Thanks for the info. Where did you buy your Melco?
Melco E100/N 100 Combination
There aren’t a lot of Melco threads here, so I thought this might be a useful thread for people looking for improved CD transport and streaming options. I have had a Melco N 100 for a bit over a year now. This is a 2TB
NAS/streamer. I just added the E100, which is an Optical disc player.
The N100 added Tidal, Qobuz and Internet Radio support after I started using third part apps. I am not sure about other streaming services. The N100 is easily recognized by other UPNP devices (such as Oppo 105 and 203) that reside in other systems in the home. I listen primarily to Classical and the file organization is easily the best that I have encountered, and I’ve tried several. Melco offers a software program for $500 that is supposed to refine that further, but I haven’t needed it. Most importantly, the N100 simply sounds excellent. For comparison I was using a Synology NAS with the Bryston BDP3, which was no slouch sonically either, but the Melco sounds bigger, more open, more transparent (Vinylistas will probably say “less digital, more analog like”).
Initially I was burning CDs with an Apple Optical Drive connected with the Melco by usb, and those rips sound excellent to me. However, I was also looking to improve my CD Transport capabilities, so I bought the E100.
It’s early days, but using it as a transport only, it is a significant upgrade over my previous transport, an Oppo 105. I’ve only played CDs that I am extremely familiar with, and there is a wealth of low level detail as well as a solidity to the whole presentation that was formerly missing. I haven’t been able to compare CD rips, since a CD previously ripped won’t be accepted twice by the E100. As someone who had made multiple rips of the same CD to the Bluesound Vault before discovering that the player makes a separate file for each rip, and that deleting the redundant rips is a PITA, this is a nice feature.
The Melco has been easy peasy to operate, finding my network easily, the 2 units simply working together from the get go . The total cost was about $2500, and besides having great streaming gives an excellent CD transport and significant storage. My comparison has been Bluesound, which is inferior sonically and and has had many technical issues, and the Bryston, which sounded great but was buggy as all get up (I sold it off to finance most of the Melco). I can’t compare Innuos, Aurender, or other streamers, having no personal experience, but they would have along way to go to beat the combination of sound, ease of use, and value on offer here
NAS/streamer. I just added the E100, which is an Optical disc player.
The N100 added Tidal, Qobuz and Internet Radio support after I started using third part apps. I am not sure about other streaming services. The N100 is easily recognized by other UPNP devices (such as Oppo 105 and 203) that reside in other systems in the home. I listen primarily to Classical and the file organization is easily the best that I have encountered, and I’ve tried several. Melco offers a software program for $500 that is supposed to refine that further, but I haven’t needed it. Most importantly, the N100 simply sounds excellent. For comparison I was using a Synology NAS with the Bryston BDP3, which was no slouch sonically either, but the Melco sounds bigger, more open, more transparent (Vinylistas will probably say “less digital, more analog like”).
Initially I was burning CDs with an Apple Optical Drive connected with the Melco by usb, and those rips sound excellent to me. However, I was also looking to improve my CD Transport capabilities, so I bought the E100.
It’s early days, but using it as a transport only, it is a significant upgrade over my previous transport, an Oppo 105. I’ve only played CDs that I am extremely familiar with, and there is a wealth of low level detail as well as a solidity to the whole presentation that was formerly missing. I haven’t been able to compare CD rips, since a CD previously ripped won’t be accepted twice by the E100. As someone who had made multiple rips of the same CD to the Bluesound Vault before discovering that the player makes a separate file for each rip, and that deleting the redundant rips is a PITA, this is a nice feature.
The Melco has been easy peasy to operate, finding my network easily, the 2 units simply working together from the get go . The total cost was about $2500, and besides having great streaming gives an excellent CD transport and significant storage. My comparison has been Bluesound, which is inferior sonically and and has had many technical issues, and the Bryston, which sounded great but was buggy as all get up (I sold it off to finance most of the Melco). I can’t compare Innuos, Aurender, or other streamers, having no personal experience, but they would have along way to go to beat the combination of sound, ease of use, and value on offer here
13 responses Add your response
That means that I still need a PC in the system if I were to add Roon, correct? And does the PC need to be hard wired? I asked these same questions on a Melco Forum recently and the answer was affirmative to both. Having the PC tethered to the system is a downer and I am wondering why it’s necessary, given that the files actually reside on the Melco, which is already connected by Ethernet to the system. Perhaps the requirement is for external streaming services |
OP:
Yes, Roon read and Roon tested mean they will connect to a roon core, somewhere else.
Ideally yes, but it's more of a total bandwidth and how many endpoints you are using kind of thing. The Roon core has at least 2 music streams while playing, one from the source (Tidal) and one to the endpoint, so if that can be fixed to your router via Ethernet it saves on your overall Wifi capacity, but with modern Wifi systems, on an uncluttered channel with just one endpoint this will probably work fine. |
@erik_squires I don’t use Tidal. I’m more concerned with organizing my own CDs that have been burned to the Melco NAS. So why do I need a hardwired connection to the PC if the files are actually residing on the NAS? |