[HiFiRebel]

I have plenty of music on my local storage. Both on my PC and my NAS. I am oldschool, so I never considered sending the music over internet anywhere. I usually listen to music sitting in from on my PC (which is my workstation and also entertainment centre).

However, I recently started streaming my music from my NAS to my phone when out and about. Even bought better ear buds for my phone for that reason. My NAS is QNAP, so I use their app called Qmusic. In theory it works great. I have access to all of my music on my phone. So when I'm at the gym or cycling, I have access to all of it. Also I can connect my phone (S23 Ultra) to my car via Android Auto and can listen to all my music in my car too.

That's great, isn't? Well, it would be great if it worked well. However, the app is clunky. The music stops from time to time, starts then stops, sometimes it loses connection to the NAS altogether and I have to log back in (which takes a minute or so, not great when you are cycling). The gap between tracks can be a good few seconds before it loads the next track and when signal is spotty it can be measured in minutes, etc. It's just isn't a great experience.

When I was buying the NAS, streaming music (or any other media) wasn't my intention, so the NAS is not great for streaming. It's quite slow and old. So upgrading NAS would be one way to solve that.

I have a very fast fibre internet connection at home (700 / 70 MBps) so that shouldn't be a problem. NAS is connected directly to the internet (via switch) with ethernet cable.

I'm not really interested in streaming music from streaming services. I just want to listen to my own music while on the go without having to log around additional player + storage (I have lots of music).

What are other ways I could improve the experience? Would buying a dedicated streamer (and connecting it to the NAS) solve the issue? I know nothing about streamers at all. Can streamers actually send your own music to your phone via internet (not wifi, I'm talking when I'm out of the house)?

I know people buy streamers because they want to stream music FROM the internet services (like Spotify and the like), but I want to steam my own music from my NAS TO my phone when I'm away from home. Can streamers do that?

EDIT: Something like this for example (it seems to be getting rave reviews)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eversolo-DMP-A6-Streamers-Amplifier-Touchscreen/dp/B0C48P4TQT

 

[msing539]

Have you tried Plex? With a large music library, it will take some time to scan and create metadata, but it's a solid experience.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Have you tried Plex? With a large music library, it will take some time to scan and create metadata, but it's a solid experience.

I haven't. I never used any music services at all. Never felt the need. I'm oldschool and always kept everything locally. Does the Plex need any hardware?

 

[CrocCap]

deleted

 

[gimmeheadroom]

You might have security considerations so consider not only the server, but whether you need a VPN, MAC filtering etc.

An open server is a good way to lose your box.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Plex is a music server app and needs a computer or nas to act as the server, Plex on NAS devices Ive used plex for a few years and its pretty good, has a few hiccups, but overall good. Plex is good because it can be played on desktop, phone, or directly through an internet browser, no need to install the app to listen. And plex can also host TV/movie files on your system.
There is also JellyFin, an free open source alternative to Plex. I havent tried JellyFin yet, but probably will give it a shot soon.

The thing is, I'm not sure if installing a new software on old hardware will solve my issues. That NAS is old. And even 8 or so years ago when I was buying it, it was considered slow and low end. It was only meant to be a storage device and for that it's enough.

It's 1.7 GHz dual core CPU with only 1GB of DDR3 RAM.

It might be too slow to act as media server.

You might have security considerations so consider not only the server, but whether you need a VPN, MAC filtering etc.

An open server is a good way to lose your box.

I'm sorry I'm not sure I follow. When you say 'open server' what do you mean? It's connected to the internet, but I only use QNAP software on it. Would that be considered as open server?


As a side note, I'm old and my knowledge of streaming is very very limited. So apologies in advance if I don't understand exactly what is being said to me.

 

[Lindholdt]

I second the opinion to try out Plex. I use it for my FLAC collection on my very old Synology Nas from 2013 and it works very well. I only tested it locally so far, but I've been very surprised of how well it works, even on old hardware like mine.

 

[HiFiRebel]

I second the opinion to try out Plex. I use it for my FLAC collection on my very old Synology Nas from 2013 and it works very well. I only tested it locally so far, but I've been very surprised of how well it works, even on old hardware like mine.

Thank you! I'll try to install Plex on my NAS to see how it works.

 

[msing539]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Roseval]

I wonder if your NAS is to slow simply because streaming audio isn't that demanding. CD quality is 1411 kbits/s. You might try it at home with the phone connected to the WiFi. If you have dropouts, it might indeed be the NAS. With the phone over 4G, it might simply be a matter of a pour reception. If so, a new NAS won't help you.

Cycling from Amsterdam to Florence, I had a lot of dropouts using Google Maps. Some regions are simply badly covered by GSM.
Streaming audio over the internet means you do have to open a port on the router. This is a security risk. Maybe you use a VPN but if you don't, better check the security implications of any streaming services on your NAS.

As you have a S23 Ultra, to the best of my knowledge it has a slot for a MicroSD.
I have a 1 TB microSD with all of my audio. No security risk and totally independent. Can even listen to it without Internet or GSM (airplane). Cheap and simple.

 

[HiFiRebel]

Let us know how it goes.

No problem. It will probably have to wait until weekend. I need to catch up on my work.

Having said that, I'm thinking about buying Eversolo DMP-A6 streamer. If only I could understand what does it do and would it work the way I want it to work. I know nothing about streamers. I understand most people use streamers to stream music from the internet over stuff like Spotify and send the sound to their speakers / headphones, etc., but I want to stream music from my NAS to my phone when I'm on the go. I can't seem to find info if that's possible with a streamer.

Also I'm not sure how would that integrate with my current system. I play music from my PC, sound goes to my DAC, then to headphone amp (Emotiva A-100 Basx), there it gets split and goes to my active speakers (passthrough) and to my headphones (via the amp). I don't want to use the streamer as my player. I use Foobar 2000 on my PC and am happy with it. I just want a device that would stream all of my music to my phone via internet.

There are two reasons why I'm thinking about buying the Eversolo streamer. One - it has a good DAC. At the moment my DAC is Topping D50. It's an OK DAC, but nothing special. So if that streamer would work the way I want it to work, that would be killing two birds with one stone. The second reason, is I like the look of it and it would look good on my desk

 

[HiFiRebel]

I wonder if your NAS is to slow simply because streaming audio isn't that demanding. CD quality is 1411 kbits/s. You might try it at home with the phone connected to the WiFi. If you have dropouts, it might indeed be the NAS. With the phone over 4G, it might simply be a matter of a pour reception. If so, a new NAS won't help you.

Cycling from Amsterdam to Florence, I had a lot of dropouts using Google Maps. Some regions are simply badly covered by GSM.
Streaming audio over the internet means you do have to open a port on the router. This is a security risk. Maybe you use a VPN but if you don't, better check the security implications of any streaming services on your NAS.

As you have a S23 Ultra, to the best of my knowledge it has a slot for a MicroSD.
I have a 1 TB microSD with all of my audio. No security risk and totally independent. Can even listen to it without Internet or GSM (airplane). Cheap and simple.

Thank you! When I'm at home and listen to music via QNAP app on my phone, the dropouts are less frequent, but navigating through folders still takes time. When I click on a folder I want to open, it takes a couple of seconds. If folder is full of stuff a few seconds. Then backing up, another few seconds, new folder, another few seconds, etc.

And even at home the gap between tracks is a few seconds long before next track gets loaded / buffered.

Yes, GSM signal is definitely one of the problems I'm facing. I usually get 5G signal though. For example yesterday at the gym. I get 5G signal there. For the first 45 min of my workout everything was ok, apart from a few second gap between tracks, but then suddenly I got plenty of dropouts. Music would stop, then start again after a few seconds, then stop again after a few seconds. Then I would get a beep on my headphones letting me know that the music stopped. I would have to close the QNAP app, fire it again, wait for it to log back to my NAS (30 seconds or so), then I would have to navigate to the folder I was in (a few seconds each click), then press play, wait another 30 seconds for music to start playing. And then I get dropouts again and then it disconnects again. The last 15 min of workout I was on the app constantly trying to start music (phone was displaying 5G connection). Quite frustrating really.

S23 Ultra doesn't have a MicroSD slot and even if it did, I have 2 SIM cards installed, so I wouldn't be able to use it.

EDIT: I have VPN service, but don't use it on my NAS. I didn't know there was a security risk when streaming off it. I need to look into it and see if I can use my current VPN with my NAS. Thank you for pointing it out.

 

[msing539]

No problem. It will probably have to wait until weekend. I need to catch up on my work.

Having said that, I'm thinking about buying Eversolo DMP-A6 streamer. If only I could understand what does it do and would it work the way I want it to work. I know nothing about streamers. I understand most people use streamers to stream music from the internet over stuff like Spotify and send the sound to their speakers / headphones, etc., but I want to stream music from my NAS to my phone when I'm on the go. I can't seem to find info if that's possible with a streamer.

Also I'm not sure how would that integrate with my current system. I play music from my PC, sound goes to my DAC, then to headphone amp (Emotiva A-100 Basx), there it gets split and goes to my active speakers (passthrough) and to my headphones (via the amp). I don't want to use the streamer as my player. I use Foobar 2000 on my PC and am happy with it. I just want a device that would stream all of my music to my phone via internet.

There are two reasons why I'm thinking about buying the Eversolo streamer. One - it has a good DAC. At the moment my DAC is Topping D50. It's an OK DAC, but nothing special. So if that streamer would work the way I want it to work, that would be killing two birds with one stone. The second reason, is I like the look of it and it would look good on my desk

Streamers connect on your network and pull the music directly from a local NAS or online service. Then they send it to whatever they're connected to, which could be a DAC, AMP, or some like this one you noted can send via Bluetooth to a phone, tablet, etc. But they're local devices. I've never seen one that will do what you're asking... to push music to a remote on-to-go location. The QNAP is such a device, though. When I'm traveling, I stream entire movies from Plex, providing WiFi or cellular coverage is good on my phone/tablet.

 

[Roseval]

Thank you! When I'm at home and listen to music via QNAP app on my phone, the dropouts are less frequent, but navigating through folders still takes time. When I click on a folder I want to open, it takes a couple of seconds. If folder is full of stuff a few seconds. Then backing up, another few seconds, new folder, another few seconds, etc.

That sounds indeed like streaming from a slow server...

S23 Ultra doesn't have a MicroSD slot

I stand corrected, my humble A54 does, so I expected this flagship to do the same. You might ponder a dongle (USB adapter) but it will block the USB-C.
Maybe a cloud storage?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I would bet money on slow comms in between. An old server is plenty fast enough for a single audio stream.