Melco Mania

I’d say I’m tech minded, but with most things today the setup is a nightmare and the setup manual is daunting.

When I saw the manual I thought it was a quick start guide, well it was because it was such doddle.

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I use it to get Qobuz Hi res stuff plus it pulls together my other files from Tidal etc, sounds good. I don’t have the Zen Mini, it’s the Zen, both great servers though.

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Going from a £40 Raspberry Pi to a £900 Zen Mini 3, was enough a jump.

Should I site it away from the Nova, was looking to put it on the shelf under it.

I had a quick chat with the dealer, they rate the Zen using it for all their shop Roon setup. I mentioned I wanted the Naim Core when I got the Atom, then Nova, but glad I did not as it seems riddled with problems offers very little function and is double the price and comes with no hard drive.

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I have the Zen on the shelf below the Nova, no problems, it’s quiet as a mouse. My Naim dealer sells Innuos as well so was easy for me to demo and get background. I previously had a Unitiserve which cured me of buying Naim servers, sometimes it’s good to stick with what your’e good at, in addition to the price the Core has no Roon compatibility and if the reliability is anything like my Unitiserve, no thanks.
The Zen Mini is a cracking bit of kit for very reasonable money.

Thanks, only had a brief listen before dinner, it was busy in the house, but I still sounded good.

Tomorrow I hope to listen in piece and quite, I intend leaving the Zen Mini as setup, then before I take it back swap back to the Raspberry Pi and then back, just to see if it is worth it (although that ship has already sailed).

One last question, is Roon to PCM sonically better ?

Lastly thanks to all in the thread for guiding me to the Zen, what I love about the forum and also Naim.

Oh one other question is it supposed to stay power on 24/7 ?

Roon to PCM better, have switched back and forth comparing but not much, had this discussion with my dealer the consensus is yes a bit better, my view as well, not massively but better.
I think I can guess which way you will go, enjoy your new Zen server :grinning:
Yes power on 24/7.

Aha just powered it on switched from UPnP to Roon, realise what dealer was saying now, the demo Zen is signed I to their account so Roon works.

Recall setting up Roon via a laptop to test, the Zen was open the Roon app DONE.

Will leave it powered on is whisper quite close up, but to be honest the damn Sky Q is so noisy anyway.

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i am happy for you that the zen works. I am more and more thinking on buying an innuos later, probably the zenith mk3.
The direct connection ( nova to innuos ) is better sounding than nova and innuos to cisco?

Hello my friend, yes I intend to demo this weekend in peace and quite, assuming I buy it (pretty certain) I do intend to remove the Cisco switch and go direct.

Might start a new thread for that as started this looking at a Melco

Fun times ahead, as I also finally ordered some SR HFT, room acoustics Err dots …

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I’m not interested in that either, but I much prefer the browsing experience to the Naim app, love the way it integrates my library with online services, while clearly identifying each and the type of recording, and appreciate the music I encounter and rediscover thanks to the way it works. I also find the Roon Nucleus offers superior SQ in a neater and more compact package than the NAS I used previously…

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Yes don’t know why, my dealer suggested this connection sequence, he was right.

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Will post a more detailed thread, but this was a quick decision, told dealer order one then I’ll give up the demo unit :sunglasses:

Note for a good ABA I left the Cisco in place, hence it was just one ethernet cable swap from Pi to Zen.

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Nice one, good move, the Zen Mini’s seem to be still available the other Zen’s are difficult to source. Happy listening.

They benefit from a bit of burn in, too. I have to say, I’m absolutely loving mine and have removed the NAS completely. Back up is now via a 4Tb WD “My Passport” - all very straightforward and easy.

Many post were written here,and Im completely confuse,I am lookind to add a music sever to my ND555,which one? Im totally lost…Melco or Zen

Interesting looking post, how did you achieve that?

for an nd555 i would go at minimum to the middle one melco or innuos. so melco n1z2 or innuos zenith mk3. Or naim uniticore eventually.
Personally innuos will be later my choice ( zenith mk3).

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Find a dealer to home demo one or both and decide.

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I had a unity core audition for 2 weeks, didn’t impressed enough as a server,but at that time it was with my previous Nds streamer