Well, I think it would be beneficial for the OP to try an alternative to the Melco streamer transport, which need not cost £5k. I certainly think it would be better value than going up the Melco hierarchy.
Incidentally, electronic boxes these days perform to such a high standard and, for me at least, I’m more focused on getting the right loudspeakers for my room. I’m jealous of your PMC MB2s and somthing like that might suit me very well.
That has always been my prime focus, above electronics and source! After all they make the biggest single difference to the sound character of the system. I have managed to have extremely good speakers for about 48 years now!
The secondhand market is where to watch…
I’m curious. There are no less than 8 Daves on the UK second hand market at the moment. That’s an incredible number for a £10k box. Is Chord about to bring out a successor do you think?
No idea at all. And uf there us, there’s no way I’m changing as long as mine keeps working, which I hope will be 20++ more years! When I bought mine, almost seven years ago now, I did get a reasonable discount, but having been new nit secondhand it is still the most I have ever oaid on a hi-fi item.
I wouldn’t add a network streamer for the reasons I’ve already indicated, even if I could afford it. Not to mention that my Melco then becomes nothing but a very over-priced NAS device.
As for speakers being the focus, rather than the electronics, that is now my view. Our system was built around our Klipsch Forte III speakers. These I’m sure account for much of the sheer realism of the system. We ran them with a Denon Micro System for around a week or so whilst waiting the arrival of our Moon amp and they sounded fabulous. If it came to having to downsize for any reason we would keep the speakers and run them with a Denon if necessary.
I agree. I’m not sure how much there is to improve in electronic boxes. The Dave would be an attractive buy if there is a successor.
I’ve heard good things about Klipsch. I suspect the larger enclosures will give me what I’m missing at the moment.
We got the Klipsch’s around two years ago. Up until then I’ve always had small speakers at home. Naim IBL’s for seventeen years and Kans for five years before that. Also a brief stint with nSats. (before that various budget models, too numerous to mention).
The Klipsch’s are obviously large speakers and they bring a quality that I don’t believe any small speaker can hope to match. The extra bass depth and weight and scale was expected of course. But it’s more the sense of dynamic freedom, of not holding back at all on crescendos, that gives an incredibly lifelike and out-of-the-box expansive sound. Difficult to convey in words, but smaller speakers sound strained in comparison, as though the music is being forced out of them. The horn loaded mid and HF units give an incredible immediacy and transient snap. Very ‘live’ sounding. Truly they are the best speakers that I’ve personally ever heard.
Rob Watts said in a recent interview a successor to the MScaler, in Choral guise, is due around end of the year and a new full size Ultima DAC is scheduled for next year. No plans for a DAVE 2 have been revealed.
I wonder if the ultima dac is Dave 2. Certainly, Dave is often paired with the Ultima amplification, with purpose made rack, and very nice it looks too.
No, I don’t think so, the Ultima DAC is same footprint as Ultima amp/pre amps and is rumoured to cost more than twice the DAVE.
At that price they’ll be calling it after a classical composer. The Chord Williams, perhaps!
Or maybe HAL, like in Allien movie.
A recommendation from Audirvāna devs is to buy a cheap HDMI screen dummy plug that simulates a screen. They say running headless otherwise doesn’t trigger the GPU in the Mac mini causing the CPU to use more power which eventually can affect sound quality. It’s like 10 USD on Amazon.
HAL was the rogue computer system in 2001 Space Odyssey.
I wonder if they are effectively combining Dave and an MScaler into the one box.
No doubt shall see in due course.
Absolutely, yes. My memory error. 
The replacement MScaler is supposed to be Choral design (DAVE) shape/footprint, I haven’t heard anything suggesting combining both. Looking like early 2024 release.
A combined unit would have its attraction, as you say we will see in due course.
I moved from N100 to N10, and I found it a big step up, in my system. I use Roon as my library interface, so I’ve no experience of the Melco app. My N10 is now 97% full, so I have to tackle the question of disc expansion.
Could you possibly elaborate on the differences please.
There doesn’t seem to have been much said in response to the original question posed, which I can precis as:
“What is the extra benefit gained in buying any Melco box over and above the entry level N100?”