Have your say & ask the experts

After much debate regarding music server options, I am now looking to set up the following system:

Music Server = Sonos BU130 package serving both the main living area (via the Onk 875) and also the kitchen/dining rooms.

Media Client = PS3 (for photos and video streaming)

NAS storage device = ?????

I'd appreciate a bit of advice regarding which NAS to get. I've had a look at the QNAPs and Buffalo products but I'm still not sure.

My basic requirements (as I see them anyway) is that the NAS needs to be DNLA compliant for connection to the PS3. It should also be as energy efficient as possible. I don't want to have to leave it running at full power constantly, so either a wireless activated start-up or a very low powered standby option would be ideal. This is a major consideration for me and the reason I don't want to go down the PC/Mac route.

Any suggestions?

AFAIK our Tom Parsons is working on some testing of NAS devices for media storage. Watch this space for more information - I'll try to get him to post some preliminary findings. 

That would be great.

Thanks Andrew.

I currently run a Buffalo Terastation which runs Twonky Media (I think it comes pre-installed these days but I bought mine a long time ago!). Works great with the PS3. It's certainly quiet, but not sure on the idle power consumption - it doesn't have a sleep mode as it were, though my guess is the hard drives spin down when not in use.

[quote user="professorhat"]I currently run a Buffalo Terastation which runs Twonky Media (I think it comes pre-installed these days but I bought mine a long time ago!). Works great with the PS3. It's certainly quiet, but not sure on the idle power consumption - it doesn't have a sleep mode as it were, though my guess is the hard drives spin down when not in use.[/quote] Cheers for that Prof.

The Terastation is definitely one of the preferred options so far. However, as you say I don't think it has a sleep mode as such, but I would hope that they power consumption would drop considerably if it wasn't in use.

I have been comparing it with the Qnap TS-109 II which states on its website.........."With its noise-free design and outstanding heat dissipation technology, TS-109 Pro II can run 24x7 silently at low power consumption of only 14.4W. It is undoubtedly an ideal choice for small business looking for a quiet and energy-saving storage application."

Do you (or anybody else out there) have any experience of using one of these? Are they any good?

I currently use the QNAP TS-101 (old less well specced version of the 109) and find it to be excellent. It is a fan-less design and so is essentially silent other than the hard-drive noise when in use (which is itself fairly quiet).

Don't use the DNLA server functionality though it is installed and works fine from what I have heard. I'm running slimserver on it and it works a treat with my squeezebox 3.

I did originally buy a Buffalo linkstation which I guess may be similar to the terastation but found that it had a very annoying fault (a design fault not a faulty unit). When running twonky on it it seemed to continually scan for new media and I couldn't find anyway to turn this off. What this resulted in was continual hard-drive activity even when not in active use for playing music. This, combined with the internal fan made it too noisy to use.

The QNAP is silent enough to be located in the same room where you will be listening to music. I have mine powerline networked to another room but would happily locate it in the sitting room if necessary.

Though not features I use, the QNAP boxes also offer web-server and bit-torrent client functionality which may be of use to you.

Thanks for the feedback James.

The linkstation was another option that I have looked at, so its good to hear of your experiences with them.

Andrew, do we have an ETA on the prelim results you mentioned earlier in this thread? Not being pushy, but I was hoping to splash the cash in the next few days. :-)

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]

AFAIK our Tom Parsons is working on some testing of NAS devices for media storage. Watch this space for more information - I'll try to get him to post some preliminary findings. 

[/quote]

Andrew,

Any news on these findings?

Also, are you including the Linkstation Mini in your testing. Had a look on the Buffalo website yesterday and it looks pretty good.

Hi - I'm thinking of doing something similar and have just started doing a bit of research and have a few questions, so please excuse the piggy-backing on this thread!

I've been looking at the Buffalo TeraStation Live and it seems to tick all the NAS and data security boxes for me except for it not having wireless networking built in.  My problem is that my wireless router has to be in the hallway (dodgy telephone extension wiring in my house means it has to be at the BT master socket), and there is NO WAY the wife will have one of these boxes sitting out in full view.  I have a PC tucked away upstairs and this is connected wirelessly to the network.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I could solve this networking issue?

I found an Acer NAS with wireless networking capability (Acer Aspire Easystore) and it seems to be pretty similar to the Buffalo NAS, but am not sure if it is as good.  At around £400 I don't want to buy the wrong one! Does anyone have any experience of the Acer NAS?

All this assumes, of course, that wireless streaming of my music will be a good enough alternative to a decent CD player!  Any views on this also gratefully received.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

 

TheBadger:

All this assumes, of course, that wireless streaming of my music will be a good enough alternative to a decent CD player!  Any views on this also gratefully received.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

 

I have had my squeezebox duet for a while now, and I can say that FLAC lossless files will stream perfectly for the most part over wifi (obviously if you are using the network for other things you may cause dropouts). I have since gone with a wired (cat5 cable) connection however, which gives perfect results.
The squeezebox is connected to my external DAC (Harmony DA9), and the quality is excellent. It is better than the quality of my old Arcam Alpha 7SE CD player, and it is still better when the CD player is also connected to the DAC.
Now that could be down to a not-so-great digital output on the CD player, I don't know, however, I am extemely happy with the sound I am getting.

I did a demo today using a Cyrus 8vs2 and CD8X CD player with the Sonos wireless set up.  First off, very impressed with the Sonos set up. 

Main point re quality: you may be right about the CD Player: we did a comparison of a ripped album versus its CD equivalent with about a 1/2 second lag between them.  Switching between each version there was practically no difference other than there being a little more sparkle in the higher ranges from the CD.  To be honest, the difference was pretty small and really only noticeable because of the way we did the comparison.  Either way I would have been happy.... going to be ordering....

Was the NAS testing Tom Parsons worked on ever published/posted? I cannot seem to find anything relating to it on the site or in the last few Mags

It was in the August issue - reviews here.

Take a look at Tranquil PC's website, not sure of they are DNLA, they are however low energy and fanless, not the cheapest, but worth a look.

 

Craig