Synology DS111

[TheLastMan]

Just want to report on my new Synology DS111 NAS as a host for Logitech Media Server running my two Receivers and controller.
The short review is that it works brilliantly!

I was upgrading from a Synology DS107+. The new NAS, at 1.6 MHz, is three times the speed and at 256 MB has twice the memory. The main functional difference is that the web interface is now very snappy and responsive. It is usable as a way of choosing music now.

Scanning my 7,000+ track music collection now takes 9 minutes instead of the previous 38 minutes. Its newer ARM processor now supports Triode's Spotify plugin - which is getting a thorough workout - way better than the old Napster app which has now been retired.

Menus and searches on the controller are a bit quicker. Nice, but the DS107+ was usable enough and you probably wouldn't notice if you didn't know it had been changed.

The only downside vs a Mac, PC or Atom based server is the lack of an Floating Point Unit - which pretty well precludes transcoding by the server on the fly. However that is not a problem in my particular circumstances. All my music is either FLAC or MP3 and I have yet to come across a radio station that won't play.

By the way, my main use for the NAS is backup, not LMS. If you only need an LMS server then other solutions might suit you. However, if you want a NAS as well as LMS then a recent Synology NAS is a very slick solution.

[Aanbeeld]

Here the same. Running this setup since may 2011 now.

[wickie833]

Here the same. Running this setup since may 2011 now.

Same here. >18.000 Flac´s, transcoding by the server (up to 24/192) works very well in my system, no crackles

I´m very happy with this little NAS.

Hannes

[Skaboy22]

I love my Synology DS111! I got it back in Jan 2011, based largely on reading the very sensible posts of The Last Man (thanks). It was just what I was looking for as I didn't want to run my computer, and was quickly disabused of the naive notion that I would be able to use just a connected Hard Drive with mini SBS. It is not, however, up to the task of transcoding 192/24 files with out re-buffering. Not a problem. For the few I have I just re-sampled in dbpoweramp. Highly recommended.

[Skaboy22]

Actually the only thing I am not satisfied with is sorting by genre. Often I want to choose from among my Blues or Jazz collections and it always takes awhile to display the songs by genre. I am wondering if this is a function of the processor (lack of) speed, or the memory? If I click on artists instead of genre, then the results are fairly instantaneous.

I am using a Touch connected to the Synology DS111 via cat5 and not wireless. Also my library is rather large (~45,000 flac tracks)

Any input?

[garym]

Actually the only thing I am not satisfied with is sorting by genre. Often I want to choose from among my Blues or Jazz collections and it always takes awhile to display the songs by genre. I am wondering if this is a function of the processor (lack of) speed, or the memory? If I click on artists instead of genre, then the results are fairly instantaneous.

I am using a Touch connected to the Synology DS111 via cat5 and not wireless. Also my library is rather large (~45,000 flac tracks)

Any input?

Definitely processor related. As a comparison, try installing LMS on a more powerful PC or MAC, and connect the same HDD with tracks, and do the same actions. You'll notice almost instant response. With about 70,000 tracks, I get almost instant response with my medium powered vortexbox boxes....

[Skaboy22]

Thanks, I figured as much.

I notice Synology has a new NAS coming out (DS112+) with a 2.0GHz CPU and twice the memory (DDR3 512MB) of the DS111 (which has a 1.6GHz processor). Do you suppose that would work better for the genre sorting, or still not powerful enough? It seems to me that the artist list comes up quick because it is stored when the library is scanned, but the genre sort happens "on the fly" and requires the NAS to read each track, is that accurate?

I realize that a full powered machine works better, and I have used my regular computer in the past with excellent results, but (as I know has been much discussed here), it is more practical for me to use a NAS.

[j-r]

Thanks, I figured as much.

I notice Synology has a new NAS coming out (DS112+) with a 2.0GHz CPU and twice the memory (DDR3 512MB) of the DS111 (which has a 1.6GHz processor). Do you suppose that would work better for the genre sorting, or still not powerful enough? It seems to me that the artist list comes up quick because it is stored when the library is scanned, but the genre sort happens "on the fly" and requires the NAS to read each track, is that accurate?

I realize that a full powered machine works better, and I have used my regular computer in the past with excellent results, but (as I know has been much discussed here), it is more practical for me to use a NAS.

Maybe you can wait for the new x13-Series. The DS413 is announced with hardware encryption, a dual core arm cpu and 1 GB RAM.