Best way for playback of local files with Network Bridge/Mosaic

I am interested in adding a Network Bridge to my system. Current digital playback is via Audirvana+ on a Mac mini with files stored on a Synology 416 NAS.

What does dCS view as the most superior hardware/method of getting local files served to the Network Bridge? I am open to any options and am certainly not married to the Mac or Synology.

Further, I do not care for the Roon interface and would expect to be using Mosaic.

I believe I have read it is possible to run minimserver on a Synology NAS then send the files straight from there to the Bridge but this sounds like a less than ideal way.

Thanks for any help!

Given the hardware you have and since Roon is off the table then your best bet is to load MinimServer onto your Synology and access your music library with that.

MinimServer is available in the Synology Package manager so it’s an easy, one-click installation. You’ll also want to download and install MinimWatch onto a PC or Mac on the same network to manage the MinimServer configuration remotely.

EDIT: after re-reading your post this comment struck me:

This is THE ideal way and is our reference configuration.

Thanks for the response.

If MinimServer on a NAS is your reference configuration then it is certainly good enough for me!

Hello Mr Papanikolas,

I got a network bridge as a demo just a few hours ago and I have to say wow! The sound quality is incredible! I am picking my jaw from the floor every time I put on a different song on!
So far I used Roon but I would like to try mosaic as well. Its working ok with my qobuz but the bridge cannot see my files on my NAS. I installed MinimServer on my Synology NAS and it is up and running, but the NB can’t see it. Is there something I am missing?
Many thanks.

BW,
Michalis Polyzos

If you choose UPNP in Mosaic there is nothing? Am I correct?

I mostly use Roon but did test to set JRiver as a server and that showed up under UPNP in my Network bridge directly. I have Minimserver on my Synology NAS but have not tried it with Mosaic.

Did you install Minimwatch on your computer so you can control Minimserver and see that you have connection to it over your network?

That is correct, it shows nothing.
I installed MinimWatch on my laptop and it can control the MinimServer just fine but the NB doesn’t see it… :thinking:

I am on vacaition right now so I cant try my setup until next weekend. Hopefully someone else here can think of what might be wrong.

Are both NAS and NB on the same network? No subnets or anything else that might stop the Minimserver showing up?

Both in the same network…:thinking:
Thank you for your help. Enjoy your vacation!

Have you loaded your music library metadata from its storage on your NAS onto the server software? You do this by going to MinimWatch , find the green MinimWatch icon that will appear in the system tray, right click it and select “Rescan”. The icon should then turn yellow as it loads the data and back to green when it is complete. Is this happening? If you haven’t done this then Mosaic will find nothing to display.

Hi,
I have done this indeed, and still nothing…
Thank you

When you boot up Mosaic do you see your NAS listed as a result of the " searching" process? It should appear as a selectable option. Or, another way of looking at it , can you see MinimServer on your computer as part of the network using e.g. " This PC" view?

One quick way to verify if your UPnP Server, in your case your MinimServer, is behaving properly is to plug a Laptop running the (free) VLC Media Player into the same LAN. If the MinimServer is operating properly, then it should be sending out (UPnP protocol) SSDP Advertisements on the LAN and show up on VLC as a UPnP Server on the “Local Network”. You should be able to play any track from your albums right on VLC.

Alternatively, if your Laptop is a Mac, you can also try the (free) UPnP Analyser software to see if UPnP Servers and Renders are talking properly to your Laptop. Typically when a UPnP renderer (like the dCS NB), doesn’t readily see a UPnP Server, it has to do with missing multicast SSDP Discover broadcast, and SSDP Advertisements responses, for whatever reasons.

After a gazillion times of restarting and reseting everything on my network it finally worked!!!
Now up and running! :star_struck::clap::+1::+1:
Thank you all for your advice and help!
Have a good evening!

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Nice to see that you got it sorted out :+1:

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Thank you! I dont i will sleep many hours tonight…:ear::ear::ear::grin::laughing: