Living with the Nimby auto loader
I’m a latecomer to audio streamers/servers. Having followed the development of these machines for over a decade I only recently made a purchase when convinced that I could acquire a machine engineered for nothing but audio quality. Forget the screens and dials - I wanted the best sound I could buy within my budget.
The answer was provided by the Baetis Reference 4 Mingo edition. This box in its most simplest description is a computer which is both a music server and also a music streamer. Expect to see a review of this unit in an upcoming The Absolute Sound monthly magazine.
A consequence of my delayed purchase decision is the size of my music library which has ballooned to over 8k CDs and a “small room” full of vinyl. It all needs to be digitized and placed on a music server. Why not stream and just skip the insanity of loading that much music? I’ve tried streaming but remain bemused by the time it takes to locate recordings I want and avoid offerings the streaming service “knows” I will also need (sigh!).
The answer is that I want a library which is WAV files only. Costs using SSD memory is no longer a barrier to achieving this result. Some may say that the sonic difference between WAV and FLAC formats is not worth the effort. Yet using FLAC at this point requires generating computer noise which works against my desire to have a server which excels in sound quality.
My thought process confronted me with one more issue, the problem of loading 8K Cds into a music server. There is the matter of handling the CDs, loading the data and finally obtaining the corresponding metadata - song titles and timing along with album art. A friend and his wife recently loaded two thousand plus CDs into their server. Working as a tag team it took weeks to load their collection. My task was a multiple of that effort and would have no help.
Regarding digitizing vinyl, when time allows I’ll connect the Baetis to my phono stage and turntable. Another battle another day.
Enter a device to load CDs automatically, or aka in batches. The brand I selected is called THE NIMBY manufactured by a company called Acronova.
https://mediasupply.com/collections/acaudu?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_pkUApsgOJrgP05xmLJmV-xftsd&gclid=CjwKCAjw4ri0BhAvEiwA8oo6F_bmo5jMOLy-FYed37juglGQsZPAmvcv4-qZqYtwIayLfoRMYlBqIxoCjeMQAvD_BwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w27dHp_hcgE
I opted for the base model - reasoning that my separate single loader (teac) could be employed to process the few Blu Ray and DVD discs I own.
In terms of loading and processing CDs the Nimby worked flawlessly. Why shouldn’t it? The device is little more than a CD transport which feeds and then ejects discs one at a time. Easy right? With a capacity of one hundred discs the possibility is there to avoid sitting for hours loading one CD after another. While it is a possibility it is not quite a reality as the outtake bin will only hold about twenty-five discs. You can position the device to overhang a table but that risks CDs falling in a pile which may result in their order being altered. Keeping CDs in the exact order they were taken from CD cases is vital if you want to avoid orphan CDs which need to be paired with misplaced jewel cases. My own efforts improved over time but that still resulted in fifty or so CDs which need to be reunited with their booklets and front and back covers.
Another issue which prevents me from giving the Nimby a four star rating is the processing of metadata. For this purpose I used a program called, Encode Center, which is published by GetDigitalData. Here is the description from their website:
“Founded in 2004, Get Digital Data represents a new alternative to the traditional "user-fed" CD lookup databases. Architected specifically to provide information required to rip CDs & DVDs, Get Digital Data is the only database that is capable of qualifying every CD/DVD entered into its library. Other databases use crude matching techniques on user-fed data, plaquing them with inconsistencies, errors, and bogus data. Our unique qualification process allows Get Digital Data to provide the most accurate and most consistent CD & DVD data. You'll no longer have to spend hours, if not days, editing the data returned from traditional databases, or using third party programs to match artwork.”
https://www.getdigitaldata.com/AboutUs
The NIMBY may be possible to use without these guys but I was never able to determine how that was possible. What’s the rub with GetDigitalData? It’s the charge which is ten cents a CD - an acceptable amount for anyone with a small collection. My 8K of discs required me to run up a fairly large bill. Then again, this did save me tremendous time.
Below is a screenshot of the Encode Center. Album art which comes up missing is easily located and pasted into place using the portion of the screen on the far upper right.
Would I recommend the combination of The Nimby and The Encode Center software? For me its a qualified “Yes.” If there is a better way to process a very large library please let me know. These tools allowed me to build my library in weeks instead of months and for that reason it was money well spent. That is, until I learn of a cheaper alternative which is just as cost effective. Then again, how many more CDs will I be adding to my collection?
Additional Thoughts:
Processing CDs with this machine is of course dependent on the quality of the disc itself. The machine will reject any "home grown" cd - ie those made by a computer. Also when the CD is larger or thinner than it should be, the machine will jam. In my experience this was only a few percentage (1-2%) of the total.
Finally, some CDs will trigger JITTER warnings. This goes for new and old product. I've tried using an anti jitter device from Audioquest. with inconclusive results. Cds downloads will still play when jitter occurs - though you may hear a slight interruption. Please let me know if you have any remedy for the "jitter blues."