location of minimserver on network

[DavidHB]

(08-05-2015 20:50)DavidZ Wrote:  I assume minimserver, running on the Zuma, can operate with files residing on the NAS. I'd be surprised if not, but I ask here just to confirm.

It is possible, but Simon, the author of MinimServer, advises very strongly against it. The reason is that the network file access protocol (SMB) imposes a very considerable overhead in this configuration, and performance would be impaired. In other words, MinimServer should be installed on the device on which the music files it accesses actually reside. There is of course no problem in using storage connected to the device by USB; this is what is done when MinimServer is run on devices such as the Raspberry Pi.

(08-05-2015 20:50)DavidZ Wrote:  Is minimserver and the renderer better in terms of sound quality and/or playback functionality on the same or different computers on the network? As I mentioned, with the Rendu (which I plan on auditioning in a few weeks), there is no choice but to separate the 2. But with JPlaystreamer running on a Windows 8 machine there is a choice.

MinimServer can function with Control Points and renderers anywhere on the same local network. I doubt that you would find that sound quality is an issue in either of your alternative configurations (assuming that the network itself is functioning correctly). There is a great deal of discussion and debate about the way networking devices and connectors might or might not have an effect on sound quality, so I am not saying that you could never notice a difference in sound quality between the two configurations, but I guess that it is more likely that you would not hear any difference.

If you run MinimServer and the rendering software on the same device, they will still relate to each other as if they were on the network. There is no particular reason to run a system in this way rather than playing the music files locally, except to test out a streaming system you are developing, perhaps before you buy a player/renderer. This is what I did with my own system, and it had the advantage that, once the player was delivered, it could be connected to the pre-existing network system with the minimum of fuss.

I guess that, if you do buy the Rendu, you will want to run MinimServer on your NAS, possibly with an alternate installation on your computer as well. (There can be more than one instance of MinimServer running on the same network, but not, with odd exceptions I won't go into, on the same device.) My recommendation would be to get this arrangement working from the outset.

David