(22-May-2016, 20:32)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]It's sounding terrific! This is the first f/w update on my Melco where I've noticed a big difference in sound quality. Perfect timing to compete with AIR 3.
I'm not too interested in the CD ripping features as I do it all on PC with dbPoweramp anyway and have my own little habits and procedures, but it's good to have.
Nice to hear that!
Looking forward to testing the new FW 3.0.
Do you think with FW 3.0 the Melco is SQ wise further ahead of AIR 3 again? I'm quite curious about the results of your comparison between the two.
Franz
(22-May-2016, 20:32)esom Wrote: [ -> ]Hello,
This a slightly modified version of my posting in the other thread Melco vs Aurender.
My brief history:
Almost one year ago I bought D200, later upgraded to D400 with Sonus Faber Amati Futura II speakers. streaming from Synology NAS from PC via AIR ended up with usual white noise problems. Playing via Oppo 105, digital out to D400 from NAS was much better, but in terms of SQ still not very satisfactory. Later started using an Intel NUC with WIN8, JRIVER, built in Samsung 850 SSD with all music content connected via USB (Audioquest Carbon) to D400. SQ was worse than Oppo 105D. Replacing the USB cable with AQ Diamond brought big improvement to SQ. Of course I was still not very happy. After a short demo session by comparing Aurender X100 and N1Z (SSD) , for me Melco was much better, but was too expensive for just 1TB storage. When Melco introduced N1ZH60, I became active again. Unfortunately I had no chance to have a demo and decided to order one unit during High End Munich. N1Z arrived yesterday and it's now operational via USB (Jitterbug+Diamond). Really great SQ, tight bass, excellent detail, great sound stage. I know for audiophiles or generally techno-crazy people the search never ends; but for the time being I would like to give a long break to my search and enjoy the music. 
Regarding FW 3.0. I was not patient enough and upgraded from 2.30 to 3.0 before I started using N1Z. The above remarks belong to N1ZH60 running with FW 3.0. I first tried to use Kinsky from my IPAD, but switched back quickly to Jriver. For me Kinsky is a strange and not a user friendly app and needs a lot of improvement.
The new hybrid controller setting allows the user to use apps like Kinsky and Jriver at the same time without configuring either 0 or 1 in the settings, but to select 0 or 1 is still possible.
My Jriver runs currently on a PC in the network, library is created in the same PC. Content is stored on Melco, where playback is via USB from Melco directly to D400. Jriver is controlled by Jremote on the IPAD. I have a few small issues on the GUI and currently trying to identify the source of the problem. These are not related to playback SQ.
Cheers
Some very interesting posts from yourself esom, good to have you on this little forum!
I am particularly interested in your comments regarding JRiver. I while ago I was corresponding with Alan Ainslie (Melco UK, a very helpful chap). He explained that it is possible to use Kinsky on a PC and use the PC as an interface to control a Melco, as opposed to the normal method of control via an app on a tablet. This appeals to me greatly, so I did try running kinsky on my PC, to see how I got on with it. OK, being polite, I found Kinsky to be a little old fashioned and very limited in functionality. It does the job, but to be honest I would struggle to put up with it for very long. In your post above you mention you are using JRiver. JRemote is about 100 times better than Kinsky, so the appeal of JRiver is obvious. However, I am interested in the concept of controlling a Melco via a PC. Have you ever tried this with JRiver and your Melco? If so, any observations regarding how well this works? (maybe this is what you are doing?)
As a final note for those that think I'm bonkers, after all, for many the idea of a Melco is to take computers out listening equation all together. For me, sometimes I much prefer accessing music via a full PC screen, a tablet app gives limited functionality versus a 'full screen' PC, plus the convenience of a real mouse and keyboard. Sometimes I'm happy with app control, but not always.
The question is, does this work with JRiver and a Melco?
Hello again!
Yes currently I am using Jriver 21.0.80 (windows) with Melco, but with some problems. Jriver runs on an Intel NUC PC, where earlier I used to have my music files on the same SSD, as well. I reset everything on Jriver and started a new library (Main Library),configured auto-import to read from the shared drive of Melco. Im controlling Jriver from Jremote on the IPAD and select as player N1 Devialet USB Audio 2.0 Media Renderer. Audio is connected from the USB 3.0 backside port of Melco to the USB input of Devialet. SQ is great. I have two problems, which I need to analyze in detail.
1) The moving cursor line in the bottom showing the length of the song currently played is moving back and forth sometimes and occasionally showing the total length wrong. This has no effect on the playback!
2) A few times the playback stopped in the middle of the playlist.
I can't really say anything more at this moment , whether these problems are related to Jriver or Melco (3.0) or any issue on my network or configuration. I may have more time in the weekend to check and keep you updated if I can identify anything.
On the other hand according to an email from Alan Ainslie sent to me today, there is really Roon development in progress. There were some problems and both parties are working on it. Melco can be Roon Ready in a few months time or even quicker. I tried Roon last year, but didn't like it so much mostly due to pricing policy and sniffing around your internal music library to create a profile. However if Melco starts supporting it as kind of an official app, I will try it again.
(22-May-2016, 21:22)Fla7a Wrote: [ -> ] (22-May-2016, 20:32)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]It's sounding terrific! This is the first f/w update on my Melco where I've noticed a big difference in sound quality. Perfect timing to compete with AIR 3.
I'm not too interested in the CD ripping features as I do it all on PC with dbPoweramp anyway and have my own little habits and procedures, but it's good to have.
Nice to hear that!
Looking forward to testing the new FW 3.0.
Do you think with FW 3.0 the Melco is SQ wise further ahead of AIR 3 again? I'm quite curious about the results of your comparison between the two.
Franz
Not a lot in it but I'm preferring Melco v3 to AIR 3 SQ-wise now. I was already a bit biased because I just prefer using the Melco day to day with a UPNP control point than my MacBook Air too so I'm glad I don't have to put up listening to the inferior option just for better usability.
(23-May-2016, 13:12)Confused Wrote: [ -> ] (22-May-2016, 20:32)esom Wrote: [ -> ]Hello,
This a slightly modified version of my posting in the other thread Melco vs Aurender.
My brief history:
Almost one year ago I bought D200, later upgraded to D400 with Sonus Faber Amati Futura II speakers. streaming from Synology NAS from PC via AIR ended up with usual white noise problems. Playing via Oppo 105, digital out to D400 from NAS was much better, but in terms of SQ still not very satisfactory. Later started using an Intel NUC with WIN8, JRIVER, built in Samsung 850 SSD with all music content connected via USB (Audioquest Carbon) to D400. SQ was worse than Oppo 105D. Replacing the USB cable with AQ Diamond brought big improvement to SQ. Of course I was still not very happy. After a short demo session by comparing Aurender X100 and N1Z (SSD) , for me Melco was much better, but was too expensive for just 1TB storage. When Melco introduced N1ZH60, I became active again. Unfortunately I had no chance to have a demo and decided to order one unit during High End Munich. N1Z arrived yesterday and it's now operational via USB (Jitterbug+Diamond). Really great SQ, tight bass, excellent detail, great sound stage. I know for audiophiles or generally techno-crazy people the search never ends; but for the time being I would like to give a long break to my search and enjoy the music.
Regarding FW 3.0. I was not patient enough and upgraded from 2.30 to 3.0 before I started using N1Z. The above remarks belong to N1ZH60 running with FW 3.0. I first tried to use Kinsky from my IPAD, but switched back quickly to Jriver. For me Kinsky is a strange and not a user friendly app and needs a lot of improvement.
The new hybrid controller setting allows the user to use apps like Kinsky and Jriver at the same time without configuring either 0 or 1 in the settings, but to select 0 or 1 is still possible.
My Jriver runs currently on a PC in the network, library is created in the same PC. Content is stored on Melco, where playback is via USB from Melco directly to D400. Jriver is controlled by Jremote on the IPAD. I have a few small issues on the GUI and currently trying to identify the source of the problem. These are not related to playback SQ.
Cheers
Some very interesting posts from yourself esom, good to have you on this little forum!
I am particularly interested in your comments regarding JRiver. I while ago I was corresponding with Alan Ainslie (Melco UK, a very helpful chap). He explained that it is possible to use Kinsky on a PC and use the PC as an interface to control a Melco, as opposed to the normal method of control via an app on a tablet. This appeals to me greatly, so I did try running kinsky on my PC, to see how I got on with it. OK, being polite, I found Kinsky to be a little old fashioned and very limited in functionality. It does the job, but to be honest I would struggle to put up with it for very long. In your post above you mention you are using JRiver. JRemote is about 100 times better than Kinsky, so the appeal of JRiver is obvious. However, I am interested in the concept of controlling a Melco via a PC. Have you ever tried this with JRiver and your Melco? If so, any observations regarding how well this works? (maybe this is what you are doing?)
As a final note for those that think I'm bonkers, after all, for many the idea of a Melco is to take computers out listening equation all together. For me, sometimes I much prefer accessing music via a full PC screen, a tablet app gives limited functionality versus a 'full screen' PC, plus the convenience of a real mouse and keyboard. Sometimes I'm happy with app control, but not always.
The question is, does this work with JRiver and a Melco?
Maybe you should try Kazoo as opposed to Kinsky as that is where Linn has been investing their development efforts as of late. I am making a leap of faith that if Kinsky works with your system than Kazoo should as well.
You can definitely control the Melco using JRiver/Jremote. It does also work from the pc if needed.
It requires controller type 0 or Hybrid on the Melco and you can set it up as an output in JRiver.
I can't get it to play dsd files though, the conversion to PCM on the Melco won't work in that setup and there are no settings in JRiver when streaming to the Melco (I'm not using the devialet at the moment).
I have tried Kazoo but it doesn't see the Melco as a player, so Kinksy or the Arcam app are the best UPNP controllers for me right now.
Weirdly I've never managed to get the Arcam app to work. I'm definitely setting mode 0 on the Melco when I try... It just never finds the Melco as a source.
Small Update:
As Chris stated, Kazoo is searching probably for Linn devices in the network and won't work. I just installed Arcam and it seems to be working fine. I will be testing longer in the following days.
Regarding my timing display issues on Jremote/Ipad obviously there is problem in my network causing kind of a delay or communication between Jriver and Jremote. All playback started from Jriver directly is working, Jremote shows the same correct timing. There is a delay of I guess 1-3 seconds, meaning when the new song starts playing Jremote still shows the previous song and shows the new one after few seconds. Anyway these are not issues related to playback or SQ. However if playback is started from Jremote timing display problems appear again.
Regarding DSD Playback. I can play Vision of Her by David Elias DSD64. Melco is set to "DSD Over PCM". Devialet is FW 9.0.1. Connection USB.
You can download this song from here:
https://www.oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx
So has anyone tried using a PC to control a Melco? Looking at the recent posts here it would appear that it is indeed possible, but has anyone tried it for any length of time? That is, does it work ok, stable, no latency issues or whatever?
(24-May-2016, 06:48)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]Weirdly I've never managed to get the Arcam app to work. I'm definitely setting mode 0 on the Melco when I try... It just never finds the Melco as a source.
Works for me with mode 0 but I prefer the Lumin app. Have you tried it with the hybrid mode in firmware 3.0?
(24-May-2016, 07:55)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]So has anyone tried using a PC to control a Melco? Looking at the recent posts here it would appear that it is indeed possible, but has anyone tried it for any length of time? That is, does it work ok, stable, no latency issues or whatever?
Yes, with Kinsky. Works better with the PC version than Mac one (certain functions work differently on Mac. For example, no alphabetical search. It does not return to where you left you library after selecting an album or viewing the songs in a selected album (so you have to scroll from the top again). Plus, no toggle function to fast forward/search within a song being played - you need to turn the "ring" control). Bit laggy when viewing library but otherwise fine when playing songs.
FWIW, playlists selected on Kinsky are visible on the Lumin app in my iPhone/iPad.