A couple more points as regards the use of a NAS may be of relevance:
You can use iTunes for importing and curating music (I use a Mac superdrive for ripping), and use a different music player (I use Minimserver as noted above). It is best to store the complete iTunes library and all the associated files on the NAS to avoid the possibility of any failure of hardware or software causing a disconnect between the media and the metadata library files.
I found the Mconnect control app was useless for my needs as I could not find a way of displaying both the album and artist names. As I use the ‘album’ field for classical music ‘work’ in the meta data for my library I could not distinguish between many performances of the same work by different artists. This may irrelevant for you.
I’m a backup nut. Have all important music on iMac and MacBook, each with TimeMachine backups on external HDs plus additional HDs stored in a safety deposit box that I exchange annually.
Not having a good time with Mcontrol, every time the phone goes to sleep I have to start over the entire process (11 taps plus at least one slide) to get to the top of my favorites. All that to replace a USB cable that frankly doesn’t bother me.
Don’t want to spend $20 and add more confusion/fuss to use iPhone versus USB cable to access my iTunes library.
You can set your iphone not to go in sleep mode (however 11 taps to get on top of your favorites would not be necessary). Not a fan of mControl either, only use mControlHD on i-Pad whenever i want to listen to fully unfolded MQA. Prefer BubbleUPnP on Android by far.
You can run Minimserver on your mac to access your library but BubbleUPnP only runs on Android devices so you should try other alternatives to Mconnect that run on Apple devices. Before I bought an Android tablet (~$100) I used the Audionet control app which did the job OK but without as much detail of the metadata as BubbleUPnP:
Don’t own a Mac laptop or desktop so can’t tell you if they are different, but on my Network mControl sees every computer that is up and running and I can play from their hard drives to the Bridge II. I have no additional software loaded on any of them. They are all allowed however to share media files across the network.
Just wanted to confirm that you are able to connect to your DSJ and get playback to the Bridge II?
If you have any further trouble please reach out to me at service@psaudio.com and we’ll get you taken care of.
Thanks,
Plug it into your network (or wireless), plug in the digital coax cable (RCA) or USB to feed your DSJ. Download the control app (Tunebridge) to your apple compurter(s). Point the MMS1e to your iTunes library. It can store music locally, or use your iTunes library, or both.
The control app can also access streaming services like Tidal and Spotify as well as digital radio stations.
So simple my wife can use it, and it is pretty much bullet proof, figuratively speaking. Works as a native Creston or Control 4 device if you have such a control system.
How about for a start we help him learn how to use the perfectly good streaming device he owns, the Bridge II inside his DSJ and once that’s done then maybe move on to something else. A start would be to buy a new or re-certified tablet from Newegg, Best Buy, Walmart or somewhere. It will all be much easier to learn if he can see what he’s doing.
Now you’re getting close to answering one of my original questions:
So my question is what attributes should I be looking for in a music server?
Which connection into DSJ would be ideal? Is clean (linear) power a huge consideration? Should I avoid multiple boxes/conversions (would think so)? If ethernet is the best connection should I avoid using the switch (two ports on the server)?
In an email with an honest server designer/seller yesterday was told that music servers are simply NASs and if functioning properly: transmitting bits, and those bits arrive on time (which almost every NAS/music server does) that they all function alike. Further he dismissed claims from reviewers of differences in sound between units. Even if the NAS timing is somewhat off, most DACs (I assume DSJ is one) have buffers to correct. So sound quality is strictly a function of the DAC.
He suggested sticking with my MacBook setup. I’ve had a few brave souls try to tell me the same along the way, but was struck by this advice coming from a designer/seller.
My unsolicited $0.02: Explore all of the options that intrigue you and that you can afford; and let YOUR ears make the decision. You are going to pick up a lot of hyperbole and strong opinions here and elsewhere during your journey. Have fun with it and let us know what sounds good to YOU. FWIW, IME/IMO most people who espouse the dogma that bits are bits are literally correct but almost never adequately explain or take into account all of the the other pieces and parts in the audio/digital chain that can impact what leaves a DAC as an analogue signal to be amplified and output to the speakers. It seems to me that in the real world, it is almost impossible to have different systems “just” passing along identical bits. I am curious what others might have to say about this perspective. Cheers.
Have heard the bits are bits versus the mystic wonderment themes. As a retired engineer, I believe in science, but rebuff those who teach it as something to be blindly accepted as fact. True science is logical asking and investigating the “why’s” of the physical world. It has yet, and probably never will, have all the answers. But the mystics have precious few hard and fast answers either.
No argument here. For the record though ()/just to be clear: The “other pieces and parts” I referred to that can impact the signal chain was not a reference to The Mystical. Rather, other tangible influences (forms of noise primarily) that are well known. (Not saying you meant to imply anything else; but wanted you, and others, to know that I am agnostic, bordering on hyper-skeptical, with regard to most of the “mystical”.) Anyway again, I hope you will let us know where you land in terms of the pile of kit you decide to cobble together and keep us posted along the way. Regards.
Mcontrol is very finicky. Takes 11 clicks and entering artist name to get to get to Tidal album of choice and then its unreliable, so not willing to spend $20 to access my iTunes files. But MQA via ethernet (Mcontrol) is a sizable step up from the same Tidal album from my MacBook setup (more detail/highs). So I’m excited again to try a (MQA compatible) server.
Note that I and my entire little audio club have been luddites, having never tried hi-res files. Innuos Mk3 servers reportedly offer automatic online downloads.
)/just to be clear: The “other pieces and parts” I referred to that can impact the signal chain was not a reference to The Mystical. Rather, other tangible influences (forms of noise primarily) that are well known. (Not saying you meant to imply anything else; but wanted you, and others, to know that I am agnostic, bordering on hyper-skeptical, with regard to most of the “mystical”.) Anyway again, I hope you will let us know where you land in terms of the pile of kit you decide to cobble together and keep us posted along the way. Regards.