Melco N1A

The Melco can indeed run with Minimserver, I also have it running like that. You connect your streamer to the Melco and the Melco to the network for pass through and things like Tidal. In that setup you can use the Naimapp and the streamers as you are used to....

Yes the Melco seems to be gaining ground both for its sound quality and also ease of use. I recently found out that you can rip directly to it using a USB CD/DVD unit. In my opinion minim server seems to run better and moving around music within the library seems to be very easy.

Looking forward to hearing a Moon Mind (or something) - Melco - Hugo, might be a nice replacement for the unitiserve sad and NDac.

Tim

I have a Melco N1A and have used it instead of running off the UPnP server of a Netgear NAS II Duo. There was a substantial improvement in sound quality particularly (and strangely) on bass.

It can run Minim (and mine has it already loaded).

I connect it to my player with its dedicated Ethernet port (the other port goes to the router for play from other devices and downloading).

It can connect directly to a DAC via a USB but the DAC needs to be able to run some form of control app. As the Naim players can play music from a USB device this should work OK but it is not necessary with the dual Ethernet connections.

I also buy music from High Res Audio and this automatically downloads albums to the Melco.

I have not tried the facility to rip CDs directly onto it via a USB connected player. I use dBPowerAmp to rip CDs and don't see how the Melco can do anything like that.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies. Do you all consider it to be value for money, judged purely on sonic improvement over conventional NAS, i.e. ignoring convenience aspects?

David

For the £1600 (at the time) I paid, yes, it was value for money. I have an SU and had already got a Poweline and Fraimlite.

PeterJ posted:

 

I have not tried the facility to rip CDs directly onto it via a USB connected player. I use dBPowerAmp to rip CDs and don't see how the Melco can do anything like that. 

  

The Melco (I've an N1Z) rips CDs just fine. You plug a CD drive into the appropriate USB socket at the back (I use a Samsung one), it then recognises the CD, gives you a choice of metadata if necessary, and then rips in either Wave or FLAC, depending on what you set it up to do. I actually use DbPoweramp, because it's a bit more convenient to rip on my computer.

The Melco's significantly better than a NAS or computer, I use mine connected directly to the DAC via USB.

Yes I would say the investment is clearly worth it especially for the base Melco, the others bring even more but are less of a jump as compared to a normal NAS....

With the latest firmware you can also 'play' CDs from an attached CD drive.  I haven't had a chance to judge SQ.

My N1A via USB (to Aries Vega) is by far the best digital front end I have achieved after a lot of trial and error with different approaches

The Melco doesn't need to be connected to a streamer as it has a very good renderer built in. Instead, for maximum SQ it can go direct to a DAC (e.g. nDAC, Hugo, HugoTT etc.). I think it was Minimserver in use to control it when I heard it, when it was played through a Dave DAC, and performance as a renderer compared with Mac Mini/Audirvana, to which it was very similar.

I know it's going over old ground, but I must point out that in my system the Melco, even the N1A, bettered my Mac Mini/Audirvana+ by a considerable margin.

tonym posted:

I know it's going over old ground, but I must point out that in my system the Melco, even the N1A, bettered my Mac Mini/Audirvana+ by a considerable margin.

To which I must point out that my comparison, which though brief would have noticed considerable difference but very possibly not minor difference, Didn't detect any obvios difference between them. However my Mac Mini/Audirvana was using a different means of isolating RF from the computer and into a different DAC (Dave vs QBD76), compared to Tonym, and my hypothesis is that the difference may be due to different effectiveness of RF removal between the different systems using the MM. Knowing the significant effect RF can have tgat seems to me to be a very possible explanation, though it is not proven and there could be others: Tony and I agreed to disagree on this!

One small correction - I did first try DAVE before getting the Melco, with Mac mini/Audirvana+. 

Just to clarify on the subject of Melco N1A vs MM/Audirvana, I should add that in reporting a lack of obvious difference to me between a well isolated MM/Aud source and the Melco I am not knocking the latter - from my brief hearing it does indeed seem to be a good machine, and given that it appears to have good RF filtering on its output that is one variable removed compared to MM/Aud, and it requires less setting up, so In fact would seem to be better, of the two - though I don't do anything other than mention it as I don't have enough experience of it to feel I can give it full endorsement.  Pricewise it is not a huge amount more than the MM approach, and the differential is probably reasonable for a ready to go solution vs saving a few £100 with a MM for those on a tight budget - but if already running a MM the small investment in ensuring it is adequately isolated if the DAC is not proven to be exemplary in this regard, and ensuring the setup is optimised, is probably more worth it than changing to a Melco, which is the reason why I myself having heard the Melco am not tempted to change. Anyone comparing needs to do so in the system it is to be used in, but most particularly with the intended DAC. I heard  through Dave DAC, Bryston amp and PMC Fact 12 speakers.

tonym posted:

I know it's going over old ground, but I must point out that in my system the Melco, even the N1A, bettered my Mac Mini/Audirvana+ by a considerable margin.

Yes same here and this was on a very well optimised Mac that had fronted quite a few Mac 'n' Dac combinations (and with various software players finally settling on Audirvana without iTunes integration).

Don't get me wrong, the Mac was an excellent source and one i could have quite happily continued using, but after hearing my system with the Melco up front, it was a no brainer to upgrade. 

All IMHO of course 

tonym posted:

One small correction - I did first try DAVE before getting the Melco, with Mac mini/Audirvana+. 

But not comparing the two sources into Dave?

james n posted:

tonym posted:

I know it's going over old ground, but I must point out that in my system the Melco, even the N1A, bettered my Mac Mini/Audirvana+ by a considerable margin.

Yes same here and this was on a very well optimised Mac that had fronted quite a few Mac 'n' Dac combinations (and with various software players finally settling on Audirvana without iTunes integration).

Don't get me wrong, the Mac was an excellent source and one i could have quite happily continued using, but after hearing my system with the Melco up front, it was a no brainer to upgrade. 

All IMHO of course 

 

James, can you elucidate on the isolation you had between MM and the various DACs? (Best tried if more than one approach)

i am certainly not ruling out re-evaluating Melco in the fullness of time, with a fuller listening session at home, but I am intrigued at the indication of very significant differences when it wasn't apparent when I heard.

Hi IB,

Lavry was optical.

Weiss DACs were Firewire (albeit it with converter in line to break the 5v supply at computer end)

Devialet - straight USB and then USB Regen in line - USB regen worked very well. Did try an Audioquest Jitterbug but this got returned pretty quickly. 

Melco - initially used bare but have since added an Intona USB isolator which provided a little bit more goodness.

All of this with Chord Silver Plus USB (and some cheap Maplin cable between the Melco and Intona) - i'm sure it could be a bit better with another Chord USB cable here, but the results are very pleasing and i'm less inclined to fiddle. 

I'd certainly give it a long term go if you get the chance. I was really surprised how much better it was than my Mac setup which made it an easy decision (and my experiments with USB cables and isolators proved the Devialet is relatively sensitive to the quality of its USB source. 

James

Innocent Bystander posted:

tonym posted:

One small correction - I did first try DAVE before getting the Melco, with Mac mini/Audirvana+. 

But not comparing the two sources into Dave?

Let me just correct your confusion here. When DAVE first appeared, I was naturally very keen to try it, so borrowed my excellent dealer's demo one. This I tried with - Mac Mini (optimised for audio, Paul Hynes power supply), using both Audirvana+ and my preferred Amarra symphony with iRC room correction, into, first, DAVE's USB input, then via SPDIF from my Paul Hynes powered Wave IO USB/SPDIF convertor. I tried the USB cable that came with DAVE, then my Chord Silver Plus USB lead. I also used my iFi USB supply.

After trying Melco for the first time, into my QBD76HDSD, my dealer suggested I retry DAVE with the Melco. This I did, but with the same result regarding DAVE. I also tried using Wave IO/ifi etc. etc. Lots of detail, spaciousness, but just lacking musicality. Better than with Mac Mini though. I swapped between QBD and DAVE, with several fellow forum members present, who all preferred the QBD.

Conclusion - I don't like DAVE as much as my QBD, and the Melco's a better source than a Mac Mini.

I have N1A, Samsung portable Blu-Ray connected for ripping, V3.11 downloaded and I really prefer its delivery to the NAS I used before. Minimserver is loaded and I prefer this also. Connected via Ethernet to N272/250DR. I'm happy I bought mine, playing now 24bit.

In my experience not all Mac Minis sound the same!  In a system, where the only change was the Mac MIni, from an older one to a newer one, both SSD, both tested with / without a Regen, both same version and set-up of Audivarna, using the same NAS, the newer was very significantly better.  Maybe lower noise internal power supply, who knows.  The Melco was better than the better Mac Mini in my system.

lowdean posted:

In my experience not all Mac Minis sound the same!  In a system, where the only change was the Mac MIni, from an older one to a newer one, both SSD, both tested with / without a Regen, both same version and set-up of Audivarna, using the same NAS, the newer was very significantly better.  Maybe lower noise internal power supply, who knows.  The Melco was better than the better Mac Mini in my system.

I don't know about minis but I do know that my newish mac mini sounds significantly better than my friends mac book pro in the same system and with the same software.  I've always put it down to the fact that the pro has to drive a screen etc.

lowdean posted:

In my experience not all Mac Minis sound the same!  In a system, where the only change was the Mac MIni, from an older one to a newer one, both SSD, both tested with / without a Regen, both same version and set-up of Audivarna, using the same NAS, the newer was very significantly better.  Maybe lower noise internal power supply, who knows.  The Melco was better than the better Mac Mini in my system.

Yep - lots of variables, hence the appeal of something where all the hard work and optimisation has been done already.

Fair play though to the guys on Computer Audio forums with their two box computer creations with cryo'd SATA cables and reclocked SSD drives but life's a bit too short and there's a lot of music to be enjoyed 

[@mention:41551091830475636] - your post mentions Melco directly into NDac, how does this work as I thought the Melco was USB out. Is there some sort of converter cable so it can attach to the NDac BNC inputs.

Cheers

Tim

Timbo posted:

[@mention:41551091830475636] - your post mentions Melco directly into NDac, how does this work as I thought the Melco was USB out. Is there some sort of converter cable so it can attach to the NDac BNC inputs.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

Sorry, as in another thread in which I said much the same at the same time, I had forgotten that limitation with the nDAC: I remembered that only one of the Naim DACs had a usb input, and so had a quick look at a picture of the nDAC and, seeing usb socket, assumed it was that one, but that socket apparently isnt for such an input: I was mixing it up with the DAC V1. So no, it can't go direct, and converter is indeed needed. Richard Dane is currently evaluating the Gustard U12 for that function (search Gustard and you should find it - most recent postbwas only in the last few days). The Gustard has RCA not BNC SPDIF output, but RCA to BNC cables are readily available (and I think Naim supply an RCA to BNC adaptor for the BNC inputs on their machines?); Richard is trialling the Gustard's AES/EBU output as an alternative. The Gustard is the same unit I use as an isolator between my Mac Mini/Audirvana and Hugo, Hugo being susceptible to RF interference if not adequately isolated. It is inexpensive and the majority of users rate it highly, however there are other alternatives out there.

I am quite envious at those that have been happy with their Macs as high end transports.. I have used severeal Macs, and several DACs with various software platforms including Audirvana based in part by what I read on here and it just do it for me for hifi.. if I am honest compared to a Naim streamer into a DAC like a Hugo its light years away... but perhaps that just me

Now I just my Macs for music production for my videos using Reason and such like... and I guess if using USB into an external DAC I can see how the Melco will get you closer to the UPnP rendered Naim streamer performance.

But as I have found  keep your NAS and media server software simple with preferably no transcoding for optimum SQ if using a Naim streamer. If you keep those inter media frame timings  nice and consistent on the network and at a higher than required throughput you get a SQ performance lift.. I suspect this is what does the Melco does as well.