Melco N1A Review

[rwjr44]

I haven't read it yet but it receives a "Greatest Bit" from AudioStream Computer Audio: http://www.audiostream.com/content/melco...drq1lEP.97

[Hifi_swlon]

Well, I think it's safe to say the reviewer liked it.

Quoting
"Let's get the easy part out of the way. The Melco N1A buffaloed my MacBook Pro + Synology NAS. It destroyed them, embarrassed them, and gave them a good schooling to boot. Music sounded frighteningly obviously comparatively more refined, more spacious, and more natural. End of story. I cannot imagine anyone in this universe who listens to music as an activity unto itself making the same comparison and not hearing the difference."

And in summary
"If it was me, and it is for now, and I had the Melco N1A, I'd rid myself of all NAS and hook the N1A up to my DAC of choice via USB—when and if the Melco implements Roon as their control app. I cannot live without Tidal HiFi integration and I've come to rely on Roon for much more than that."

Not sure whether he has inside info or just guessing, but if they adopted Roon it would be a much more interesting proposition in my opinion. Even just reading a few control setup issues from Womaz, and knowing that it needs various media servers running really puts me off.

Assuming Roon does become available, the only problem with these devices is that their local storage is no longer going to be 'local' in that Roon will always pull the data from the streamer to the Roon Server, do its processing and any conversions and send the audio back to the streamer in Roons own audio format RAAT. So any local storage kind of becomes a bit pointless and the music could be anywhere on a NAS. At least as I understand it from the Roon forums.

But I guess the Melco is sort of being marketed as a NAS anyway? I'm a bit confused by their positioning to be totally honest….i.e. whether its a NAS or a streamer.

The other main thing that pout me off was the internal photos - the N1Z looked very well engineered and high-end, much like an Aurender. The N1A looked very basic and not much to it. I guess the proof's in the listening, and this reviewer seems pretty excited about it!

[Womaz]

Not sure whether he has inside info or just guessing, but if they adopted Roon it would be a much more interesting proposition in my opinion.  Even just reading a few control setup issues from Womaz, and knowing that it needs various media servers running really puts me off.


[/quote]

Please do not let my experience put you off. I have had it a week now and I think it has improved my set up considerably.
The issues I had were that I was trying to use a Lumin app with it and  me and the dealer had not give it enough time to load the library.
I dont use Lumin now. I have switched to Kinsky. The app experience is the only thing that holds the Melco back I beleive, but they are working on that.

The Melco has worked flawlessly since I had mine installed. I find it just sounds very like AIR but with a little bit more of the good bits. Excellent bass and a good open airy sound,and definitely more clarity. Voices are more prominent and stand out more.

My only doubt is that greater clarity and detail has added to my brightness issues......maybe thats a price you have to pay i am not sure.

I needed something stable to replace AIR, I was cynical about what any renderer could do compared to AIR. I  was wrong it sounds better.
hifi swlon I think we have similar systems so you could also find it a tad too bright and forward, but it improves such a lot of other areas.......oh and of course IT IS STABLE AND IT WORKS