ND555 Impressions

I tried the Melco cable - it is OK but preferred in my system others.

Definitely try at some point to get a reference sound some Cat5e non-HiFi cable with it, as the things you report as not liking are the signature of a bad cable interaction possibly.

The Melco is clean-sounding and does not like anything that boosts HF or it will shout and sizzle a bit - other music servers can be dull (so dull) and need the lift to make them work.
I know it is Ethernet and ‘makes no difference’ but it does in practice.

In short do not presume a good or excellent Ethernet cable that you verified with another device suits the Melco - I’d even say Melco’s cable does not do what I wanted ultimately.

DB.

1 Like

:small_blue_diamond:Meni,…I think Chord C-Stream is dynamic limited in its presentation.
And also,.it does not go so high at the top.
But it is my view…

I’ve had some C-stream lying in a box a few years now :sunglasses:.

/Peder🙂

I am just enjoying my 2nd 555PS on my ND555. Even just after installation it’s clear that bass control, staging and timing have improved. An exciting weekend ahead.

4 Likes

Once you hear what it does - and if you like what it does - then you have made a very nice system upgrade.
It also gets better with run-in and in a few months will be even better. I find the DR supplies need a month or more to open-out and over a few more months you get a lot more fine detail and more natural presentation of spacial information.

DB.

Not discussing the disk Raid, mine was default 0.
The file sharing on/off is an option you can select to isolate the Melco - it is meant to sound better ‘off’ but I found I disliked it off and ‘on’ gave more easy-detail.
Try all the options and decide what you like.

Your AQ cables should be fine and probably better than mine. I use AQ Vodka for ND555 connection and the cheap Cat5e Belden much-discussed previously for a 4m run to my switch.

Run-in of new expensive HiFi cables can be hard work with Melco and ND555 but yours are already well run-in so should be immediately good.

If you get too much low-bass then adjust the on-shelf position - I think the squishy big Melco feet interact with the shelf and there is a ‘sweet-spot’ where nothing finds resonance and you get great isolation.

DB.

1 Like

Didn’t invest to much on Ethernet cables,didn’t believe to much, but now I’m starting to trust ,need to try,only heard the vodka with N1ZH/2 and it was really good

I know what it can do. I heard it once at a Naim demo at their home base with a NDS. The main win besides all aspects was for me the more natural / or more real sound. Especially to be heard with acoustic instruments.

I received my melco. However for now it stays at my dealer place because my dealer will try to transfer all my music library from the unitserve to the melco. He doesn’t know, as me, how to do that.
We installed together the naim desktop client and all my music can appear on the dealer pc. But now the files must be transcoded in flac , then sent to the melco.
My dealer will ask how to do that. If he finally doesn’t succeed, i will take the uniticore instead. I hope he will succeed however.

1 Like

It’s more of an upgrade as I even could anticipate. The refinement is so much bigger, I love it already now…

1 Like

You can use SongKong to do it apparently - it comes installed on the Melco.

Hopefully this does not break any forum rules - just trying to help.

DB.

This all seems inordinately complex.

1 Like

thanks DB. i will suggest him that.

There is no need to use Songkong. As you still have the Unitiserve, you can convert to FLAC on that, then copy to the Melco. This will also be quicker, as the FLACs will have smaller file sizes than WAVs.

1 Like

yes, but this stage itself is not easy for me or my dealer. When all my music appears on the pc via the naim desktop client for the unitserve, what do after?

On the Mac OSX version of the N-Serve app, it’s very simple to do the conversion. I don’t use Windows, but I imagine it would be simple on that, too.

1 Like

The 2nd day starting with my 2nd 555PS. I had the machine running over night to speed up the run in. And it still amazes me in how much better it is with 2PS. I also have this thought on how strange our hobby is. I was before totally happy with the 1PS, but now realize what I have been missing and can’t imagine to step back again. Besides what I already mentioned better bass control, better soundstage, much better tonality…, it’s also in a way more relaxed or smooth.
I am very happy that I made the change.

4 Likes

Bert, firstly congrats on the 2nd PS. I‘m glad you are enjoying the upgrade. It‘s scary though having heard how good your system
was with 1 PS and an NDS!
I wonder how it would sound with a Statement :joy:

I remember right clicking on the top of the file tree in the US MQ folder and selecting the convert to flac option. This took about 10 seconds. The conversion itself then took about two days. It really is very simple.

Statement only when I win a lottery, and as I only do lottery once a year, chances are pretty high that this is my endpoint.

2 Likes

don’t resist Bert, resistance is futile ! sell your BWW X6 and buy an S1. You will drive with pleasure a Citroen 2cv🤪

image

1 Like