Melco v Aurender

[GuillaumeB]

Hi chaps - first please allow me to thank cc1 for his most excellent hospitality this afternoon. Also thanks to Alasdair at Oxford Audio for making the trip down from Oxford and supplying all the goodies for our test.

The strange thing is that I don't really have that much to add to Rufus' account of the day! I think his observations were 100% spot on. Still I can't help myself 

1) The Melco sounded great and with the Sarum TA USB it was spectacular.

2) The Aurender looked fantastic and had a lovely iPad interface. It sounded initially very impressive however 30 minutes in I started to think that it sounded a bit "digital". Bright with sharp edges and a little fatiguing. And the bass seemed less prominent too. Yes it definitely needed more running in since it improved noticeably in the hour or so we played it.

3) Going back to the Melco later we had a "wow" moment where everything seemed to fall in place. More musical? Weirdly (or perhaps not?) it sounded better without the Regen. 

4) My goodness that Sarum USB is good. And I mean SERIOUSLY good. Literally improved performance by 15%. Maybe more, insane!

5) The Melco N1A (in black) was brand new, delivered to Oxford Audio last Wednesday. I checked this after the meeting. 

Once again thank you cc1! @Alasdair: see you next Wednesday!

Guillaume

[PhilP]

It's a shame that Oxford Audio weren't able to run the Aurender in first... The Melco may well sound better - and I would interested to try one - but the well run-in Aurender N100 that I tried at home for a week (also with a Chord Sarum cable) didn't have any 'sharp edges' and I didn't find it at all fatiguing.  In fact, I think I commented on here at the time that perhaps the sound was perhaps a little too smooth...


EDIT: Guillaume, I don't doubt what you and Rufus say but I've revisited the various reviews of Aurender streamers that have been published and there is no mention of 'sharp edges' or 'fatigue' anywhere - most comments are usually the exact opposite???? I can only assume that the box you listened to need further run-in...

[AllenB]

When I was considering USB cables, I could have, but didn't want to stretch to a Sarum USB, absurd price as mentioned! So I plumped for the Signature TA and I have been very pleased with it, instantly upped the SQ in my system. But after your report, I am kind of wishing I had stretched to the Sarum

[PhilP]

An interesting comparison would be between the various Chord cables: Sarum v Signature v Silver Plus.  The Signature won the HiFi News award for best USB in their 2014 test:

http://www.chord.co.uk/blog/wp-content/u...ord-Co.pdf

But in their conclusion they said that the winner of their 2013 test - the Silver Plus - was 'arguably better integrated still, detailed, insightful and inherently musical'. They gave the Signature and Silver Plus the same score for SQ - 85% - whatever that means. Maybe the Sarum would score 86?

EDIT: you can actually get a Silver Plus free if you take out a subscription to Hi-Fi News

http://www.hifinews.co.uk/editorial/page.asp?p=1153

[Rufus McDufus]

EDIT: you can actually get a Silver Plus free if you take out a subscription to Hi-Fi News

http://www.hifinews.co.uk/editorial/page.asp?p=1153

That's how I got mine!   It's good but not as good as the Totaldac, which in turn isn't as good as the Sarum. Wish I'd heard the Signature TA too. There's too many cables.

[PhilP]

Some interesting comments on what causes the differences in sound quality between USB cables - copied unashamedly by me from the Naim forum and originally written by member "Simon-in-Suffolk"

"so called sound quality is really determined by how susceptible your audio equipment is to interference, Powerline intermodulation, RF and EMI. If your equipment is immune from this (in the real world almost impossible) then different USB cable characteristics should give no variation in SQ. But since USB (1 and 2) is a reasonably loose standard in terms of physical electrical characteristics, USB leads will most likely therefore give the appearance of 'sounding' different, albeit it's their physical electrical properties affecting the performance of connected audio equipment.

So a well designed lead with a quality twisted differential signal pair, perhaps shielded and suitably decoupled powerlines into a quality USB connector could perform electrically better than a cable that wasn't as carefully, but still compliantly constructed.
 
However, the price of this should be minimal, and of course in this market anything slightly different has exponential margins and great scope for rip off.. Especially if it looks pretty.
 
BTW the same principle applies to USB memory sticks."

[Womaz]

This is a great thread and thanks to all of the contributions. I am currently and so far successfully, resisting the urge to buy a network player as I am hoping Dialog will satisfy my needs. I do admit though that my patience is being tested and these two units are the two i have been considering , so for me a very useful post.

I think the Aurender may suit me best as a decent app is crucial I beleive, and if Melco dont have one then this may possibly cause problems. As i stated earlier though I will wait for Dialog. I think!

[johnsap]

How is Melco in comparison to TotalDAC Server?

[GuillaumeB]

How is Melco in comparison to TotalDAC Server?

Take a look at this:

http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=431&page=9

Guillaume

[PhilP]

Amabrok and EricDH's original comparison of the Melco N1Z, Aurender X100 and Auralic Aries is also worth reading:

http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=793&page=3

See post 30 at the bottom of the page in which Amabrok assesses various aspects of the 3 machines and assigns scores by category.

EDIT: From Amabrok's comments it seems that the Melco doesn't support gapless playback which seems very strange. Anyone know whether that is still correct or has the Melco been updated?

EDIT2: I'm surprised this thread hasn't generated more interest. Maybe most people have already bought a DAC-less streamer or are staying with Mac/PC? I know that quite a few people on here have bought Aurenders and a couple have Melcos. Maybe Foxman, AllenB and I (perhaps because we all came from Naim backgrounds ) are just well-behind the curve