Thanks for the extra info.

Samba is not necessary for me, as my NAS offers Twonky as well (and FTP, HTTP, SSH). However, the PixelMagic MB100 only has Samba but in a non-standard way that does not work with my NAS. I think it is a serious omision to make a standalone media player that is not uPnP-capable.

I did not mean to say that the Kiss takes half an hour to make contact, this is done very quickly. (I have a very good Netgear pre-N wireless router, which works fine with the Kiss.)
I was referring to the fact that whenever something goes wrong, the Kiss needs to be reset/restarted (which can take several attempts, each around the same time you mention for the Helios, but sometimes much longer). Then I have to establish connection to Twonky, which only works half the time. If not, I have to reconnect to my network and that means entering the WiFi/WPA details again with an on screen keyboard.
For instance, when I change directory in Twonky, the Kiss freezes and I have to start all over. Internet radio will also freeze the Kiss. This is a well known Kiss problem, which Linksys has promised to fix with a new firmware but that was last year... Maybe March.
As long as I stick with USB HDD, no problem... very good quality, great remote (light, intuitive, and I can point it anywhere in the room) and lots of options for playback, info, zoom etc. (though not as many as the Helios).

I just get so bored schlepping the USB drive between rooms when I have access (both wired and wireless) to a NAS server with over a terabyte of media (internal HDD, two USB drives and eSATA).