# Setting up lossless music library on a NAS



## IanS (Dec 23, 2016)

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum so may have overlooked a thread on this topic. I've been trying to start the process of moving my cd collection onto my network. Like most classical music lovers I want the best quality! After a good deal of web-research I've bought a WD Mycloud NAS and a Sonos Connect. Having used XLD software to rip a couple of CDs on my MacBook using FLAC, then copied the files to the NAS, taking care to save them in Shared Folders, I'm unable to 'see' the CD files through the Sonos app. The helpful folks on the Sonos helpline reported that Sonos can only 'see' files that are a maximum of 16 bit and 44,100kHz. Web chat suggests that this is the default for XLD; however, in XLD Preferences there appears to be a choice between 24 and 48 bit, neither of which are compatible with 
Sonos! Any help much appreciated! Merry Xmas btw!


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

A CD is 16/44.1. There's no reason at all to up convert them to 24 or 48 bit. That just makes bigger files, not better ones. I use a Mac Mini with AAC 256 VBR files myself. I did a lot of testing of different file formats for sound quality and compactness before I started ripping to make sure I wasn't losing sound quality, but my files would stream smoothly over wifi without stuttering. Giant files are a pain to stream from NAS.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Why FLAC rather than ALAC? Sonos supports ALAC and doesn't seem to have any limitations on that format.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

The above is correct but it still doesn't explain why the OP can't see his files on the Sonos app. Have you tried playing them on something besides Sonos? The problem may be with the NAS


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

He can't see them because for some reason the app he is using to rip is up sampling them to 24 bit. That seems like a useless "feature" to me. I agree with Taggart, just rip to ALAC in iTunes and make it simple.


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## IanS (Dec 23, 2016)

Thanks everyone. I had another session with Sonos helpline today and seem to have a solution. I had initially just uploaded the Sonos app on my iPad. By uploading a Sonos app on my Mac as well I can now see the NAS-stored cd files via Sonos on my iPad, and can therefore play them through my Hifi in two rooms. So it seems that XLD and flac are fine and the problem was down to my understanding of Sonos. Now back to the task of ripping a gazillion CDs!


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