Cambridge Audio NP30 Portable Multimedia Player User Manual


 
9
NP30
ENGLISH
Basic connections
Network connections
Before you can use your NP30 for iRadio/Streaming you must have the following:
• A broadband internet connection (such as ADSL) to a suitable internet
service provider (ISP).
• A network connection either wirelessly via 802.11b/g or n Wi-Fi or wired
Ethernet connection (10 or 100 M bits/sec via an RJ45 connection).
Note: If you wish to play 24/48 or 24/96 content from a UPnP server, a wired
Ethernet connection will be required as the high data rate of these files is
beyond most Wi-Fi networks capability.
In many cases the broadband modem, router and wireless access point will be
a single combined unit supplied by your Internet Service Provider or bought
from a computer store.
If your wireless network is configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-
Fi Protected Access (WPA) data encryption then you will need to know your WEP
or WPA key so you can get the NP30 to communicate with the network.
IMPORTANT:
Before you continue, make sure that your wireless access point or router is
powered up and working with your broadband internet service (use your
computer to verify this). To get this part of the system working you must read
the instructions supplied with the wireless access point or router.
The NP30 can be configured to connect to a Wired or Wireless network or has
a (default) Auto setting. In Auto the NP30 looks for a each connection type
and selects whichever is present. You can also force the unit to one or the
other connection type, see later Settings section.
Connecting to a wired network
Plug one end of a network cable (Category 5/5E straight through Ethernet
cable) into the LAN port on the back of the unit.
Note: Only connect the LAN port of the player to an Ethernet port that supports
10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX. Connecting to any other ports or jacks, such as a
phone jack, can damage the unit
The NP30 should automatically connect to your network as below via DHCP;
this means it will be given an IP address by your router automatically.
Getting connected
Sonata AR30/DR30+
The NP30 is able to receive and play back media from several distinct types
of source. Here we have attempted to give an overview of the various types of
service available and the terminology you may encounter.
UuVol/UuVol Radio
UuVol is Cambridge Audio’s evolving platform for streaming
client devices.
It incorporates amongst other things UuVol Radio our Internet Radio service
checked for broadcast reliability and quality and UuVol.com our website/portal.
The portal aspect of our website is the mechanism that allows transparent
connection (and update) of all UuVol enabled units to the various services.
The website is our visible presence at www.UuVol.com which amongst other
things allows you to also browse and play back the same stations from an
internet connected PC and manage your presets and other preferences for
your UuVol client products.
You can also add stations to your units that are currently not in the UuVol
database, suggest new stations to us and more. There are also links and help
for setting up third-party Streaming Services from a wide variety of other
suppliers. Other UuVol features will be launched in the future, check the
website from time to time to see the latest developments.
Streaming Services
Streaming Services are similar to Internet Radio but come from
other suppliers and often have an element of interaction with the
user. Because Streaming Services generally allow the user some choice over
the content they listen to, they are also licensed differently to iRadio by the
music companies and often each service only has arrangements in certain
countries and may also charge a subscription for membership.
Examples of such services are Last.FM, Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster and
others. All allow some control of the content from 'play me something that
sounds like U2' to the ability to select and play whole albums of your choice.
Some also offer the ability to download content for use off-line as well.
The NP30 supports many of these services, navigate to Streaming Services on
the unit for a list or even better check out our portal at UuVol.com for more
details of which services are available in your area, what they do and how to
sign up. These services come from third parties and although we support
connections to them they do not come from us and we are not responsible for
their service in any way. Your account will be with the service, we are merely
acting as a portal to make the connection simpler and more convenient plus
we support the correct software on our unit to allow playback and browsing of
their content.
Network Media
The NP30 supports a wide range of compressed formats; MP3,
AAC, WMA and Ogg Vorbis CODEC types are all supported, plus
for true audiophile use it also supports either uncompressed
PCM (in a WAV container) or losslessly compressed FLAC, both can contain
from 16 bits 44.1kHz from CDs right up to 24 bit / 96kHz for better than CD
quality from suitable download sites.
For this to work your server will also need to support the CODEC you wish
to play as some have limitations and may not serve FLAC for instance. Always
check that the server you wish to use also supports your favoured CODECs.
Also for lossless/uncompressed formats both the server and network
connection will need to sustain the high bitrate necessary.
It is not recommended to use Wi-Fi connections for content above 16 bits
44.1/48kHz if lossless/uncompressed.
Local Media
The NP30 also supports local media from USB Flash-disks or USB hard-drives
and has two USB1.1 ports for this purpose. Here the NP30 simply browses
the folders present on the media attached and displays them. Only content
that the NP30 can play will be shown. This feature is provided for convenient
access to temporary storage devices.
It is however highly recommended that UPnP is used for continued use of
stored media as the UPnP system is able to support album art, sophisticated
content browsing and filtering and other features not possible with simple
folder browsing.
Currently only the FAT32 file system is supported.
Podcasts
Podcasts are archived audio recordings downloadable over the
internet. Often podcasts are recordings of previous live broadcasts
or episodic content.
The NP30 supports various third party podcast services, navigate to Podcasts
on the unit for the list available in your area. In addition the NP30 supports
your own personal choice of podcasts where you know its URL (weblink) via the
UuVol portal, see later section.
Overview
Broadband Router/Modem
Internet
Ethernet cable