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Melco N1A - any users here willing to share their feedback ?


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I tried various apps for N1A including Kinsky, Arcam, Technics, Audionet and Lumin and found that Lumin is the best. Lumin works only with Mode 1 while Arcam, Technics and Audionet work only with Mode 0.

Umetaro, Tokyo, Japan

Dela(Melco)N1A/2012 i5 Mac Mini with 16GB memory - Audirvana/Pure Music/Amarra/JRMC - Devialet 800 - Wilson Audio Sasha

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Tried that, does not work. I am back using Audionet app. Works ok, but not great. I have patchy internet here so it may be a network issue. Although this would not explain the occasional usb to DAC misconnect.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

In Kinsky, if you press on the album icon a second or two until an option list of Play Now, Play Later, etc appears on the screen, pressing Play will play through the whole album.

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  • 4 months later...

New Melco firmware

 

Ver. 3.10 [27.July.2016]

-New Firmware Notification

-If N1 connect to Internet, new firmware notification will show up on the display.

-Notification can be off on the setting menu.

-Improvement of Media Server

-Navigation tree update

-N1 is now able to show information of “Artist” as “Album Artist”.

-“Track Artist” will be shown under “Track” folder after Artist, Artist Index or Genre.

-Improvement of CD drives support

-Day and time will be the album name in case N1 cannot obtain Meta Date of the CD because of lack of information on database or off-line of Internet.

-Add variation of tag information for FLAC

-Add offset sampling menu

-CD transport

-N1 can play CD when the CD drive and USB-DAC are connected.

-Play all tracks of CD and repeat the album. (No track repeat)

-Track control on the front display

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Computer Audiophile mobile app

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you are Melco user please pay attention to the notification on their official website

 

Home - melco-audio

 

which I quote here:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE

 

Please do not use N1 when V3.10 FW is installed. V3.10 is not always able to accurately read the music contents of the HDD, meaning that in some cases users will not be able to see some or all of the music on the HDD either with the control App or by Explorer or Finder on a networked computer. Continued use of V3.10 may result in non - recoverable data loss.

Please upgrade to V3.11 immediately to avoid this problem and protect your music.

(V3.00 and previous FW versions do not have the data loss problem)

 

FOR V3.10 USER

Step 1) Update FW to V3.11.(via Network or from USB)

Step 2) Back up if you do not have back up date already.

Step 3) Format Internal Drives from menu.

Menu – 4.Setting – 12.Drive – Select the current RAID mode

Step 4) Restore the music from the back up drive.

 

 

Notification

V3.10 firmware for Melco N1 has been discovered to have a problem which means that it in some situations all of the music collection cannot be seen on other computers or devices.

The music is in fact totally safe but as a precaution we always recommend to backup using the BACKUP port on the N1.

We strongly recommend that all N1 updated to V3.10 FW are returned to V3.00 following the process below.

We apologise for this inconvenience, but please be assured that your music is totally safe.

V3.00 can be set through Network or USB.

To set N1 FW as V3.00 by USB...

 

1 -- Take an empty USB Stick.

2 -- On PC or Mac go to Product selection - Buffalo download page and download V3.00 FW. Please un-tick the box 'Show only latest'

3 - Unzip the file to the USB stick

4 – Inset USB stick into N1 USB3 port at rear

5 – N1 may ask ‘Import Music..' Use BACK button as this is not what is required

6 – MAIN MENU – 5 SYSTEM UPDATE – 2 USB – press OK. There will be message all settings will be lost as older version of FW. Press OK

7 – N1 will power cycle when complete and USB stick can be removed

8 – Set LANGUAGE, TIMEZONE and POWER SAVE.

9 – Check the installed FW version - MAIN MENU – 1 STATUS -- 7 SYSTEM SOFTWARE - Should report as V3.00

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On July 28th I purchased a Melco HA-N1z from Sunny Audio, a local Southern dealer. The only one in stock was a demo which had been running for 2 weeks so I bought that one. It was already boxed, but the dealer assured me it had been working well. When I got home I plugged the unit in and upgraded it to the newest version v3.1. I connected my Arcam D33 DAC but could not get it to communicate with the server. I called the dealer who didn't know why it was not working. He called the rep, David Carr, who apparently told him my DAC was too old to be compatible despite being on the list of approved DACs. So I bought a PS Audio Direct Wave DAC. It had the same trouble. I called the dealer yet again and he finally got David Carr to call me. That was when I found out V3.1 was defective. He told me to upgrade to V3.11 which he said would fix the problem. After the upgrade to 3.11, the DAC was visible in PlugPlay, and I could connect the two and play music. It sounded decent if not very good. The problem was that the directory was totally corrupt. Many downloaded files did not show up at all under various categories and files had no identification. Also many files just plain contained the wrong songs. At this point I backed up the files (32 hours), and reformatted the drives. Despite this, the newly imported files were totally messed up. I tried multiple re-formats and multiple import methods and still the directory was corrupt. The server will play music at least but I never know what will play. So after 4k and 12 days, I still don't have a usable server. Promised calls are not returned. Customer service has been worse than lousy. I think the server itself may be okay but the software is horrible. also the interface compared to other servers I have used is sub-par. Not ready for prime time. Hopefully I can return this and get an Aurender.

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Hi sleepdoctor,

 

your story sounds like a real bad experience with your dealer of choice.

 

In fact the Melco FW 3.10 has issues, but what you are reporting after upgrading to FW 3.11 is exactly the results of the errors caused by 3.10. There are some other forums on the web which cover this topic.

 

Did you try to go back to FW 3.00 as described in the post?

Myself I am still using "old" 3.00 and have no issues at all.

 

You are new to the community here and I do not know your experience with computer audio in general, but if you want you can follow some rule I found to be worthy: "never change a running system, unless you are experiencing issues".

 

In view of this topic here I never missed anything from FW 3.00 which is why I never updated recently.

The Mac I am writing on is OS X 10.9.5 and is still going strong without the need for a plastic OS look ... ;-)

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Hi sleepdoctor,

 

your story sounds like a real bad experience with your dealer of choice.

 

In fact the Melco FW 3.10 has issues, but what you are reporting after upgrading to FW 3.11 is exactly the results of the errors caused by 3.10. There are some other forums on the web which cover this topic.

 

Did you try to go back to FW 3.00 as described in the post?

Myself I am still using "old" 3.00 and have no issues at all.

 

You are new to the community here and I do not know your experience with computer audio in general, but if you want you can follow some rule I found to be worthy: "never change a running system, unless you are experiencing issues".

 

In view of this topic here I never missed anything from FW 3.00 which is why I never updated recently.

The Mac I am writing on is OS X 10.9.5 and is still going strong without the need for a plastic OS look ... ;-)

 

 

Finally got a call back from the factory rep and reverted the FW to V3.0, reformatted the drives and loaded new files. Same problem. Than I loaded FW 3.11 and again reformatted the drives and loaded a few new music files with the same results. The unit still did not recognize most of the music files, despite them being visible in JRiver and Audirvana. Also files loaded directly from a CD drive still had issues. Waiting to hear back from the rep to hopefully replace the unit.

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  • 1 month later...

I have been out of town for a month but wish to update my Melco experience. Just after I wrote the above post, I ended up having many conversations with various Melco representatives and they were all very attentive, especially David Carr who is also very knowledgeable. It was determined the unit was defective and they replaced it in a timely manner. I just now got the new unit up and running and it sounds great in my high end system. I decided to use it as a network player per David's suggestion. It synced up quickly and plays well. As much as I like the unit, it is much more finicky than my other music servers. When a CD is uploaded directly, everything works well. The main issue I am having is that some files that actually function fine in JRiver and Audirvana don't end up correctly categorized in the Melco. The meta data doesn't always register, so the files end up without any tags and get "lost" in the directory. Also if I transfer layered files, they don't always register. For instance if I transfer Neil Young with all his various albums in sub-files via my network, or using a flash drive, the results may get scrambled. But if I transfer an individual Neil Young album, it usually works fine. This is opposed to the other servers I have used.

Also I am still trying to find the best control point software. I have tried all the well know ones with variable success.

In summery after a brief hiccough, The Melco people and Sunny Audio took great care of me. The sound quality HA N1Z is awesome and the 4 TB of data storage wonderful. In return for the sound quality however, one has to be able to endure some glitches. I suspect however, that many of the bugs will be worked out in the near term. If sound quality is a priority, this is a great unit.

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I was an early adopter of the N1-A. Much of the forum comment when it first came out (not here, Linn etc) discussing the idea of an audio grade NAS was quite harshly denouncing the concept on the 'bits is bits' argument, however I thought that the concept had some logic and was worth trying so I tried it and bought it.

 

It has been an excellent purchase for me and the functionality has improved significantly since I bought it. The sound quality is very good and there are benefits when using it to directly feed a streaming front end.

 

Sound quality connected directly to DAC via USB is very good, but control software is an issue. I found Lumin to be quick and effective and I think that the Melco control app is due later this year - it will be interesting to see how that shapes up.

 

I have since moved on to Roon anyway, so I am very much hoping that Melco may be able to operate as a Roon end point. That would be the best solution for me since it will enable me to remove one component from my main system.

 

I have had no problems at all with mine since I got it set up and I was able to copy my entire library across without any problems. All folders were intact, artwork, metadata - no problems at all. I am not dismissing sleepdoctors comments at all, but I haven't seen anyone mention similar problems before. Could it be a home network issue?

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I have heard that the 'forthcoming' Melco app is already available, albeit in beta. Has anyone tried it?

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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Did you see it yourself ?

 

There are many rumors around since months, but nothing with evidence.

 

Fingers crossed!

“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Steve Bannon

 

Chief Strategist for President Trump and attendee on United States National Security Council.

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Im' about to get the Melco N1ZH60 to go with my new Ayre QX5 Twenty. I'll be running it via an AudioQuest Diamond USB until I get the ethernet cat 7 cable from Melco most probably. I personally don't see Roon on the immediate horizon with Melco. It will be up to Roon to run the Melco OS and not the other way around, so that's up entirely to Roon. That's why I don't see it happening anytime soon, but I hope I'm wrong. Yes, there will be a Melco software program and I bet that will fix most, if not all the glitches some have had in the past. They will also be offering their now badged Blu ray drive for easy ripping. Right now you can just add any optical drive and do seamless rips but their drive will be heavy duty. I am not sure if it will be sourced from Buffalo (parent company) or Pioneer. I know they have played with both.

 

As soon as I get both products up and burned in, I'll share my thoughts to go along with everyone else's thoughts. I've auditioned many a server as well as NAS's from the QNAP to the Synology NAS's. I"ve heard them both through the optical converters with specially made LPS's and without. I have heard the Melco N1A and liked it over the Aurender N10 on down in their line. I like a musical and very detailed sound. I run Vandersteen Treo's and will be upgrading to Quatro's. I have an Ayre AX5 Twenty integrated for those interested in the system. I also really love the Music Vault servers with built in HD, the Antipodes DX both run in AES/EBU. There are a few home made servers I've liked. Right now I'm running a completely rebuilt Mac Mini with Paul Hynes LPS that I purchased from Steven Nugent at Empirical Audio. It's as good a server as I've heard to date, but I'm not technical and want to get a simpler one box solution that's plug and play. I'm going to sell the Mac Mini. I am running a lot of well recorded songs from CD to high res in all genres. It was loaded with all his show recordings so I think it's a good sample to make personal judgements on the SQ of other servers/NAS's etc... JMHO. I would love to hear from others using the Melco N1ZH60.

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"I've auditioned many a server as well as NAS's from the QNAP to the Synology NAS's. I"ve heard them both through the optical converters with specially made LPS's and without. I have heard the Melco N1A and liked it over the Aurender N10 on down in their line."

 

In many ways my experiences as well. I owned and sold my Aurender, Lumin A1 and mac + NAS systems years ago. I loved the sound quality and ease of use with the Melco, and purchased N1A back before they were offered in US. I bought N1A from UK dealer when Melco was unknown on American audio forums and before there was firmware update to correctly make US settings in setup menu. Recently ELAC and few others offering affordable source components with ELAC offering Tidal service (less than full-featured version) included for price.

“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Steve Bannon

 

Chief Strategist for President Trump and attendee on United States National Security Council.

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  • 1 month later...

Just pick up a N1A unit and it is alot of fun. When I first got it I immediately plugged different USB sticks and drives I had with various music files just to get some music on there to listen. Well I realized this created a rather messy order of things so I reformatted the drive to RAID 1 to erase everything. Then I attempted to import files again in a more orderly fashion and now the player won't read any files from a USB stick. It will from a USB disc drive. With a stick it just says importing files for a few seconds then says done with nothing being read or imported from the stick. I can see the N1A on my iMac and just seamlessly copy files/folders directly over the LAN but I would like to know why it can't read usb sticks anymore.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi all. Living in Japan, I decided to add a N1A to my system (except it's called DELA here, not Melco). I'm still undecided for the 1x 2 TB or 2x 2 TB version since my collection is so far ~600 GB. Question to current users: I read that upgrading the disks manually is possible, would you also know if the 1 disk version has all necessary cables to add a second drive? Thank you.

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Hi all. Living in Japan, I decided to add a N1A to my system (except it's called DELA here, not Melco). I'm still undecided for the 1x 2 TB or 2x 2 TB version since my collection is so far ~600 GB. Question to current users: I read that upgrading the disks manually is possible, would you also know if the 1 disk version has all necessary cables to add a second drive? Thank you.

 

On the webpage of Dela-audio you can find Upgrade session, you better contact them to ask. So far I set "spanning " mode instead of RAID (Linn forum), replaced the stock SATA cables by silver cablemod as well as Oyaide EMI caps tweaked, huge improvement on the sound!

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On the webpage of Dela-audio you can find Upgrade session, you better contact them to ask. So far I set "spanning " mode instead of RAID (Linn forum), replaced the stock SATA cables by silver cablemod as well as Oyaide EMI caps tweaked, huge improvement on the sound!

You're right, I just found the section. Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I was trying Melco N1A (on my system at home) - at the begining it was seems better than my PC with win10 (with out any boards or additions) just Z97A Asus motherboard ATLAS usb cable directly to dac sound was really good, my regular PC setup lacked control, so i took directly Melco N1A - first impressions very good instrument seperations, but!!! it was like something put curtains onto the speakers, like somebody did not let for speakers to breath, the same Atlas usb cable was used, so this is not a factor for testing. After this i gave my last try to Jcat Femto card, when received it installed Jcat Femto drivers, and started to listen - first impressions, small difference bettween standar PC and PC with Jcat Femto, after this tried to put Filter (off) - by default it is on, on Jcat Femto (it has such option) so the things changed, really to better side, after the testing and not totally atiosfied just uninstalled Jcat Femto driver, Bang!!! this what i wanted to hear, not so colourfull sound, just nice highs, good bass, great vocals! I tested with simple separate power supply, and now it is in my system (Jcat Femto). I wonder if will put linear supply - what results can be get! So in my setup Melco was destroyed - yes destroyed, by Jcat Femto! The sound become so injoyable and nice, that i can not think that power supply will help me alot here.

 

My system Audio Physic scorpio II - Valkyrie 36 AMP (Radaelectronics) - DAC 3 (Radaelectronics) the brand is unknown for you, but it is really great amp and dac. At last i'm happy now! I'm not going to look to any high priced music streamer now, i went directly to streamer way and it dissapointed me, maybe in other systems it will sound different, but 420 EUR - xexe it really kick as to Melco - sorry Melco i wanted to like you very much, but not for 2000 EUR even for 1000 EUR you are left...

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I agree with your findings.

Over a year ago I bought a Melco N1a to see if it would better my Auralic Aries/Vega set up. Sadly the top end air and expression seemed lacking with Melco in USB mode. However as an expensive NAS it has proven to be extremely effective.

Even more so as Melco firmware improvements have recently enhanced it's functionality.

Improving upon the galvanic isolation between Melco USB 3 out and a DAC does show to an audible improvement.

However my best audio configuration so far for pure musicality and enjoyment is using the Melco to drive a Linn Magik DS/1 to a Benchmark DAC3 / AHB2.

The quest continues ...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I’m an owner of a streamer SOTM SMS-200, directly connected to a DIY NAS based on Intel server board with a Xeon processor, Apacer RAM, SSD with audiophile SATA cables and a good power supply. This server runs on Windows 2016 with audiophile optimizer, fidelizer and Process Lasso.

It has taken me time to optimize this NAS, by disabling lot of non-used process and hardware. I would say the result is really good, very dynamic and transparent.

 

I wonder if replacing this NAS with a Melco one would result on an upgrade. Does someone of you has compared a good NAS based on windows server with a Melco NAS?

 

Until now, removing computer device from my audio system always result in an improvement, so I wonder if this is the same with NAS device.

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback :-)

 

CAT

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