Help And Advice Needed

Answered
Conny Tornkrantz

Hi,

For several years I have been using an computer and an external DAC dedicated to my hifi system, all my CD's are ripped in Wav.files and as I am a real nerd I have put in some extra info so a track is "tagged" as:

01. Come Together - The Beatles - Apple 1969

I have been using J River for many years but now I'm looking for something easier to handle my listening As I don't have a computer screen in my listening room I have used Chrome Remote and other third parts solutions to Control my "hifi" computer. Many times there is a lot of problems with passwords and so on and also delays when changing tracks etc. Looking for a better solution I found Bluesound and have the following question. I have my network in the basement of my house and use a router for wireless connection to my computers, there is no way I can use a network Cable as the distance is to long between my incoming network and my upstairs listening room. I wonder if I can use Bluenode as following:

1. Using my ordinary hifi system

2. Having my Music on an external HDD connected to my office computer (almost runnig 24/7) in one room

3. Distribute the music in Wav. format to a Bluenode in my listening room via WiFi

4. Can I still use J River Media as they provides a lot of features as playlists and so on or do I have to change to another software?

5.Is there a way to connect an external 3 TB HDD to Bluenode and have all the music wired to the Bluenode and not distribute it via network?  What I mean in that case I just control the library via WiFi.

Hopefully I have explained this so good so you can understand what I'm looking for English is not my nattive languise and computers is not my best friends so I struggled a lot to explain myself in looking for a better solutions.

Looking forward to any advice and inputs

Conny - Sweden

 

 

 

 

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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Hi Conny

    Let me go rapid-fire for you;

    1. Yes - You want a NODE
    2. Yes - via a network share; https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/360000469948
    3. Yes - but .WAV files are terrible at metadata - Google Kid3 tag editor - not user friendly but excellent for fixing bad WAV file metadata
    4. No - see point 3 - JRiver likes to divert from industry standards when using metadata but you can import existing playlists
    5. Yes - but don't do that - either buy a NAS or connect the drive directly to your router for a better experience (see point 2)

    In short, in Sweden, visit your local Hi-Fi Klubben and they will be happy to help.

  • Conny Tornkrantz

    Hi

    Thank you for your answers. I also think I want a Node, as I want to get rid of the computer hell !! 

    I know that Wav. is terrible at metadata so thats why I added my extra info direct the track as I wrote. So that info is added direct to the track by myself. The reason for this is when I started some ten years ago to put my collection on HDD.  there was a lot of discussion what kind of format to use and as it was hard to know what format that would last, I decided to have my collection as close to the CD sound as possible. I have today about 55 000 tracks and almost every track is "tagged" by myself.  I also use Another software to  catalouge everything so I can search for a specific year or a record label or artists by tracks or albums.(Ok I know  I am a bit of nerdy)

    Number five of my question was that it might not work to distibute the big wave files,  via my router as the router is in the basement and the hifi system is uppstairs. Why do you not recommend this kind of setup? If I stop using J River can I use your app to create playlists like a dedicated soul list a blues list and so on?

    I'm gonna visit my local Hifi Klubben Store, but I have like one hour trip by car to the nearest shop so this is the quickest way to get some know how. I did try to check out the Bluesound app but as I not have the Node there was no way to check out for playlists and so on.

    Thank you again for your reply.

    Conny the man with a lot of questions

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  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Hi Conny

    A USB is not meant as a permanent storage solution so it is not a great experience. Here are details as to why you want to consider a more permanent solution; https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/articles/201158077

    Again you can connect the USB drive to the router so everything on your network can connect to it.

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  • Conny Tornkrantz

    Hi again,

    Ok, I went to the store yesterday and got me an Node2i with an option to return it if I don't like it. So far I have tried it and think I got hang of how everything works, right now I've just tried it with a Music folder on my computer, but I will try to connect a HDD to my router as I don't have an NAS (yet).

    I do have some worries, as I have 2000+ albums holding some 55 000 tracks. I use EAC for ripping to wav. files and as I been using JRiver Mediacenter I have been tagging them and added covers in that software I might say that I have scanned every cover myself to JPG files.  I use my own Scans to get good copies and the right cover to my albums.

    What I can't get to work is that when adding a folder to Bluesound just half of the albums load the coverart. I tried to reindex the files, reload covers but nothing works. I also tried the optimize artwork with the same result. 

    1. How do I solve this coverart problem? Right now this is my biggest concerns at the end of the day it is the Music that matters and an album is not an album if the coverart is missing.

    2. What does your software do to the file when reindexing ?

    3. I did a playlist with four tracks just to have a look of how it works, but when the four tracks have been played there is Another song wich I didn't add playing, that track is not to find in the playlist.

    4.  I have some distans between the router, the Node and my computer the wifi signal shows that it is red wich means the the signal is poor, still the sound is very good. I will try to get a better signal but what is the structure? Does the info gives the signal between the router and the Node or from my computer to the Node? 

    Otherwise, I am very impressed with the overall sound and how user friendly it works comparing to my older setup with a computer, external DAC. and J river. 

     

     

     

     

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  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Rapid fire round again

    1) https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/360000368827

    2) Nothing - we mount as read only

    3) https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/360000204487

    4) https://www.bluesound.com/network101

    Also, check out our New to BluOS tutorial

    Glad you are enjoying #LivingHiFI. You can also contact our support crew by selecting Help, Send Support Request in the App and they will be happy to help.

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  • Conny Tornkrantz

    After some hardworking on my new system I found out what I have missed. I now have figured out how to connect my HDD to the router, so that problem is solved.
    I have a Rolling Stones collection with both stereo and mono versions and I found out that the stereo cover was loaded while the mono was missing. There has been about seven years between those ripps and Scans and I have changed both scanner and computer since then but comparing the size between the covers the stereo one that was loaded was much smaller than the mono version, so that is a no brainer just do a resize I might take some time but okey thats the way it is.
    But my albums are tagged in JRiver it is very hard to remove those tags (at least as wave files) I have downzized the cover removed all tags added the smaller version and re tagged it, but it still not shows up so I have to find a solution to this or a new software to tag my albums at least those with cover problems. If anyone has a solution to this please let me know.
    While testing i disconnected my HDD and used just a USB stick (just one USB port on my router) I reconnected My HDD to make the albums show up I have to re index them again is this right or have I done something wrong? There was no Changes done to the files on the HDD I just removed it and reconnected it again.
    So I'm on my way to solve all my problems it just takes a lot of time

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