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Do I have to use a streamer/renderer to play music from an NAS?

I apologize for the basic question. But, I can’t seem to find an answer online. I would like to put all my CDs on an NAS and play that music through my system. I have a Rotel RC/RB-1590 set up. I know some NAS boxes come with DLNA software installed, and I am looking at Synology because I read their software for finding and selecting music to play is pretty good. Eventually, I will probably end up with something like a Cambridge Audio CXN or 851N to stream tidal and digital radio, as well as the music on the NAS. But, do I have to have the Cambridge or some other device to just play the digital music from the NAS to start? I would like to do the purchases in steps so I can get better units as I can afford them.  Also, any advice on alternative solutions would be much appreciated. Thanks.
kumakahn

Showing 1 response by wtf

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wtf
307 posts
 
As I recently went down this road I'll share a bit of how I approached it. First, I use a mesh wifi system which made this possible without re-wiring my house. Second, before going all-in and buying something from Synology or QNAP, I set up an old Mac mini (2010) as a NAS running Asset UPnP. Music files are in WAV format. I settled on the mconnect app for control. A Sonore microRendu provides rendering duties and feeds a Bel Canto mLink USB-SPDIF converter (I prefer the BNC connection of my DAC). The sound quality is superb, as is the convenience. I will likely purchase a "proper" NAS some time in the near future but there's little need right now.

BTW, the microRendu replaced a Bluesound Node 2, which replaced a well-appointed Mac mini (2012) running Amarra Luxe, A+, and HQPlayer.
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