Any simple, reliable stand-alone (non-innuos, Sonos) NAS products out there?

Explore AUDIRVĀNA software interface on your MAC with a QNAP NAS.

The AUDIRVĀNA will provide you easy access to your digital files, your digital streaming platforms, and a buzzilion internet radio stations,

Once it’s  loaded on your MAC , you can then control your music playback two ways :

(1) from the MAC ,,,of course but read on ,,,

(2) BETTER STILL .,,, you download the AUDIRVĀNA  app onto your mobile phone or tablet, and presto its now a handheld mobile stable and very intuitive and able point and click proxy platform as you walk around the house = Done and EZPZ. 

I’ll definitely check this out! Thanks AKG!

Small follow-up before you order a new NASif you starting out . You might wanna consider using the HD on your computer for now , as a 1st step to play digital files as you get comfy ( AUDIRVĀNA. Has a free 1 month fully functional trisl period )

You can order the NAS later if you need the HD space for a monster file library .

WHY? Let me explain ,

In a better or arguably a perfect digital file playback world, some  suggest a SSD over a SATA disk hard drivesto play prerecorded digital audio files in your audio library. Their rationale is less electronic noise / jitter / U name it .

I Cannot support this personally YET while im evaluating options,….but it makes sense while I test it further

THE THEORY

The AUDIRVĀNA setup asks where your audio library resides to access it . Intuitively, a home HD location for your library is easiest BUT limited by its available disk space , Intuitively, a twin RAID HD array in a NAS expands it to mega space , but that is not a requirement YET . Just sayin‘ cuz AUDIRVANA has a free 30 day trial option .

Moreover, the QNAP or SYNOLOGY NAS drives setup are arguably the best for audio $  video files, can be a more confusing setup than their marketing hype purports,

Just sayin again

Threadcap:  Trialing the software….it was easy to install and configure.

It not only seems to address my need, it solved some other annoyances for me!

Have not ordered the hardware yet…suspect it’s utilitarian, as it should be.

Thank so very much, AKG!!!!!!

Every NAS takes some care and feeding and technical knowlege, but the one that requires the least is Synology,   I have a QNAP NAS, and it requires a fair amount of technology knowledge to use it.  

The Synologies tends to hide a lot of the technical complexity (not all)   No NAS is inexpensive or simple, but the Synology require the least amount of fussing with after they're set up. 

It's important to note that if you're going to try to use WiFi, a NAS really isn't for you.  Despite what people say, Ethernet has far more bandwidth and speed than any WiFi standard.