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NAS Interfaces - Any Good Ones Out There?

Narnian

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I finally broke down and bought a Wiim that is on the way (Prefer wired connections for core systems). I hated the HEOS interface on the phone and TV after and was spoiled using Sonos the last several years, especially on my NAS where “primitive” would be a compliment for HEOS.

Currently I am testing a refurbished Marantz NR1200 which has HDMI input so I can stream from my Apple TV, including using Plex which gives me a rich interface for my FLAC files on the NAS. I want to be able to use the TV and system remotes without having to use my phone every time if possible.

Questions:

1. Is there degradation using HDMI as an audio stream?

2. How is the NAS interface on the Wiim? Richer than HEOS and MusicCast?

3. Does Roon provide a richer NAS interface?

4. Any other viable alternatives?

Pax,
Richard
 

NiagaraPete

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What type of NAS?

I use Qnap and it has music, video, multiple media apps. I only use the audio its called Qmusic and I quite like it. It does not transcode or downsample like Plex. I have Plex and well with Plexamp. I like Plexamp a lot but the audio is transcoded and down sampled. Apple TV will also have a max bitrate of 48.

I've tried Roon and its great but out of my price range for a single end point.
 

HarmonicTHD

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I finally broke down and bought a Wiim that is on the way (Prefer wired connections for core systems). I hated the HEOS interface on the phone and TV after and was spoiled using Sonos the last several years, especially on my NAS where “primitive” would be a compliment for HEOS.

Currently I am testing a refurbished Marantz NR1200 which has HDMI input so I can stream from my Apple TV, including using Plex which gives me a rich interface for my FLAC files on the NAS. I want to be able to use the TV and system remotes without having to use my phone every time if possible.

Questions:

1. Is there degradation using HDMI as an audio stream?

2. How is the NAS interface on the Wiim? Richer than HEOS and MusicCast?

3. Does Roon provide a richer NAS interface?

4. Any other viable alternatives?

Pax,
Richard
I use Synology and their Media Server. Interface via UPNP/DLNA.

Works like a charm.
 
OP
Narnian

Narnian

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What type of NAS?

I use Qnap and it has music, video, multiple media apps. I only use the audio its called Qmusic and I quite like it. It does not transcode or downsample like Plex. I have Plex and well with Plexamp. I like Plexamp a lot but the audio is transcoded and down sampled. Apple TV will also have a max bitrate of 48.

I've tried Roon and its great but out of my price range for a single end point.
Terra-Master F5-221

I bought it originally as a file store and backup device and was not planning on using it as a media server beyond sharing FLAC files to my Sonos amp so it is likely underpowered. Running RAID 6.

It also supports an iTunes server (not is use) and something called Emby I am not familiar with.

Doesn't Direct Play resolve the trans-coding issue in Plex?
 
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Narnian

Narnian

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I use Synology and their Media Server. Interface via UPNP/DLNA.

Works like a charm.
It works fine in Heos or MuscCast with DLNA as far as playing music, but the interfaces are terrible. There is no way (I can find) to reindex Heos and stuff is often in random orders.
 

NiagaraPete

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Doesn't Direct Play resolve the trans-coding issue in Plex?
That is a good question. Can you find Direct Play in your settings? I don't see it in mine.

"Most Plex Apps allow you to enable or disable Direct Play within their settings. Disabling Direct Play forces every item played on the App to be transcoded. This is useful sometimes if you’re having trouble with media playback on a particular device.

Most people will want to leave the Direct Play setting enabled."
 
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Narnian

Narnian

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That is a good question. Can you find Direct Play in your settings? I don't see it in mine.

"Most Plex Apps allow you to enable or disable Direct Play within their settings. Disabling Direct Play forces every item played on the App to be transcoded. This is useful sometimes if you’re having trouble with media playback on a particular device.

Most people will want to leave the Direct Play setting enabled."
Mine has it on the Apple TV app
1663173281499.png
 

HarmonicTHD

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It works fine in Heos or MuscCast with DLNA as far as playing music, but the interfaces are terrible. There is no way (I can find) to reindex Heos and stuff is often in random orders.
Mmhh. Can’t really help you. The indexing is done by the Synology Media Server and the built in HEOS application of my Denon AVR plays it fine. I use mconnect on iOS however to display cover art and to select and start / stop the songs and control volume and not the HEOS interface.

Afik BubbleUPNP does similar things on Android.
 
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Narnian

Narnian

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Mmhh. Can’t really help you. The indexing is done by the Synology Media Server and the built in HEOS application of my Denon AVR plays it fine. I use mconnect on iOS however to display cover art and to select and start / stop the songs and control volume and not the HEOS interface.

Afik BubbleUPNP does similar things on Android.
On mine HEOS is partially scrambled. The same share works fine in Sonos. I will see how it works with the Wiim when it gets here.

Sonos is using a direct connection to the the share, not DLNA. And it seems the same in HEOS use the NAS DLNA or the Plex DLNA. Plex looks fine itself.

The NAS does not seem to have an indexing service.
 

NiagaraPete

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Narnian

Narnian

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But anything going through Apple TV is limited to 48.
Thanks. You mentioned it earlier which is causing me to shift my thinking. My attempts to try to get a graphical interface on the TV seem to be falling short of my hopes. Back to the drawing board. This will allow me to shift away from my 2-channel AVR solution and concentrate on a streamer/DAC and a simpler amp configuration.
 

Beershaun

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Thanks. You mentioned it earlier which is causing me to shift my thinking. My attempts to try to get a graphical interface on the TV seem to be falling short of my hopes. Back to the drawing board. This will allow me to shift away from my 2-channel AVR solution and concentrate on a streamer/DAC and a simpler amp configuration.
Have been there where you are and it's super disappointing that all the TV streaming devices face so many limitations when playing music. If you have plex and like it id suggest trying the Plex app native on your TV bypassing the Appletv. Alternatively try Rasplex on a raspberry pi. You can run HDMI out to the TV from the pi and USB out to your DAC from the pi. Then control it directly from the Plex app on your phone. Not very elegant and not convenient for the rest of the family but works to get bit perfect audio out while still using the TV GUI
 
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Narnian

Narnian

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Have been there where you are and it's super disappointing that all the TV streaming devices face so many limitations when playing music. If you have plex and like it id suggest trying the Plex app native on your TV bypassing the Appletv. Alternatively try Rasplex on a raspberry pi. You can run HDMI out to the TV from the pi and USB out to your DAC from the pi. Then control it directly from the Plex app on your phone. Not very elegant and not convenient for the rest of the family but works to get bit perfect audio out while still using the TV GUI
Actually I picked up an Inovato Quadra which is a small Linux based device that is compatible with many Raspberry PI apps. There is a GitHub app that lets you monitor what is playing on the WIIM so I am giving that a shot. However I will also look for the Plex client. Thanks for the reminder.
 
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