Surely it's only digits?

Hungryhalibut posted:

I'm not sure I'd trust this. Even if the Melco can play the US rips happily, if you then back up the Melco to a nas and the Melco conks out, the rips will very likely still be unplayable on the nas. I'd still convert on the US and then backup to the Melco. This way is far less risky. Imagine having 20,000 tracks that need to be reassembled into albums using a metadata editor. 

It's not completely usless - the rips are catalogued into artis and album folders. So at least browsing 'by folder' would still be possible. 

That is how I had to do things (NAS with Minimserver) when my US went for some of its spa sessions at Naim. 

Not completely useless, but sub optimal and best avoided. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Not completely useless, but sub optimal and best avoided. 

Of course. 

Now that I have a new US will finally convert my entire rip library to FLAC. 

Hi Huge,

Interesting. The only connections I have to the NDS is apart from the compulsory interconnects the Audio Ethernet cable between the Melco and the NDS.

I guessed that the difference we heard came from that we used a PC as a “middleman” but as I understand from you so is not the case. When we listened I just changed source on my IPad without taking out the USB nor the Ethernet cable.

Would it be the same impact using digital inputs instead of USB? If so I guess the music must come into the NDS through an Ethernet cable.

Gunnar

Hi Gunnar,

When you say you used a PC as a "middleman", would I be right in thinking that you used the PC to rip CDs and/or find music on the internet and then load music files onto the Melco?  Any noise from the PC while doing this isn't going to get into the music files (at this point of non-real-time processing, the 'bits are bits' argument does hold true).
If I'm not right in this assumption, and the PC was playing the music somehow, how was it connected into the system?

The purpose of having two Ethernet ports on the Melco is for it to act as a low noise audio dedicated switch and keep the noise from the main part of the network away from the streamer.  So, because the PC isn't connected to the part of the network that connects to the streamer, in theory most of the noise from any PC on the main part of the network should be blocked by the Melco.

However, the Melco itself will inject some noise down the Ethernet (or USB) cable that's used to connect it to the streamer (but only a very small amount as that's the designed purpose of the Melco).  Reading data blocks from the USB stick will also put some noise into the NDS (but only a very small amount as the current draw is low).  It would be quite remarkable achievement for Melco to have reduced the noise from their NAS / Switch to be as low as from a USB memory stick.

If both are plugged in at the same time the pattern of the noise from the Melco (even when not playing anything) can interact with the pattern of noise from the USB stick data reads, and this combination can cause much more disturbance in the electronics of the streamer than when there's just one external noise source.

N.B.  When I say noise, I'm referring to noise, timing variations and any other electrically transmitted disturbances - but that's rather a lot to type each time!

In response to the last two questions:

Using another digital input instead of a USB stick won't help as we'll have no idea of it's noise performance, the point about a USB stick is that it's know to be a low noise source, and that noise is mostly correlated and even in distribution (all these points derive from the way it operates).

Yes the music data come from the Melco to the streamer through the Ethernet cable directly connecting the two.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Not completely useless, but sub optimal and best avoided. 

Of course. 

Now that I have a new US will finally convert my entire rip library to FLAC. 

Good move, Adam.  However, as I can state from personal experience, that is the first step towards membership in the "Former UnitiServe Owners Society(tm)."

Bart posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Not completely useless, but sub optimal and best avoided. 

Of course. 

Now that I have a new US will finally convert my entire rip library to FLAC. 

Good move, Adam.  However, as I can state from personal experience, that is the first step towards membership in the "Former UnitiServe Owners Society(tm)."

Nah... Not gonna happen - cannot abandon what I've started
I still prefer my UnitiServe to other solutions I've tried.

Hi Huge,

Thanks for the explanations. I am learning.

What I meant with “middleman” was that I downloaded from Highresaudio through my PC to the USB. The PC became by me maybe not the right definition the “middleman”. I did this just for getting the music on an USB for comparison. So now I know that my PC the “middleman” is innocent.

Normally I download music from Highresaudio directly into the HDD of the Melco. I select and pay and then everything downloads by itself.

When I rip CDs I use a Buffalo ripper connected to the Melco. The software in Melco also search for and download the covers. I never use my PC when ripping.

Our son is studying in Versailles and this weekend we will visit him but during next week even that I believe you are right I will give it a new trial and then take away the Ethernet cable from the NDS.

Gunnar

Hi Gunnar,

Don't forget with the Ethernet disconnected you'll have to use the front panel buttons to play music from the stick (the iPad connects via Ethernet!).

I hope you have a good time visiting your son and Versailles, the palace and gardens are quite extraordinary.