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I wonder if it is possible to swap the HDD (in n1a) with SSD. It seems the major difference between n1a and n1z is ssd plus an extra power supply ( cleaner layout internally). Think it is easy to diy mod the first two ( cheaply). May be by doing these will make the n1a close enough to a n1z at much lower cost.
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Probably yes.
However, I understand that Melco developed an audio specific read/write protocol for the SSD in the N1Z. This may partly contribute to the better performance.
Whether the protocol is built into the N1A such that replacing the N1A's HDD with a SSD will trigger the N1A to employ the protocol is unknown.
At the very least, the SSD would be quieter and produce less vibrations.
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I hope the ssd n1z is really special. Otherwise it is hard to justify the price differential. I believe ssd can be tailor made for audio purposes. - there is this guy from Taiwan who modifies the clock inside the ssd. Am sure there are many many other things can be done.
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(08-May-2015, 20:08)GuillaumeB Wrote: (08-May-2015, 11:29)amabrok Wrote: (08-May-2015, 11:16)warpeon Wrote: I hope the ssd n1z is really special. Otherwise it is hard to justify the price differential. I believe ssd can be tailor made for audio purposes. - there is this guy from Taiwan who modifies the clock inside the ssd. Am sure there are many many other things can be done.
In addition to a special read/write protocol, the SSD are specially designed by Buffalo particularly for the Melco N1Z and are optimised for audiophile performance
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I think I read somewhere (Linn Forum?) that someone had tried swapping out the hard disks on the N1A for some SSD ones. Didn't sound good at all.
Guillaume
May be the modded unit needed burn-in (of 500 hours?) to sound good?
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anyone gone out and bought one since the initial wave of interest here? Very curious to hear more?
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I bought an N1A. I love it! Brilliant device, very easy to use and just sounds great. Again the first thing I thought when hearing it in my system (as opposed to the demo unit I heard at Guillaume's) was 'analogue'. It is the closest to vinyl I've heard so far from a digital source, it's very smooth indeed, yet very detailed too. It's one of those components I just went re-listening to old familiar recordings and hearing the differences I hadn't heard before. I'm thoroughly impressed.
I kept my Qnap with the music on it and use the Melco as a backup device with the Qnap as the 'primary' source that I rip tracks to, so my usage is slightly unusual in that respect but it's handy to have multiple sources (I also backup music to another external disk plus a cloud backup just in case). The Melco simply appears as a SMB share on the network so is easy to deal with. As a result I'm not actually using the other methods of getting music onto it such as from USB stick but my old habits are hard to break.
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Congratulations!
In the the previous test with Guillaume, I understood that you felt that the TotalDac D1 server was slightly ahead of the N1A. Do you still hold the same view?
Separately, I was wondering if you have had a chance to compare the Melco with Aurender, either the X100 or N100 series.
Thanks.