Aurender N100 v AIR

[Womaz]

"Melco are apparently working on their own control app"

Within past couple weeks I've been in touch with Melco/Buffalo and there will be no Melco control app in foreseeable future and perhaps not at all - so if that matters to you probably good to look at Aurender, Lumin or Bryston devices. These apps can be expensive to develop and not every manufacturer is ready to spent the resources in time/money if they cannot expect to recover the investment through sales. The Lumin D1, the Aurender X100 or the latest Bryston USB player may be good choices for you.

I seem to recall that you preferred the SQ of the Melco over the Aurender.?
Having its own app does not really bother me as Lumin and other apps would work. What bothers me is I would probably have to set the Melco up myself and copy all of my music across. Then change my DBPoweramp settings to save the rip to the Melco. This is not my strong point
I am sure I also read on another forum that it took someone 3 days to transfer their music collection over. Wow surely not. I have about 1500 Cds ripped to Flac.

[Womaz]

The more I read the more I like the Melco, but the Aurender would make it easier for me....not my wallet though

[Bob Ryan]

"Melco are apparently working on their own control app"

Within past couple weeks I've been in touch with Melco/Buffalo and there will be no Melco control app in foreseeable future and perhaps not at all - so if that matters to you probably good to look at Aurender, Lumin or Bryston devices. These apps can be expensive to develop and not every manufacturer is ready to spent the resources in time/money if they cannot expect to recover the investment through sales. The Lumin D1, the Aurender X100 or the latest Bryston USB player may be good choices for you.

I seem to recall that you preferred the SQ of the Melco over the Aurender.?
Having its own app does not really bother me as Lumin and other apps would work. What bothers me is I would probably have to set the Melco up myself and copy all of my music across. Then change my DBPoweramp settings to save the rip to the Melco. This is not my strong point  
I am sure I also read on another forum that it took someone 3 days to transfer their music collection over. Wow surely not. I have about 1500 Cds ripped to Flac.

The Melco N1A is somewhat more affordable than alternatives. Although my file library is large, I copied 1328 rips from a WD My Passport Ultra 2TB onto the N1A and it took under two days and half of those files were 96 to DSD. Coping your music files from your NAS, other HD, etc. over to the WD My Passport has additional advantage of being a very tidy backup. I fact I have three WD My Passports located on and off premise. They make great backups. Of course I have my music files also on a multi bay Synology NAS as well. The early days personal computer advice was drummed into us over and over and it applies no less today - backup, backup and backup. Our music files matter most. We can always buy new components.

[Bob Ryan]

For some reason I cannot quick edit my posts anymore. I meant to edit to add that the Bryston USB digital player is actually less expensive than most all others. Some on forums have praised the Bryston and this Canadian company is well known by audiophiles for their warranties and support. By 1328 I meant CD's.

[Womaz]

I think that is why I will go with a NP with storage if I do this. It makes sense, my QNAP NAS will be kept as back up. Two days ?? I had no idea that it would take this long. At present I have two bays and one acts as a back up but my dealer set everyhing up 3 year ago so I just take his word for it.
For me now its the Aurender or the Melco.........or continue to sit on the fence  

Joking aside what terrifies me is paying £2700 for something which may not even improve my SQ

[thumb5]

At present I have two bays and one acts as a back up but my dealer set everyhing up 3 year ago so I just take his word for it.

A bit off-topic -again, sorry - and I don't want to worry you unduly, but I couldn't let it lie...

Having a two-bay NAS doesn't give you a back-up.  There are many ways that you could lose data off both disks in the NAS at the same time.  I would really recommend you set up an independent, separate back-up scheme as soon as you can, to be safe.  This could be most easily done by manually copying the contents of the NAS now and again onto a portable external drive like the WD My Passport (as Bob Ryan suggested).  Alternatively it's quite likely your NAS software has some built-in way to automate copying its contents to an external drive.  Either way, make sure you store the external drive somewhere away from the NAS, preferably in a different building.

[Womaz]

At present I have two bays and one acts as a back up but my dealer set everyhing up 3 year ago so I just take his word for it.

A bit off-topic -again, sorry - and I don't want to worry you unduly, but I couldn't let it lie...

Having a two-bay NAS doesn't give you a back-up.  There are many ways that you could lose data off both disks in the NAS at the same time.  I would really recommend you set up an independent, separate back-up scheme as soon as you can, to be safe.  This could be most easily done by manually copying the contents of the NAS now and again onto a portable external drive like the WD My Passport (as Bob Ryan suggested).  Alternatively it's quite likely your NAS software has some built-in way to automate copying its contents to an external drive.  Either way, make sure you store the external drive somewhere away from the NAS, preferably in a different building.

OK thats a good point. If I go down the route of Melco or Aurender with storage I will have this as the NAS will act as a back up.
I guess dealers are there to sell products

[Womaz]

At present I have two bays and one acts as a back up but my dealer set everyhing up 3 year ago so I just take his word for it.

A bit off-topic -again, sorry - and I don't want to worry you unduly, but I couldn't let it lie...

Having a two-bay NAS doesn't give you a back-up.  There are many ways that you could lose data off both disks in the NAS at the same time.  I would really recommend you set up an independent, separate back-up scheme as soon as you can, to be safe.  This could be most easily done by manually copying the contents of the NAS now and again onto a portable external drive like the WD My Passport (as Bob Ryan suggested).  Alternatively it's quite likely your NAS software has some built-in way to automate copying its contents to an external drive.  Either way, make sure you store the external drive somewhere away from the NAS, preferably in a different building.

Actually I would like to get rid of my NAS if I go down the other route. I presume I could do this and then get a WD My Passport and do back ups every week or so.

[thumb5]

Actually I would like to get rid of my NAS if I go down the other route. I presume I could do this and then get a WD My Passport and do back ups every week or so.

Yes, I expect so, depending on the firmware in the player.  I had a quick look at the manuals for the Melco N1A and the Aurender N100 and it looks as though it should be pretty straightforward to back up either of them to an external drive (probably a bit easier on the Melco, if i understood it right).

[Womaz]

Thanks again. I know it is progress and its great to have all music collection available, but i long for the days when you chose your separate components, bought them and then used cables to attach them ;-)