Melco Mania

I would strongly recommend that anyone using Roon compare any auditioned Melco with a Roon Nucleus or Nucleus+ using their recommended SSD and a high-quality external power supply. The Nucleus with supplied wallwart was already a significant step up from a good NAS, but adding the Sean Jacobs/Custom HiFi Cables DC3 power supply has more than doubled the difference, freeing the ND555 with 2x555PS to leap into an entirely different league.

A great summary FR.

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Yep, and nice problems to have :+1:

Iā€™m connecting the same as you with the same devices donā€™t use roon,so what is roon for? What extra benefit does it add in terms of sound quality?

Thatā€™s a good question; my response is that I was disappointed with the Asset experience on my QNAP - it was slow. To solve this I went for a dedicated music server that runs MinimServer and Roon.

Iā€™ve not been a fan of Minim in the past, and still not convinced but Roon offers a more pictorial / graphical way of exploring my music. If I subscribed to something like Tidal, Roon would integrate my music library with Tidal.

Iā€™m half way through my free trial with Roon and I like is discovery feature and Roon Radio; the latter is a feature that suggests similar types of music to the one Iā€™ve selected.

If you have Tidal or Qobuz the Radio comes into its own as it makes suggestions out of your own library. Ive lost count of how many albums I have added since it came out early this year.

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I didnā€™t understand quite well, so againā€¦I care only in terms of sound, is it better?

My move from a Qnap to Audiostore Prestige 3 has improved the SQ. Roon has added nothing but a more user friendly interface.

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Only you can make that claim, Roon do not claim anything other than it delivers bit perfect to your streamer or dac. Itā€™s a transparent transport as all servers aim to be. Some say they have heard sq lift, others not so. Roon is about managing your library in a different way, aggregating it with streaming services so itā€™s transparent as to what the source is as it all becomes part of your Roon library from wether itā€™s local or from Tidal or Qobuz. It also has the best multiroom system about and a very good and DSP engine. It engages you with your library in a different way to what others do. Some like it some donā€™t.

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I care only for sound, nothing else doesnā€™t matter to me.

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Meni, Roon is a music management system and there are several threads on this forum which deal with it.
For me, it is the best music management program which I have come across. I do not use any of itā€™s sound altering possibilities, so for me it has nothing to do with sound quality, but has a huge beneficial effect on the music listening experience, although there are others who disagree.
The Roon ā€˜coreā€™ (the music database) runs on a variety of network attached devices, and the selection of music to be played is done via an app on your phone, tablet, etc.
Using a Melco in isolation mode would not permit the use of Roon. For that reason I have no interest in that mode.
David

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what is isolation mode? itā€™s direct ethernet ( nd5555 to melco switch) ?

Yes

so why you have bought the Melco ? Why not a Roon Nucleus instead? The Melco in direct connection is the main advantage for sound quality.

The Melco is my music store. Roon is the tool which I use to access it. They make a great combination. My Melco is directly connected to my ND555, but not in ā€˜isolation modeā€™.

what is isolation mode? i have a melco n1 /2 and the nds is connected to it. But i donā€™t choose direct mode . Is it that ?

Isolation mode basically makes the Melco act as a DHCP server to whatā€™s connected on the streamer port. It stops then any other network traffic so you cant use say the Naim app or Roon to control your device and it cant see the internet only the Melco can talk to it.

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so what can be the advantage of this isolation mode?

Iā€™d imagine they claim SQ. Personally I see none.

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Actually I didnā€™t used to think this, and when I bought my NDX I did hear the HDX as well and the NDX was clearly better, but I am beginning to think the server side is much more important now and I am attracted to models Iā€™ve seen which incorporate all the server and streamer stuff in one box negating the need to worry about the network. As a super low cost option Iā€™m even considering having a listen to the Auralic Aries Mini. I think the ripping function as provided by the Core will be needed less and less going forward. For most people at most it may be a big one-time job to rip CD collections, but I very rarely buy CDs now - only really as a last resort. And itā€™s generally easier to use a PC and good software like dbPoweramp in any case for equally good results. I would welcome a well-executed HDX2 although it would have to have a good control interface as well or allow suitable third-party software (Asset, Minimserver) to run on it.