3D Labs Nano Transport

[GuillaumeB]

Are there any UK dealers?

Not that I'm aware of. Huge threads on the French forums so I'm quite keen to give it a try.

Guillaume

[Rufus McDufus]

I have to admit I'm liking the look of this and have done for a few months. It's a nice price, reclocks, no attempt to produce their own client software but just uses off-the-shelf UPnP, i2s (whether that'll be worthwhile in future) plus no onboard wi-fi which can only benefit sound quality I'd have thought.
It's not as slick as the likes of the Aries or even the Melco N1A but if it sounds as good as I've read on the French forums then it might be my next purchase. Really looking forward to hearing this.

I'm interested how (or whether) firmware updates can be performed.

[Rufus McDufus]

I just changed the title of the thread if anyone's confused.

[PhilP]

Well Thierry's review is certainly very positive but I'm still a little confused about how it works - perhaps because of the translation. Does anyone know which control apps can be used with the Nano Transport - have they developed their own? I saw that it can be used to stream Qobuz, Deezer etc. I wondered how this integration has been achieved ?

[GuillaumeB]

Well Thierry's review is certainly very positive but I'm still a little confused about how it works - perhaps because of the translation.  Does anyone know which control apps can be used with the Nano Transport - have they developed their own?   I saw that it can be used to stream Qobuz, Deezer etc.  I wondered how this integration has been achieved ?

Hi PhilP

It's basically a UPnP renderer that works in exactly the same way as the MiND 180 for example. It connects to your network via ethernet and then onto the Devialet via choice of AES, SPDIF or optical link. It then automatically finds your media server software on your NAS or computer. 

It uses a standard UPnP protocol and therefore should work with all standard UPnP control points. I believe they recommend Plugplayer but there are lots of different ones. They have gone for an open source approach, a bit like Linn in the early days!

Check this out for a list of UPnP clients:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UPn...nd_clients

It's possible you could even use the Lightning DS app (from the Aries) but I'm not sure if that means that streaming services are integrated... perhaps Rufus will know more?

What I'm not clear on for example is whether the Nano supports gapless playback, something which can be an issue for some UPnP implementations.

Guillaume

[PhilP]

Guillaume,

thanks that's helpful. I'm not sure I like the idea of using generic UPnP control point software - they're typically not very good ... including Kinsky ;(

Lack of gapless playback would be a show-stopper.

Regards,

Philip

[Confused]

Reading the above makes me realise how little I know about the detial of using this type of streamer. For example, I thought JRiver was for PC's or OS X. But it is on the UPnP list, does this mean that you can somehow getting working on a 3D Lab or similar? I think I need to do a bit of reading up on this subject! (An idiots guide would be ideal)

[amabrok]

Guillaume,

thanks that's helpful. I'm not sure I like the idea of using generic UPnP control point software - they're typically not very good ... including Kinsky ;(

Lack of gapless playback would be a show-stopper.

Regards,

Philip

Philp, I agree on lack of gapless playback. This is a no go for me .

But for generic control points, if need be I suggest giving BubbleUPnP on Android a try. It is sleek and works perfectly well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PhilP]

Philp, I agree on lack of gapless playback. This is a no go for me .

But for generic control points, if need be I suggest giving BubbleUPnP on Android a try. It is sleek and works perfectly well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the recommendation but I don't own any Android devices.   I see that you're using an iPhone 

I wish Devialet would prioritise Dialog for Expert range. Once they've delivered that then I probably wouldn't have to think about streamers ever again. All I want to do is stream Qobuz and my local rips/downloads using the same device, ideally wirelessly.

[Rufus McDufus]

The Nano makers are being a bit cheeky bit claiming all sorts of services for the Nano such as Tidal/Qobuz streaming etc. when it's not actually their unit or software providing any of this. The Nano as far as I can see is a simple UPnP renderer and you need to seek out the software to make this stuff happen.
That said there's not really a shortage of software ranging from basic (i.e PlugPlayer, Kinsky/Kazoo) to feature-rich (JRiver Media Centre which can send to a UPnP renderer). I personally quite like this apporach because it's generally a bit of a disaster when a small hi-fi company tries to do client/server software. The money/effort and ongoing support required is generally greater than the effort they make in designing the hardware and the results are generally pretty hopeless! Even the likes of Apple & Microsoft don't even get this stuff 100% right so the chances of a 100-person hi-fi company doing it is optimistic.

There is a bit of a caveat with UPnP though. The basic standard is quite crude and gapless playback is not part of the standard. There are standard extensions - OpenHome being probably the best and most well-known. Linn's DS players have OpenHome extensions built in to provide the features which are expected nowadays - gapless, multi-room etc. Some manufacturers provide their own extensions which IMHO is a bit of a mistake (Simaudio do this with the MiND I believe). I don't know whether the Nano accepts any extensions but if not, BubbleUPNP running on a NAS can provide a server which can give you OpenHome capability. I've been using this with my Cubox lately as I got a bit tired of the MPad/mpd functionality.
Also if you have Android the BubbleUPNP/BubbleDS clients give you OpenHome without the need for a separate server. I just wish they'd bring it to iOS!