New NAS is Melco worth it?

Never heard the melco but can certainly say that the synology (215J is the model I have, with the 3tb red drives you mention) sounds superb.

Whats the rest of your system?

John,

Some people on the forum have reported significant SQ improvements with a Melco and clearly love it.  I tried the more expensive SSD version on my system (playback is normally from a Synology DS415+) and while I found there was a *slight* difference it was very subtle and not worth the £6K.

To me this suggests that the improvements it can make may be very dependent on the environment it is used within.  Maybe I am lucky in that my environment isn't too electrically noisy (I have dedicated mains spur with shielded 10mm sq cable).  That's the only obvious reason I can come up with as to why my findings differed from others.

Ultimately you'll have to try it to find out.

Also, if your music collection continues to grow I would invest in larger drives than 2x 3TB.  Go for the biggest you can so that a few years down the line you won't be facing the same problem.

I'm using an HDX for streaming. The NAS is in another room at the end of 10m Cat 5e so NAS noise is not a problem. Don't know what disks are in the Melco but the WD reds are supposed to be good qualtity. What is the model number of your Synology?

I can't see what the Melco would bring to the party here as i take it the NAS is just providing storage for the HDX. 

It's worth it, one of the best investments in my hifi journey.

It is and i love mine, but what is it going to be doing here ? The HDX is a player not a streamer. I take it that the OP runs a NAS as storage (either main if it's an HDX SSD or overflow in the case of the HDX HDD) for the HDX. In this case, the Melco doesn't offer anything over a regular NAS.

If the NAS was being used as a UPnP source for a Naim streamer (NDX, NDS etc) then i could see the Melco adding some value.  

James

In my system it made magic, like all the rewiers I've seen to date also think. 

Try it out. 

It kill jitters. 

//Jonas

Well Graham, you are a Naim die hard, totally respect that. I think they make extremely great electronics but still Chords Silent Mounts sounds better then Naim Chips. Don't think anybody could come up with a different conclusion. Still, with your level of system, still chasing next level, wouldn't you try them out?

Same to be said about Sonority shelves. 

Brand loyalty sometimes takes strange ways...

//Jonas

Bert Schurink posted:

It's worth it, one of the best investments in my hifi journey.

Hence my earlier comments regarding difference of opinion

Jonas Olofsson posted:

Well Graham, you are a Naim die hard, totally respect that. I think they make extremely great electronics but still Chords Silent Mounts sounds better then Naim Chips. Don't think anybody could come up with a different conclusion. Still, with your level of system, still chasing next level, wouldn't you try them out?

Same to be said about Sonority shelves. 

Brand loyalty sometimes takes strange ways...

//Jonas

Was this posted to the wrong thread, as it doesn't have anything to do with Melco?

I don't actually need Silent Mounts or Naim chips - my lounge is carpeted, presumably over concrete, so I am just fine with spikes.

I've no idea whether Silent Mounts sound better than Naim chips as I haven't tried either, but £700 seems awfully expensive for what you get.

Presumably Graham, silent mounts don't sound like anything. If they do they are incorrectly named.

My issue with the Melcos is the introduction of a propitiatory "sealed box" model into an environment  that was hitherto very flexible in setup. and use. Plus the need to dismantle it to change a HDD. 

The only LAN isolater I have used (Acoustic Revive) sounded bloody awful, which additionally drains my motivation to try a Melco. But I expect that some day I will and I might be singing an altogether different tune at that point. Never say never until you've had a go on one.

I think it's fair to say that the reported take up rate after audition has been about 50/50, maybe 60 to Melco. Albeit from a small sample.

Still don't understand if the Melco sounds better than a bog-standard NAS then how's it doing it?  (And if anybody tries to use the "RF noise" get out of jail free card I'll slap them).

I recently bought a Melco and have moved my music library from a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo.

The immediate difference is that the base is firmer.  I do a blind comparison to visitors without telling them what has been changed and the acknowledgement of an improvement is universal.

Also, the native Melco UPNP doesn't need restarting every time I add some downloaded music.

In addition, the Melco can automatically download purchases from High Res Audio.

Same here from Synology with Minimserver. Still testing, Peter how have you found the best set up for you so far?

So far I'm just using the default Melco UPNP which is Twonky.  my device also has MinimServer installed but again that requires the device to be rebooted when new music is added so it is the UPNP software rather than the device.

On the ReadyNAS it was a bit weird.  If I added CDs ripped by DBPowerAmp I didn't need to restart.  I also didn't need to restart if I added music from an artist who already had stuff on the server.

Sorry Peter, can you explain the reboot thing?

are you saying your Melco has Twonky and Minimserver installed, but the latter can't see new rips without a restart?

Are you using it with a Naim streamer? If so does it see Twonky and Minimserver as two different UPNP sources?

Keith

That is correct.  The dealer told me that this is how MinimServer works which is a major drawback.

I am using it with a Naim Superuniti and that shows MELCO: Music Library and MinimServer(MELCO) as UPnP servers.

I wouldn't say that is a drawback. I'd say that displaying servers as discrete uPnP sources is correct. 

I run Minim on my Synology and simply need to rescan in order to include newly added albums - but nothing ever needs rebooting. If the Melco needs to be restarted it sounds as though Minim is being used in a slightly odd way. I've always found Twonky something to be avoided at all costs. 

Harry posted:

I wouldn't say that is a drawback. I'd say that displaying servers as discrete uPnP sources is correct. 

No, I meant having to reboot was the drawback.

On the Melco there seems to be no option to force a rescan on Minim.  The Melco interface is pretty Neolithic with everything having to be done through a front panel menu (there is no web interface).

Hungryhalibut posted:

I run Minim on my Synology and simply need to rescan in order to include newly added albums..........

...  ???  are you sure HH,  is that a Minim thing ?    Synology with their Media Server doesn't need to do this 

Mike - I recall looking on the Minim forum to see how to get them included automatically and I don't think you can. If you find out how, do let me know. It only takes a couple of minutes though and I've got used to doing it. The same thing needs to be done whenever I change metadata or album art, which is not very often. The other thing Minim won't yet do, which I do find slightly irritating, is show recently added albums. Asset can do it of course. Sometimes I add an album and then forget all about it! Durr.....

PeterJ posted:

Harry posted:

I wouldn't say that is a drawback. I'd say that displaying servers as discrete uPnP sources is correct. 

No, I meant having to reboot was the drawback.

On the Melco there seems to be no option to force a rescan on Minim.  The Melco interface is pretty Neolithic with everything having to be done through a front panel menu (there is no web interface).

Minimserver is not officially supported on the Melco so if you install it, you end up with two UPnP servers running. I'd hated Twonky when i came about in in my Mac UPnP days but the customised version running here seems to work fine. Not had any issues. What does Minimserver bring to the party ?

James

....  I tend to rescan (& clear both app cache's)  every month or so with Syn's MS, no reason to, but why not when I'm already in the Syn WebPage.    But if & when Synology & Asset sort it out,  I will be off in that direction.

I use MinimWatch on my Mac to connect to MinimServer on my media server - and I simply  tell MinimWatch to tell MinimServer to rescan. Are you sure this is not possible when use load MinimServer on the Melco?

However to be careful if you are running two media servers on the same IP address as they will need to have different port numbers or issues and conflicts will occur. I can't remember if MinimServer does this automatically or whether you need to manually assign - again using MinimWatch - System setup - (http port)

Simon