MELCO

[nicoludio]

Well, following `the kind invitation to join this illustrious group how could I resist.

I am not going to embark on any technical tutoring or sales pitching, and neither am I able to claim any Brownie Points for the Melco solution - it is a rather excellent team effort and my involvement was relatively late in the day.

I will say though that the architecture and engineering approach is just so compellingly 'on target' that from the minute I met the guys I knew that we should be doing something together to move the whole Streaming and Computer Music experience forward.

It is possibly unique that an IT company with the huge resources of Buffalo Technology could ever get involved in high-end Audio - all down to the origins of the Company as a boutique high-end Japanese Hi-Fi manufacturer from the 1970s, with the founder, Mr Maki, still taking an active interest in this particular project as he has always been a serious Audiophile.

So back to lurking, but happy to clear up any misunderstandings maybe - although I feel that the two corespondents so far are doing a far better and honest job of describing the product that I could do!

Enjoy the music!
Alan

Hi Alan, sounds like very promising products from Melco, although there is no dealer in the Far East yet. 

There is quite a gap in price and performance between the N1A and N1Z models.   Are there plans for a mid range model say, a N1N (midway between A to Z ), which could essentially be the N1Z without the 2 x 512 GB SSDs? Since the SSDs are reputed to cost about USD1,000 each, doing away with them may result in the performance of the N1Z coming within reach of those whose budget can only accommodate the N1A but may be prepared to stretch it a bit further if there was a N1A Plus model with the dual power supplies of the N1Z. To keeps the costs in tow, the existing N1A case could be used.

On another note, the N1A/N1Z were initially designed to be a NAS. Now that there is a network player function built-in, would there be plans in future to include either S/PDIF or AES/EBU outputs to accommodate DACs or Devialets, which are supposed to sound better using the AES/EBU input?

Thanks.

Nicholas