MinimServer comparison with Synology Media Server

[winxi]

(09-12-2013 20:29)sleask Wrote:  No I was not trying to play anything from audio station at the same time or loaded a play list from it, but this was still happening after I uninstalled audio station, Maybe when I installed audio station It corrupted dsm or minim somehow.

From your above description it is difficult to tell what might have happened exactly. I doubt that the source of the problem is in the combination of Audio Station and MinimServer, as such a problem has never been reported before.

A first step to narrow this down would be to see whether you can reproduce this issue by

1) Doing a fresh installation of the latest DSM
2) Installing Java and MinimServer
3) Installing the Audio Station

[david]

The tagging and browsing system of Minimserver seems quite interesting, compared to Synology's server. However I currently run them in parallel on the same music library and streaming the same file to the same audio equipment results in a more detailed sound from the Synology server.

I disabled transcoding on both servers and most of my library is in ALAC format.

Does anyone have an explanation or solution? I'd like to switch to minim server, but not at the expense of sound quality.

[simoncn]

(16-01-2014 22:25)david Wrote:  The tagging and browsing system of Minimserver seems quite interesting, compared to Synology's server. However I currently run them in parallel on the same music library and streaming the same file to the same audio equipment results in a more detailed sound from the Synology server.

I disabled transcoding on both servers and most of my library is in ALAC format.

Does anyone have an explanation or solution? I'd like to switch to minim server, but not at the expense of sound quality.

Which renderer are you using? If the renderer doesn't have internal buffering, it's possible that buffering differences at the server end could have some effect on sound quality.

The nontranscoded path for streaming a disk file from MinimServer is currently unbuffered. All transcoded paths are buffered. Do you hear the same difference if you enable WAV transcoding on MinimServer and on the Synology server? If these sound the same, this would provide evidence that the difference could be related to the lack of buffering in the nontranscoded path.

[advr]

Minimserver is sounding much better then Synology Media Server:-)
Especially flac to wav conversion done by the NAS

[david]

(16-01-2014 22:32)simoncn Wrote:  

(16-01-2014 22:25)david Wrote:  The tagging and browsing system of Minimserver seems quite interesting, compared to Synology's server. However I currently run them in parallel on the same music library and streaming the same file to the same audio equipment results in a more detailed sound from the Synology server.

I disabled transcoding on both servers and most of my library is in ALAC format.

Does anyone have an explanation or solution? I'd like to switch to minim server, but not at the expense of sound quality.

Which renderer are you using? If the renderer doesn't have internal buffering, it's possible that buffering differences at the server end could have some effect on sound quality.

The nontranscoded path for streaming a disk file from MinimServer is currently unbuffered. All transcoded paths are buffered. Do you hear the same difference if you enable WAV transcoding on MinimServer and on the Synology server? If these sound the same, this would provide evidence that the difference could be related to the lack of buffering in the nontranscoded path.

I am using a Synology DS412+ as a renderer and a Cyrus Stream X2 as a player and just tested again. As the differences are small, my findings might be subjective...
When I switch on transcoding on both sides, the differences are smaller, so I guess this would support your theory indeed.
My order of preference would be:
Synology Media Server ALAC > Minimserver transcoding to WAV > Synology Media Server transcoding to WAV/Minimserver ALAC.

This would seem in line with advr's comment on Minimserver's transcoding quality.

Is there any way to enable buffering with unencoded streams, if only for testing purposes?

I tried if transcoding setting alac:alac would provide this result, but unfortunately it did not work...

thanks for your help!

[simoncn]

(18-01-2014 12:41)david Wrote:  I am using a Synology DS412+ as a renderer and a Cyrus Stream X2 as a player and just tested again. As the differences are small, my findings might be subjective...
When I switch on transcoding on both sides, the differences are smaller, so I guess this would support your theory indeed.
My order of preference would be:
Synology Media Server ALAC > Minimserver transcoding to WAV > Synology Media Server transcoding to WAV/Minimserver ALAC.

This would seem in line with advr's comment on Minimserver's transcoding quality.

Is there any way to enable buffering with unencoded streams, if only for testing purposes?

I tried if transcoding setting alac:alac would provide this result, but unfortunately it did not work...

thanks for your help!

Thanks for this information!

There isn't any way for you to enable buffering for a nontranscoded stream. I'll look into creating a test version that does this.

[Linn_agnostik]

I use both Synology's Media Server and minim on my ds-412+, streaming to a Linn Akurate DS.

I prefer minimserver for:
* its ability to display high-res album artwork on my ipad running lumin
* its ability to more intelligently group albums (sometimes I'd have standard flac, alac and high-res flac of the same album, Synology's Media Server may clump them together, although this has improved as of lately)
* easy transcoding settings (experimenting wav transcoding, sounds slightly more open on my linn setup)
* upnp search

I prefer Synology's Media Server for:
* its ability to be controlled by Iphone and laptop
* it is more stable (my Linn tends to drop out, I haven't found out why yet, nothing in the logs), it seems as if the media server "pushes" more on the streamer, while Lumin+minim seems to try once an then stops trying, dunno if I'm making sense on this?)
* its ability to provide lists, as in "recently added" and "most played" or "recently played"

So both have their uses, Synology's has been rock solid, while I'm having severe difficulties controlling the latest minim from my macbook pro, although this seems to be an issue w the latest java 7 and mavericks..

[simoncn]

(20-01-2014 18:45)Linn_agnostik Wrote:  So both have their uses, Synology's has been rock solid, while I'm having severe difficulties controlling the latest minim from my macbook pro, although this seems to be an issue w the latest java 7 and mavericks..

Can you give more information about exactly what problems you are seeing? I have installed Mavericks and Java 7 on my Macbook Pro and I haven't experienced any problems so far.

[cerobo]

I have got two Synology NAS systems running MinimServer and I have stopped using the Synology Media Server. Whilst it was considerably more difficult to get MinimServer up and running, the end results are superior in a couple of areas.

1. SQ - transcoding from FLAC to wav24 on my Naim ND5XS sounds noticeably better.
2. Handling of album artwork has been flawless on both my Naim and Cyrus streamers. I had previously had some issues with missing artwork using the Synology MS

If only setting up Java (and installing updates) on the NAS was not such a royal PITA!

Overall, I am very happy with MinimServer

Cheers,

Chris

[Linn_agnostik]

(20-01-2014 18:58)simoncn Wrote:  

(20-01-2014 18:45)Linn_agnostik Wrote:  So both have their uses, Synology's has been rock solid, while I'm having severe difficulties controlling the latest minim from my macbook pro, although this seems to be an issue w the latest java 7 and mavericks..

Can you give more information about exactly what problems you are seeing? I have installed Mavericks and Java 7 on my Macbook Pro and I haven't experienced any problems so far.

Hi,
sorry for not replying earlier.
Every time I use minimwatch on my mac to perform a setting (just checking settings out and restarting server works fine), i.e. set transcoding or update minimstreamer it locks up (I get the multi-colored wheel spinning and I get LaunchWatch not responding process in the task manager), no matter what I do. It seems to be java related, as other Java programs can trigger this, when performing a write setting.

I've tried uninstalling oracle's java and reinstalling apple's, but then minimwatch complained about not being able to use java 7. I haven't touched any settings on permissions, as you've previously suggested, so I am at a bit of a loss on what to do. I understand that this is not a minimwatch problem per se, and am thankful for your patience, although I do wish more functions can be performed via http (as re-scan is now available)