As long as the boxes dont wiggle relative to each other (the spikes on the separate boxes are level) and the seal between the lower two (the woofer test) is ok then the SBLs are ok. If the elements are damaged you’d hear it or hear nothing.
The two lower boxes form a sealed enclosure together so the silicone seal must be airtight but not to rigid as its purpose seem to be to isolate the boxes mechanically (vibrations),
I probably exaggerated.
But in my case, with the Nds, going from the Unitserve to the Melco N1zh2 was very significant. So with the N10 it must be more still.
As Drago has the HDX, the jump to N10 must be great I suppose.
I am surprised that you didn’t find a nice uplift streaming from your N10 vs Qobuz. However I don’t have Qobuz……but generally people tend to say that local is still better generally vs Qobuz. So with a top server as the N10, I thought there was a clear difference.
Hard tom decide.
The N1Z2H60 is a bit popular here and therefore there is experience.
N10/2 is more rare.
Should be better in theory - but is there something to think about.
Will it also work when not connected through its player port?
Think you have also connected both NDS and Melco to PN - not going PN-melco-NDS… correct?
Third candidate is n1zs 20/2
Should this ne not be even more top range than n10? There was a review mentioning this
@Meni have 552/500/Nd55/2X 555 dr/ SL2 .
He had the N1zh2 then the N10. He found an improvement.
The other thing to consider is the Melco ripper. And a linear ps to add to it. If you want to see how better the Melco rips will sound vs your HDX, you can try. Another 2k . Yes, I like to spend your money
If you have a lot of cds, then maybe it’s better to go for N1zh2 and the ripper, eventually with a linear ps, than N10.
Another problem….
And if you have still some money left, there’s the Chord M6 powerblock or the Musicworks . I am not kind, I know.
You only need to use SongKong if you no longer have the HDX. If you still have it, get it to convert your WAVs to FLAC.
This takes quite a long time, although the reduced file size of the FLACs will make the subsequent file transfer quicker.
Just a side note on Flac vs Wav on a Melco, my preference is for Wav, I believe @Darkebear holds this pref also. French @frenchrooster prefers the Alac format I think. I would consider reripping to the Melco. For me, I can tell a difference even using an apple super drive into the Melco. I use a D100/Sean Jacobs combo for almost all rips though and have long since deleted my old files. I buy a lot of CD’s still as I like to catalogue my music my way. If you only have 400 cds and will likely not buy more is a Melco and expensive luxury? Most people with expensive servers will spend 90%+ of their time listening to their own music. For me I use Qobuz when others are round and want to listen to music I don’t have or to try out new bands, but often times I buy blind as I am from the CD era and enjoy the fun of listening to new purchases without any prior experience of them.
Just try both - that is what I did.
I had PN for ten days and tried it both ways and preferred via Melco (your first option) even though everyone else prefers it the other way.
Eventually I decided against the PN as in my system I got better from my ER switch I already had - the PN was good but not for me better.
I also tried my ER (Ether Regen) switch both to ND555 via Melco (which I have been using for a long time) then direct from the switch as a hub:
My impression was that using the switch as a hub made things clearer in some respects but lost musical cohesion - bass was thinner and the overall musical presentation lost some foundation in bass and top-end was a bit fatigueing.
Put the melco back as the intermediate unit to the ND555 and it was all musically enjoyable and absorbing again.
It was not difficult to hear in my system for me - it may be otherwise in other systems from what other people say but it is not what I found, so just try it as it takes minutes just to plug-in differently and listen.
Thanks a lot. Found a thread where this is discussed - mostly in the direction of PN as switch for both. Clock from PN.
Will try the Melco (connected to PN via LAN port) and if the wow factor is good enough I will keep it that way. But maybe… I know what is happening during testing
@frenchrooster
Once again you hit my wallet hard … will let you know about results.
A Melco came to my mind long time ago - but after hearing, what PN can do… I was massively triggered
The first months I preferred the Melco player port , Nds connected to it.
But @Gazza found the PN port was better sounding, his Melco and Nd555 connected both to the PN.
I tried and agreed. When the PN is fully run in, we found that it’s better to connect all to PN. Dunc , with his DCS, found the same.