I found exactly the contrary, as Melco rendering very nicely the tones and textures of instruments. If it was lacking rythme and involvement, I would never have bought it, because it’s very important to me.
I observed that the default setting was direct mode, which gave a very smooth and not dynamic sound. Setting on bridge mode gave completely different results.
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I used to own an NDX2, XPS DR and mid range Innuos and was very pleased with the SQ. I’d ripped my CDs on the Innuos and stored on a hard drive.
My dealer then gave me a good offer on an ND555.
I used a chord cable and directly linked it to the BT hub2.
I stream using Qobuz and the SQ is so good I don’t bother with any of my ripped music as it’s not up to the streaming SQ.
I’m sure there are several improvements that can be made but they maybe will not warrant the hassle as I’m trying to resist the madness of tinkering for small gains.
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I suppose it all depends on what we were listening to and comparing it to. I have no recollection of which Melco model was demonstrated, nor unfortunately about either of the modes. I can only tell you it was a couple of years ago. Despite my negative impression, I did audition the switch and found it did similar things, so I assumed that was their sort of house preference.
I suppose this is a bit like a post elsewhere recently by a forum member who I respect (but whose name momentarily slips my mind), who found the sonic performance of the Core superior to a NAS, while I found the reverse, albeit only by a small margin.
We find the same polarised opinion about Chord versus Naim streamers/DACs, too (although the two if us are in the same camp on that).
It’s why although we might be influenced about what to audition by forum members, we should always try and listen before we buy!
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I own both, it isn’t, even if using a 555ps on the CDX2 but it is possible to mess one up, running both in the same system didn’t optimise the ND555 even if signal earth is set to floating, though it was better than when set to chassis.
If you wanted to make an ND555 sound poor it would be easy enough to do and hard to spot if you weren’t familiar with them.
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Thats a perfect example of what I hoped to get out of this thread and aligns with my thinking. Leverage prior experience and go straight to the front of the queue.
Looking forward to auditioning the Innuos, a shame I wont be able to compare directly with Melco. To be fair, that was the marketing blurb from the Zenith, it doesn’t say that about the statement, which just says its for “discerning audiophiles”…
There’s a review with Nuno Vittorino who is basically Mr Innuos, a bit like Vereker was Mr Naim (except Innuos is a husband and wife team), where he tries to clarify that he doesn’t aim for a house sound.
A lot of top-end audiophile products go for this very smooth, rich, somewhat lifeless and texturally polished sound that’s the antithesis of Naim. The Innuos products that I’ve auditioned very much don’t do that. But they do seem very good at getting rid of the noise and timing inconsistencies often described as “digital hash”.
Anyway, I hope you get a good long audition so you can really experience the musical differences rather than just listening into the sounds and look forward to reading your findings.
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I started off with a qnap years ago. Hated all the faffing with ripping on a computer and dragging the files across.
Next a unitiserve which I got on with much better - I didn’t have problems with ease of use. Used with NDS and before that nd5xs
Then a core which was better again - can’t remember if I got that before or after the nd555. The core is spectacularly easy to use in my experience - if the music database doesn’t have the album in it’s easy to add cover art and track names.
Then got English Electric switch which brought huge improvement.
Then I got Melco n1z which for some months was upstairs in loft - didn’t do much comparison with the core sq wise, but it did sound better wireless via the nd555 than the core did wired to the nd555.
Now I just have the Melco n1z wired to nd555 and got rid of core (helped in a small way to finance the 808s and 500!). In some ways I regret disposing of the core - so much easier to use than the n1z, and it’s very rare that the n1z actually displays album art, it often shows the wrong album art, searching is terrible, sometimes the artist list then doesn’t show the albums for that artist or just lists the first track on each album rather than the first track. To do any editing of the metadata I have to get software for my laptop - but haven’t got round to it. The Melco system is not (in my experience) very user friendly - at that the core is (in my experience - and also a local friend who kept his core as well as getting n1z) vastly superior
Anyway - I kind of wish I had stuck with the core. Would have been much simpler, if not sounding quite as good
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Don’t kick yourself Elfer, it’s good to push the boundaries at times. I’ve had some interesting moments in my time, where a flatbed truck took the remains away 
and as long as it doesn’t come to that these days, The World is a good place! Good luck with your purchases 
Best Peter
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Thats what Im aiming to do but without the iterative process of starting from the cheapest/simplest and working onwards and upwards from there. Im just trying to get a good head start, if not necessarily (though hopefully) end game.
Great example of what I mean by a head start
Another great example of what Im trying to achieve. Almost universal consensus that there is a significant benefit to either of these, which one being a mater of taste (or in my case perhaps, what’s available). Again, rather than trying models iteratively, I would go straight to the end of the line. Perhaps I could achieve 80% of the performance with another model in the range but I don’t have the time or inclination to test out multiple configurations. Would I end up paying 50% more for 20% gain, possibly, but Im OK with that.
Noted. Fortunately the options are already narrowed down such that I dont think there’s a wrong choice left. The dealer might push me towards the top rather than midrange, but Im going there anyway.
We are on the same page…
Did you test it in isolation or compare with Innuos?
Michael, apologies if i missed this, but have you tried the Innuos Statement streaming Qobuz versus the ND555 streaming Qobuz?
Very useful feedback, thanks Tim…
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Useful feedback on the Melco, Tim.
Hi Tim,
I’m in a similar quandary here, sticking with my HDX which is so easy to use, and, having been fully refurbished by Naim a couple of years ago, should be good for some time to come.
With this in mind, I recently bought a Unitiserve from Acoustica’s eBay page, for not a lot of money, and to have available … … … just in case.
Now Pete is keen to sell me a brand new, “pre price increase” Core, with me trading in both the HDX and Unitiserve, though I think he’s undervaluing this “old technology” somewhat.
The thing is, the HDX just works, and I do like the fact that I can save storage space by ripping in FLAC, yet have it convert to WAV for replay, which the Core can’t do.
Sometimes the old “if it ain’t broke” mantra seems best.
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Is it right that the cds3 mechs are no longer available?
The 1250 may no longer be available but I know the cds3 can be fitted with the 1202. And afaik Naim still sells the cd5si, so surely the 1202 mechs must be available, right?
I did but quite frankly can’t any longer remember what differences I found. When things get a little less hectic work-wise today (hoping they do), I will have a little prat around and scribble back something detailed and intelligible.
Unfortunately not, at least not currently.
Thanks Michael……just interested
I compared vs the Core and Unitserve. No Innuos dealer near me.
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