New Melco Arrived

Bert Schurink posted:

.......and as additional benefit I have now 6TB on board instead of 4TB.

With the amount of music you own Bert, I'm guessing you've already filled up this space! 

Hope you enjoy your new acquisition.

ATB.  George.

Bert I have the N1A with V3.0 software, which to me added a bit more to the SQ. 

One of the things that the Melco brings up is SQ between the Direct Player mode and Network mode. As known in Network mode it allows all the control point apps/software to work and Direct (via a NAIM streamer in my case N272) only playback/track selection via the front panel, so not quite as user friendly.

Once fully settled in can you tell if Direct adds more to the SQ playback. For me it does, inky blacks or quieter noise floor.

Plus if the new N1Z is much better in performance how would you rate it from the N1A to your new system. For me the Melco overall adds that very quiet noise floor.

Enjoy the new kit though thats the main thing....  :-)

GeeJay posted:

Bert Schurink posted:

.......and as additional benefit I have now 6TB on board instead of 4TB.

With the amount of music you own Bert, I'm guessing you've already filled up this space! 

Hope you enjoy your new acquisition.

ATB.  George.

I had my old one filled up with 99 percent, meaning almost 4TB. The new one gives me 2TB more....., so I have still a couple of months left :-)....., but seriously I think I am fine for quite a while now. And if I could get over this boundary, I still have the possibility to add some connected capacity either via USB or via the network. So I am not so worried there. While I have to be honest, when I got my first one I also thought I would be fine for a longer period and wasn't due to the addition of so much high res music....., so let's see.

Dan43 posted:

Bert I have the N1A with V3.0 software, which to me added a bit more to the SQ. 

One of the things that the Melco brings up is SQ between the Direct Player mode and Network mode. As known in Network mode it allows all the control point apps/software to work and Direct (via a NAIM streamer in my case N272) only playback/track selection via the front panel, so not quite as user friendly.

Once fully settled in can you tell if Direct adds more to the SQ playback. For me it does, inky blacks or quieter noise floor.

Plus if the new N1Z is much better in performance how would you rate it from the N1A to your new system. For me the Melco overall adds that very quiet noise floor.

Enjoy the new kit though thats the main thing....  :-)

 

Thanks for the tip on the direct player mode. I will give it a try - but I guess I will skip it, as it's not user friendly. I find it difficult to rate the improvement over the other one. As you can't do a A-B comparison when you replace it. But I would say the noise is even less, the tonality is more natural......, and then there is also the aspect that you belief it sounds better, which one always needs to realize.

overall I find it good value for money. While a lot on this forum might think it's to expensive and they want to achieve the same with a combined solution.

So now busy with the tedious process of refilling the Melco. I didn't just want to use the backup, so I am now doomed. I am making some changed to categories and naming of classical music. And that comes with a great price of effort. Hope I will not regret it in the middle.

Exqmples of changes are:

Splitting vocal category in jazz and classical

Changing the naming convention from Berliner Philharmoniker - Karajan to Karajan - Berliner Philharmoniker ....

Adding the category Classical Other....

Have now the first large batch of music on the system. It's again an upgrade which surprises me more than expected. I thought it would be difficult to recognize, but now with a broader range it is very clear, this is a step up....... So I am a very happy Melco owner.

Good stuff Bert. Although my N1Z's only 1 TB, I just use it for my most popular music. My main collection's on a 6TB Thunderbolt drive attached to an iMac & my intention was to move music around between the two, but in practice I've not done this yet. Even 1TB's an awful lot of music!

tonym posted:

Good stuff Bert. Although my N1Z's only 1 TB, I just use it for my most popular music. My main collection's on a 6TB Thunderbolt drive attached to an iMac & my intention was to move music around between the two, but in practice I've not done this yet. Even 1TB's an awful lot of music!

I thought as well that I would be good with my 4TB before. The reality is that my collection grew quicker than I ever could have expected. And almost everything I buy nowadays is in high res. Very often an album is far over 1GB. So I hope now and in the future to have my whole collection on the 6TB - and if it doesn't fit anymore I will move some of the less popular stuff to a secondary drive solution (NAS or attached USB storage).

I guess that's more or less what I'm doing Bert. Although I've a lot more music on the HD attached to the iMac, the Melco "sees" it all, over the network, so I can still play everything. Doesn't sound quite as good as the stuff on the Melco though.

tonym posted:

I guess that's more or less what I'm doing Bert. Although I've a lot more music on the HD attached to the iMac, the Melco "sees" it all, over the network, so I can still play everything. Doesn't sound quite as good as the stuff on the Melco though.

Tony do you have a direct connection from your Melco to your dac?  And despite this, you hear a difference if it's playing music from the Melco's internal hd, vs the Melco 'pulling' it from elsewhere on your home network?

Hi Bert,

Yes, the Melco connects directly to the USB input on my Chord DAC. There's a slight increase in quality between music stored on the Melco compared with music accessed over the network.

Its quite amazing what a proper NAS brings to the party. Im now using the 40 years anniversary model from Melco. Its just acts as great turntable does, making my NDS behave correct, just like a tone arm and pick up. Brilliant if you ask me. 

//Jonas

Jonas Olofsson posted:

Its quite amazing what a proper NAS brings to the party. Im now using the 40 years anniversary model from Melco. Its just acts as great turntable does, making my NDS behave correct, just like a tone arm and pick up. Brilliant if you ask me. 

//Jonas

When I first was made aware about the Melco by my dealer I had something like, this is something for freaks, it's a bridge to far....

I couldn't be more wrong.....

Does the Melco work with the minimserver naim app combo? I assume once your music is loaded into the Melco you are good to go, right. My file structure is all based on minim server folders and hope this can remain if I use a melco. 

Yes works perfectly with minim. 

JohnF posted:

Yes works perfectly with minim. 

I use the same one as the own software of the Melco was still in beta , I might soon switch when they support flac to Wav...

That's good to hear.  Do any of you Melco users also have your computer hooked up to a NAS?  I would love to be able to set up a Melco so it can be "seen" by my ethernet connected desktop computer like my NAS.  This way I can move music from one to the other easily. 

Yes you can do that. You'll see the Melco as a mountable share on your network you can drop music on to. I keep my 'master' music library (managed by iTunes) on a NAS / Mac Mini combination. This does the ripping duties plus manages my music on my iDevices and Sony ZX2 portable. I then use carbon copy cloner on the Mac to clone the master library to the Melco  (and also a couple of portable USB drives for off site backup) whenever add new CDs / donloads to the library. The first copy takes ages and then it's just incremental from then on.

Works for me. 

I do a similar thing; I've got a large music store on a 6TB HD attached to my iMac. I run PLEX media software on the iMac & the Melco sees this, so I can play music either stored on the Melco (the better sound) or on the iMac. If I want to move music around, I can easily do this by finding the Melco on the iMac via the network, then dragging the music from one to the other. I use a NAS for backup of the Mac & its files & the Melco sees this also, via the NAS' on-board uPnP software. It really is a most transparent and straightforward device, with lots of options.

Has anyone tried the ripping functionality on the latest firmware ?

tonym posted:

I do a similar thing; I've got a large music store on a 6TB HD attached to my iMac. I run PLEX media software on the iMac & the Melco sees this, so I can play music either stored on the Melco (the better sound) or on the iMac. If I want to move music around, I can easily do this by finding the Melco on the iMac via the network, then dragging the music from one to the other. I use a NAS for backup of the Mac & its files & the Melco sees this also, via the NAS' on-board uPnP software. It really is a most transparent and straightforward device, with lots of options.

How does Plex factor in? I'd expect the Melco to simply see the files on the Mac, regardless of any media server software running on the Mac.

Similarly, I think that the Nas's UPnP software has nothing to do with Melco's ability to "see" music files on the Nas.

My suspicion is that neither Plex nor the UPnP server on the nas are doing anything when you use the Melco

Otherwise it sounds like you use Plex to play music from the Mac, the nas's UPnP software to play music from the Nas, and I have no idea how the Melco does anything in between as it's neither playing nor storing. 

james n posted:

Has anyone tried the ripping functionality on the latest firmware ?

Hi James,

I gave it a try out of curiosity & it worked well. As I need music elsewhere I prefer to rip to AIFF using DbPoweramp.

Bart posted:

tonym posted:

I do a similar thing; I've got a large music store on a 6TB HD attached to my iMac. I run PLEX media software on the iMac & the Melco sees this, so I can play music either stored on the Melco (the better sound) or on the iMac. If I want to move music around, I can easily do this by finding the Melco on the iMac via the network, then dragging the music from one to the other. I use a NAS for backup of the Mac & its files & the Melco sees this also, via the NAS' on-board uPnP software. It really is a most transparent and straightforward device, with lots of options.

How does Plex factor in? I'd expect the Melco to simply see the files on the Mac, regardless of any media server software running on the Mac.

Similarly, I think that the Nas's UPnP software has nothing to do with Melco's ability to "see" music files on the Nas.

My suspicion is that neither Plex nor the UPnP server on the nas are doing anything when you use the Melco

Otherwise it sounds like you use Plex to play music from the Mac, the nas's UPnP software to play music from the Nas, and I have no idea how the Melco does anything in between as it's neither playing nor storing. 

No, you need a media server, the Melco won't see just the files.

tonym posted:

Bart posted:

tonym posted:

I do a similar thing; I've got a large music store on a 6TB HD attached to my iMac. I run PLEX media software on the iMac & the Melco sees this, so I can play music either stored on the Melco (the better sound) or on the iMac. If I want to move music around, I can easily do this by finding the Melco on the iMac via the network, then dragging the music from one to the other. I use a NAS for backup of the Mac & its files & the Melco sees this also, via the NAS' on-board uPnP software. It really is a most transparent and straightforward device, with lots of options.

How does Plex factor in? I'd expect the Melco to simply see the files on the Mac, regardless of any media server software running on the Mac.

Similarly, I think that the Nas's UPnP software has nothing to do with Melco's ability to "see" music files on the Nas.

My suspicion is that neither Plex nor the UPnP server on the nas are doing anything when you use the Melco

Otherwise it sounds like you use Plex to play music from the Mac, the nas's UPnP software to play music from the Nas, and I have no idea how the Melco does anything in between as it's neither playing nor storing. 

No, you need a media server, the Melco won't see just the files.

And the Melco is directly connected to your dac via usb or spdif, correct?

So in this mode of use, the Melco is used as a dac-less streamer/player, similar to what people do when using an NDX with a Chord Hugo?  (Only the Melco also has internal storage as well; perhaps HDX with a Hugo is the better analogy!)

I'm trying to understand how this piece of kit fits in!

Here you go Bart - simple two boxer.

Melco for local storage of music library and playback. 

Controlled by an App on my Ipad (Kinsky from Linn).

USB out from Melco to the Devialet.

Simple