to it, to match the configuration of your system.

Second piece of software is the “Media Player” a simple graphical program for sending Play lists to the DS. The play list is then held on the DS, so you can shut down the PC, and skip through what you have listed with a conventional remote control.

Setup.jpg



Alternatively you can use a Tablet PC, running “Media Streamer” The N800 connects to the network via wireless, and scans for the NAS drive, and finds the Twonky media server running. It also detects the DS player. So now you can create play lists on the N800, and it send instructions to the NAS/Twonky to send the next track. This way the play list is only on the hand held devise, and it sends track requests as they become required.
Album art work is also displayed on the screen.


N800.jpg


It’s all been running now non stop for about 36 hours !! ….. To start with the sound was a little “digital” sounding, bit thin/lean and lacked the smooth organic sound I get from my disk player… But now it’s starting to smooth out and improve nicely. Sounding more natural and open. I’ll give it a bit longer and compare the two again later.


Done a few other system updates as well, moved my Sub, it use to have my centre channel sitting on it !!... Now you will all be impressed with the very high quality rack under it, and also holding my active box and two power amps !!!....
This master piece in sonic performance was all of about £16 form a well know catalogue shop !! …No Mana tables here ;) LOL


Centre.jpg



It's been a busy weekend !!!
 
Looks like a nice setup, I think I would have a hard time investing in 2 separate places rather than putting all the effort into one place. Do you find yourself preferring one set to the other? (I know nothing of the components your using so have no idea if one system is much better than the other)
 
All the kit is in Italy, and now all the music is :)..... I don't "listen" in the UK, only there about 2 days month!!! .....which has some Denon/Dynaudio Kit, for the "wife" to use ;) .......
 
Like it, keep us posted on how the DS compares to the Unidisk.

As for the stand, did you find that putting the centre on it made the slightest difference?
 
Can't say I noticed much, but being a centre it's not used for music. So who knows ;)
Needed to move it, so I put the power amps between the speakers.
I've changed to long interconnects and short speaker leads, (was other way around)with the active cards in the tunebox, and not in the power amps any more.
The active cards having there own PSU seems to help.
The main reason though, is that I am now free to use any power amp....... The plan is swap out the 2250's for Klimax Chakra twins.
 
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