Hifi advice review ( the reviewer compared both, usb and UPNP, with Melco N1a and N1z, with different dacs, from Bryston to CH Precision) :
“ Via the Network output, however, both Melco servers sound freer fand at the same time rhythmically more assured. Everything seems to be un-blurred, utterly dynamic and transparent but also completely enveloping and free-flowing and entirely fluid and relaxed, but only when the music requires this. The result is decidedly non-technical and can best be described as being utterly musical and wholly involving.”
Hifi Plus review. Melco N10, by Alan Sircom:
“ It does the job beautifully. A server needs to achieve the goal of sending music to playback devices efficiently, and robustly. The Melco does these things, but also makes the music sound great, too. It’s a really excellent storage device that works equally well as a USB source and as the music server on a network. I marginally preferred the sound of Ethernet, because it’s a little bolder and direct, but the differences are minor.”
Well I really don’t know what to make of this. It is at odds with Melco’s own recommendations. It seems though that the differences are minor according to Alan Sircom.
I would be hesitant to draw firm conclusions based on these reviews. One wonders for instance what playback devices were being used? If they were something in the region of £10K then their results are perhaps not entirely surprising.
I really don’t know what to think. But I’m getting excellent results via USB and as at least one reviewer has described the differences as minor then the expense of buying say a Moon streaming DAC and an additional shelf for my Quadraspire rack would be difficult to justify.
There isn’t going to big difference in sound quality, but a difference there is.
Once you get to a certain level the difference becomes small mostly with just about everything, but small differences and especially better ones is all you can hope for.
I try to get the best i can from every component as if not i might as well just stick with a muso
If I had limitless funds I might be tempted to try a Moon streaming DAC with my Melco just to see if there really was a difference that I could appreciate. However we are talking at least another £3.5K here, and if I were to buy another Powerline for it, which I would definitely want to do, over £4K. To me that’s an awful lot of money that really I can’t afford on hi-fi. I have to draw a sensible line somewhere and it’s not as though I’m unhappy in any way with the sound I’m getting now. Plus it’s an extra box and I’m trying to keep box count to a minimum. But if it did turn out to be a really nice improvement, which seems a bit unlikely judging by at least the one review, I would be tempted.
As i said in previous post, you are happy with how it is, right?
So just sit back and enjoy rather than worry about it as you can go looking for a solution to a problem that you haven’t really got.
I agree with Dunc. No reason to worry. In your system it works for you, it’s the most important.
The discussion was more about the absolute optimal use of the Melco for which we disagree. But the differences are obvious with very expensive gear.
In your case a nice uplift would be to connect a linear ps to your Melco, like a Sbooster. I remind @Dunc had done it some years ago, before going up the ladder with Melco.
I tried a power supply on my n100 at the time and found an inpovement, but as i think i also said, i found the same inpovement by using the standard melco adapter power supply, but putting this on my house ring main and not on my separate hifi main.
The problem i found was it injected noise into the rest off my system rather than helping the melco out.
I’m sure that reduction in mains-borne noise due to the standard PSU was a factor in the improvement I got with the Plixir. However such was the scale and nature of the improvements with the Plixir that I think there’s more to it than that. I can’t prove it though.
Probably, i just couldn’t believe the difference once i found it.
I didn’t go looking for it, it was more by chance as i borrowed the power supply to power a d100 i had borrowed and just happened to plug the n100 into the house ring main, as i didn’t have a spare plug on my hifi main.
For sure the power supply will be doing its job, but its an interesting thing to try if you can as it might also save a few quid on buying a power supply, but if no separate hifi main is available then for sure get rid off the nasty noisy standard thing