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[LP Audiophile]

Hello:

I am not sure if I have MC 25 set up properly to control CDs ripped to my NAS and then directed by MC 25 to play to a streamer and DAC then preamp and power amp to speakers. I have Minimserve on my NAS and MC on a Windows 10 laptop.

I can play music (with no issues it seems), but why does MC's volume control work? This suggests to me that MC is acting as some kind of preamp when I don't want MC to do anything other than tell the NAS to stream a signal to a streamer. The volume sensitivity says to me that the signal is somehow flowing through MC?

Secondly, MC seems to jam up a lot, but perhaps this is normal. If I tell MC to play a track it might take 5-10 seconds for music to start. Other times a chosen track can play almost instantly? Is there anything I can do to minimize the time?

Thanks!

[Scobie]

The volume control is pretty granular and can be taken out of circuit if you like.

Have a look at the Wiki entry for options and best practice:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Volume

[LP Audiophile]

Thanks for this.

I have a high end pre-amp for volume control and so I definitely want to take the MC volume control out of the circuit.

I noticed that when my streamer is selected under Playing Now (which is how I always listen to music) there is no disable volume choice under Player/Volume. There is a disable volume option when I select the default player (i.e. my laptop).

Using MC as a DLNA controller only (which is what I believe I am doing when I play from my NAS to a streamer) should disable the volume, I would have thought. This is what confuses me, but maybe this is just an academic question not worth sweating about unless there is some other way to disable the volume in controller only mode. Does this question make sense?

And again, in controller only mode, is it normal to have 5 or 10 second delays when MC is directing a NAS to stream to a DAC through ethernet? I have tried BubbleUpnP with a tablet (as opposed to MC on a windows 10 laptop, which I much prefer) but at least the response with the tablet is pretty much instantaneous. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks for much for your help.

[AndrewFG]

Using MC as a DLNA controller only (which is what I believe I am doing when I play from my NAS to a streamer) should disable the volume, I would have thought. This is what confuses me, but maybe this is just an academic question not worth sweating about unless there is some other way to disable the volume in controller only mode. Does this question make sense?

When MC is acting as a UPNP Control Point, it is in fact NOT doing anything with its internal volume control. It simply serves the original file to the renderer unadulterated as-is. HOWEVER, when (in this mode) you click on MC’s volume slider, what it DOES do is send a SetVolume() or SetMute() command to the renderer. And the renderer will normally respond to such SetX commands by adjusting IT’s output volume accordingly.

[AndrewFG]

And again, in controller only mode, is it normal to have 5 or 10 second delays when MC is directing a NAS to stream to a DAC through ethernet? I have tried BubbleUpnP with a tablet (as opposed to MC on a windows 10 laptop, which I much prefer) but at least the response with the tablet is pretty much instantaneous. Any thoughts on that?

When you say “directing a NAS to stream to a DAC through ethernet” you need to be clearer about what you are really doing. There are two ways (at least) for MC to get a file off a NAS and onto a renderer..

1) the NAS is acting as a file server; MC includes a folder files on the NAS into its library; MC fetches the files from the folder and serves them to the renderer

2) the NAS is (also) acting as a Digital Media Server; MC browses the Content Directory of the DMS; MC tells the DMS to serve the files to the renderer.

I suspect you are using 2) above. That is not the optimal solution. It can lead to delays such as you mention, and you will get worse integration of track meta data into MC’s browsing experience. I strongly recommend that you change to 1) above.

PS the only possible benefit of 2) is that once MC has told the DMS to server to send the track, you could turn off the PC on which MC is running (since it has nothing more to do). However as I said before, I am convinced you will get a better experience with 1)..

[LP Audiophile]

I have a lot to learn! Thanks for your response and your patience.

I don't really know how to tell the difference between 1) and 2) other than I suspect (as you do) that I am using 2) since music keeps playing (at least until the end of the track) when I turn off my controller-laptop. This feature has no value to me so I will take your advice that 1) is the better way to go.

Now the question is, how do I get to a 1) setupt? I can easily start again with a fresh mc download, but how do I set up the NAS as a file server? I have minimserver running on my QNAP NAS - perhaps this is what is forcing me onto scenario 2)? Are there directions somewhere as to how to set things up like your scenario 1) below?

Thanks for your comment on the volume control. I will not touch the volume control in the future. My goal is optimal sound given the investment I have made in my stereo setup.

Thanks again!

[Scobie]

If for example you have a QNAP NAS, it has its own DLNA media server - as I imagine most others do as well. This is for users who want to use the native NAS serving functionality without employing a 3rd part tool such as MC.

If you are intending to use JRiver MC as your Media Server, you should disable the DLNA functionality on your NAS, as you don't need it and it will just chew up resources and also confuse the issue. Really all you need it for is to store your files, MC will do all the heavy lifting serving them to your renderer.

[LP Audiophile]

If 1) is the best setup, how do I set up the NAS as a file server? I guess I am not clear on the difference between a file server and a media server.

At the moment I have a QNAP NAS (which indeed has its own media server), but I am using MinimServer as the server, because someone recommended it to me.

So basically to convert from scenario 2) to 1), all I need to do is not use MinimServer? How do I set up the library (in other words access the NAS) without that? Are there directions somewhere? I think I am just bogged down with the vocabulary and frankly the options that MC provides.

Thanks!

[LP Audiophile]

OK, I think I have sorted this out. I am not sure I can explain it, but basically I loaded a new library directly from the NAS, to replace my current library which is a DLNA MinimServer library, if that makes sense. So far MC seems much more responsive, so I am hoping that is all I need.

Thanks for your help!

[Scobie]

Yes it can be a bit confronting, but basically if you want to use MC, you do not need MinimServer.

Functionally at a high level for what you need they do the same thing, but MC is specialised software so is much more mature, supported, reliable and fully formed. MinimServer will act as a media server, but is fairly rudimentary.

Essentially to act as a file server, the NAS just needs to store the files and make them available to MC to import into its library.

Then MC will act as the Media Server and broker (make those files available as multimedia content) to your DAC. So your setup will be, NAS as file server (the actual files are stored here), and MC as Media Server - it communicates with your DAC.

To link the 2, you need to import files from the file server into your Media Server Library. The files themselves are not imported, but their metadata is used to create a library on MC. MC will still point to the NAS for the actual file content.

So install MC on your Laptop - sound like you've done this - access the actual file structure on the NAS, and use the import function in MC to populate your library.

[LP Audiophile]

I think I get now.

Thanks!

[AndrewFG]

Your last step should be to disable Minim server; just to confirm that you do indeed have my option 1), the all MC solution, running.

PS apropos the volume controls: since MCs volume slider causes volume changes on the renderer, this tells us that your renderer does have a digital volume control in it. So “not touching MCs volume slider” will not necessarily give you the best sound quality. To do that, you should set the digital volume control to 100% and then use your analog volume knob to reduce it to a comfortable level. However, I personally would not get too hung up on this since digital volume controls nowadays are usually pretty good.

[LP Audiophile]

I will disengage MinimServer to make sure I have the all MC solution.

I will also set the digital volume control to 100%. My renderer is a SoTM streamer, which, as you say, must have a volume control in it since it responds to changes in the volume control at the MC level. The manual for my streamer doesn't say anything about a volume control, but SoTM's documentation is generally pretty weak, so that doesn't mean much. My main concern is that I am not using either MC or the streamer as the "preamp" since I have a very high quality analog preamp in the path already. So I think that is fine.

In the 1) setup, which I think is where I am at now, the password for the NAS is entered into the Network section of MC. I find though, that the laptop on which MC is loaded, also has to have the NAS password entered in order for MC to find the files. Does that sound correct? I would have thought MC has nothing to do with the windows 10 file manager and there would be no need to have the network drive open on the laptop for MC to have access to the NAS files.

Also, will any tag editing I do with my new scenario 1) library setup be preserved in the NAS files themselves or is the tag editing just preserved at the library level. If the latter, what is the best setup for tag editing?

Thanks!

[AndrewFG]

In the 1) setup, which I think is where I am at now, the password for the NAS is entered into the Network section of MC. I find though, that the laptop on which MC is loaded, also has to have the NAS password entered in order for MC to find the files. Does that sound correct? I would have thought MC has nothing to do with the windows 10 file manager and there would be no need to have the network drive open on the laptop for MC to have access to the NAS files.

I think that any authentication for file access would need to be done at Windows level, and I cannot imagine why, what, or where any authentication might be needed in MC. Could you please explain exactly where in MC you think you are entering such? Perhaps a screenshot would help us.

[LP Audiophile]

Maybe I have it backwards. I always assumed the password should be in MC, not Windows, but it sounds like it should be the other way around.

Anyway, I am entering my NAS User name and password, for no useful purpose it sounds like, into MC under Tools/Options/Media Network and then the fifth line or function is "Read Only Authentication: User Name and Password".

[AndrewFG]

Anyway, I am entering my NAS User name and password, for no useful purpose it sounds like, into MC under Tools/Options/Media Network and then the fifth line or function is "Read Only Authentication: User Name and Password".

Nope. That setting has nothing to do with your case. (It is for allowing remote other instances of MC or it’s family of app to talk to that instance of MC).

In Windows Explorer try to browse the music files on your NAS (e.g. \\nas-name\folder-name) to view the files. It is possible that Windows might ask you to enter user name and password credentials; if you do that and check ”remember credentials”, then you can point MC to include the same \\nas-name\folder-name in its library without further need to enter those credentials again.

[LP Audiophile]

Great! Password question resolved.

I have a tagging question that got lost in the shuffle. I will repeat it here.

Will any tag editing I do with my new scenario 1) library setup be preserved in the NAS files themselves or is the tag editing just preserved at the library level? If the latter, what is the best setup for tag editing?

Thanks!

[Scobie]

With tagging it can be set up to do either.

Have a look at the topic on the Wiki, gives a good explanation:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Tagging

[LP Audiophile]

Excellent, thanks!