Simaudio Moon MiND Network Music Streamer

Transcription

1 Simaudio Moon MiND Network Music Streamer By Michael Lavorgna Posted: Feb 18, 2014 Device Type: Network Player/Streamer Input: Ethernet, Wi-Fi Output: AES/EBU, Coax, Toslink, SimLink In/Out Dimensions (W x H x D): 100 x 20 x 132mm Weight: 0.4kg Website:

2 MiND Reader The Simaudio Moon MiND (MOON intelligent Network Device) is a UPnP/DLNA compatible renderer or more commonly a network player or streamer. In other words, the Moon MiND lets you play back your file-based music without a computer. Just add Network Attached Storage (NAS) and you'll be streaming your music in no time. A lot of people are also wondering is the MiND an audiophile version of the popular and discontinued Squeezebox Touch? Let's find out. Simaudio have developed the Moon MiND from the ground up. They did not opt to buy into someone else's networking solution like the one from Stream Unlimited which can be found in a number of similar devices on the market. Simaudio have also developed the MiND HD control app for ios devices and its really this bit by which all network players live or die. If the interface to your music is at all clunky, playing music can be a drag. As you can see the MiND does not offer a touch display like the Touch so an ios device is mandatory for controlling playback. According to Simaudio, an Android app is in the works and should be available by the year's end. In terms of inputs and outputs, the Moon MiND offers a 100Base-T RJ45 Ethernet input as well as a IEEE b/g/n Wi-Fi input. There's also a SimLink In/Out for use with other Simaudio products so that the MiND app can also control input selection on a preamplifier or integrated amplifier as well as volume and power. On the digital output side, the MiND does not have a DAC, we have AES/EBU, Coax S/PDIF, and Toslink. All outputs are capable of supporting up to 24/192 PCM data as well as WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC, ALAC, MP3, WMA-9, and OGG Vorbis file formats. The MiND also supports gapless playback as well as vtuner Radio. Additional streaming services should be added later this year. Also on the backside you'll find the wi-fi antennae and power inlet for the included wall-wart power supply. The MiND's front aluminum panel, which comes in black or silver, is nearly blank except for a blue power LED and the Simaudio logo. Physically connecting your MiND involves connecting your Ethernet cable if you have one available, screwing in the included wi-fi

3 antennae, connecting to your DAC, I mainly went with the AES/EBU connection to the Auralic Vega, and finally plugging the MiND in. There is no on/off switch so as soon you plug it in, its on. In order to set up the MiND as a wireless connection, you initially need to connect it to your network via Ethernet. Following the steps in the MiND Setup Guide is a snap and mainly consists of entering your wi-fi network SSID (its name), encryption type, and entering your wi-fi passphrase. There are two recessed buttons around back; one is for updating the MiND's firmware and the other is for resetting the MiND to the factory default settings. I did not need to use either during the review period but the manual details the simple steps involved in both procedures. It's also worth noting that the Moon MiND can be incorporated into other Simaudio products including the Neo 380D DAC. "The goal is to have the MiND module available in all future DACs, Integrated Amplifiers and Preamplifiers going forward." according to my contact at Simaudio. MiND Control The MIND HD remote app is not only not a drag to use, it is relatively simple, straight forward, and damn near fun. When you first open the MiND app, you are greeted with "Zones" which is where your MiND will show up or if you have multiple MiNDS they will all show up. Once you select your MiND, you are presented with the play back screen. If you have multiple music libraries on your network, you can select which one you'd like to connect to by clicking on "Library" and making your selection from the list. I tried a few including MinimServer[Diskstation] which is running on my Synology NAS and the QNAP HS-210 running Twonky Media Server and within minutes I was presented with all of my music (913 Albums) in Album view. I found that if I tried to access sub menus immediately, the app would automatically go back to the main menu options and I'm assuming this happened because the app was still indexing the library. Other views include All Tracks, All Artists, Composer, Conductor, Orchestra, [untagged], and [folder view]. These views vary depending on the NAS you connect to or more specifically what NAS server software you use. For example, when connecting to my Western Digital NAS running Twonky, I was also presented with Genre and Playlists options.

4 I prefer Album view wich is how I typically browse my music when using Apple's Remote App and I found the MiND app to be more responsive than Apple's in terms of refresh rate for displaying album cover art while scrolling through my library. While not instantaneous, album cover art showed up nearly immediately during scrolling. The MiND's Search feature worked very well and super fast, displaying results as you type. Nice. When playing back music, you can add additional music to your current playlist in a number of ways including Top, Now, Next, and End. Top puts your selection at the top of the Playlist, Now plays it now, Next puts it after the current track, and End sticks it at the end of the current playlist. You can save Playlists by clicking on the Playlist icon and tapping Save which brings up the keyboard so you can name and save it. There's also an Edit option which allows you to remove tracks from the current Playlist. Since the MiND is DLNA/UPnP compatible, you can also use other third party apps to control playback if you so desire. I briefly used the slick Creation 5 control app (see review) which worked very well with the MiND using DLNA folder browsing. While I do not have an Android device on hand, I've read comments from people who are successfully using the BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA app to control their MiND. MiND Sound Let's talk about using the MiND as a wired device first since that's how I'd recommend using it. I realize a lot of people do not have an Ethernet connection near their hi-fi but I'd say this is one upgrade that makes a lot of sense. For your main hi-fi system where you'll more than likely want to play back high resolution downloads, a wired connection is a must-have item. To my way of hearing, the Moon MiND doesn't have much of a sound of its own. When connected to the Auralic Vega via AES/EBU, which was in turn connected to my Pass INT-

5 30A and DeVore Fidelity The Nines, music was presented as I'm used to hearing it through the Vega when connected to my MacBook Pro with the added benefit of an apparently lower noise floor from which music emerged. This was evident in an increased sense of micro detail and more dynamic snap, even at lower volume levels. Music sounded generally more lively and resolute as compared to the MacBook Pro connected to the Vega via USB. I also ran the MiND in wi-fi mode and resolutions up to 24/88.2 played back without incident. Both 24/176.4 and 24/192 files would play but with dropouts which I find unacceptable. Of course if you have a crappy wi-fi network you'll get dropouts and its literally impossible for me to know what kind of performance the MiND will offer on your wi-fi network since other factors including how much other traffic is chugging along your wi-fi will directly affect performance. If you want guaranteed playback with zero dropouts of up to 24/192 data, run an Ethernet cable. One obvious thing you can do to improve your wi-fi performance is to get a dual-band wi-fi router and reserve one band for audio-only. In terms of sound quality, A/Bing the wired versus wi-fi was not a quick A/B since you have to reboot the MiND each time you make the switch. That said, I felt the wired connection offered more dynamic contrast as if the noise floor was lower as well as a heightened sense of tone color variation. This could have been in my head as opposed to being in the room but the thing that is certain is the ability to play back up to 24/192 files without dropouts using the wired connection had me preferring it to wi-fi. Getting back to the sound of the wired Moon MiND, I'd say it offers a very nice, delicate, and forceful musical image with very little apparent noise. Again, as compared to my MacBook Pro, the overall sound image was more brightly lit in a good way when playing music through the MiND and tone colors appeared a bit brighter as well. Everything was more lit up,

6 resolute, and detailed. There was also a very compelling sense of the space of the recording in each dimension which also draws you in closer. MiND v Touch In order to do a quick A/B, I left the MiND connected via AES/EBU and added the stock Squeezebox Touch to the Vega's input via Coax. The MiND once again seemed to shine a brighter light on the recording while providing greater apparent low level resolution and more saturated tone colors as compared to the Touch (for reference, used Touch's appear to be selling for $250-$300 on ebay). With the Touch, music sounded slightly more homogenized with a darker overall hue. String instruments had more pluck when called for and there was generally a better sense of dynamic contrasts with the MiND. These differences were readily apparent and more importantly I found that I was more drawn into the music with the MiND. Extended listening to both the Touch and MiND bore this out. I also connected the MiND to the Vega DAC via Coax and the sonic traits I described above more or less traveled with this output change. I will say that the AES/EBU connection appeared to offer a lower noise floor as micro detail and apparent dynamic contrasts did not appear to be as great via Coax. That said, I'd still give the overall edge to the MiND when compared to the Touch. The MiND's Toslink output came close to the Coax performance but there was a touch less apparent resolution as if the background wasn't as noise free. I also noticed that the AES/EBU connection seemed to impart a greater sense of ease overall. Of course we're also comparing the cables involved so this is not necessarily just a question of the type of connection being used. When all is said and done, if given the choice I'd recommend connecting with the MiND via AES/EBU.

7 A Simple MiND The Simaudio Moon MiND is a very well thought out product. The MiND HD app for the ipad in its current incarnation (1.0.2) is a pleasure to use while sonically the MiND offers a very transparent view into your music. When compared to my MacBook Pro and Squeezebox Touch, the MiND proved to be more engaging to listen to over the long haul. For people looking to take their computer out of their computer audio, the Moon MiND should be considered a serious contender.