[romaz]

  Finally bought Melco N1A and sound quality via Chord Hugo is awesome. 

Very few people who buy a Melco say much about it on forums, it seems.  It's great that you like it so much.  Can you compare it to anything we're familiar with and why did you decide to buy it?

 

[alubis]

  Very few people who buy a Melco say much about it on forums, it seems.  It's great that you like it so much.  Can you compare it to anything we're familiar with and why did you decide to buy it?

 
The first time I heard Melco N1A was in a hifi show where it was connected to Chord Hugo TT with Raidho C1.1. as speaker (I forgot what they used for amplifier, though. If I'm not mistaken it was something from Symphonic Line). I was so impressed, so I came back on the second day early in the morning to audition thoroughly, and luckily the room was empty and I had my music on my cellphone. It was easy to stream my own music to Melco N1A via BubbleUPNP. I own Chord Hugo so more or less I'm quite familiar with Chord Hugo and Chord Hugo TT sound. My music collection never sounded this good . Right there, I knew that I need to investigate Melco N1A further.
 
In August 2015 and February 2016 HiFi News issues, Paul Miller did the measurement of Melco N1A with Chord Hugo and got excellent result via USB (he even compared the Aurender N10 vs Melco N1A and Melco N1A measurement is better). When I purchase HiFi equipment above USD1000, I need both good audition and at least some kind of published measurement before I buy. Melco N1A passed both, so I decided to purchase it.
 
Now the Chord Hugo is very sensitive to transport and I have tried:
MacMini (tweaked with HDPlex LPS, UptoneAudio MMK, no wifi, no bluetooth, OSX optimization, basically almost all tweaks recommended in Computer Audiophile forum) -> this is such a waste of time and money and I'm quite surprised a lot of people still want to pursue this course.
My Android phone via UAPP -> this is better sounding and much cheaper solution compare to mac mini. Hence, my suspicion that Chord Hugo performs better with low power transport compare to high power transport such as PC or mac.
Single board computers: I have tried BeagleBone Black, Cubietruck, and Banana Pro with various linux distros: Volumio, Rune Audio, and Archphile. These are better than mac mini or android phone. My favorite from this bunch is Banana Pro using HDPlex LPS running Archphile as OS.
I have tried USB/SPDIF converters too, Gustard U12 and Melodious Audio MX-U8 and my favorite is Melodious Audio MX-U8.
 
Suffice to say, Melco N1A tops all the above. It's a NAS (I never owned a NAS before), a UPNP renderer, able to stream Qobuz, has a good USB implementation, and an excellent sound quality with Hugo. Plus the price is reasonable, I paid around USD2300 in my country, and I think it is cheaper in USA around USD2000.
 
Here's couple of forums discussing the Melco:
 
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=431
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=1994
http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=214799.0

 

[romaz]

   
The first time I heard Melco N1A was in a hifi show where it was connected to Chord Hugo TT with Raidho C1.1. as speaker (I forgot what they used for amplifier, though. If I'm not mistaken it was something from Symphonic Line). I was so impressed, so I came back on the second day early in the morning to audition thoroughly, and luckily the room was empty and I had my music on my cellphone. It was easy to stream my own music to Melco N1A via BubbleUPNP. I own Chord Hugo so more or less I'm quite familiar with Chord Hugo and Chord Hugo TT sound. My music collection never sounded this good . Right there, I knew that I need to investigate Melco N1A further.
 
In August 2015 and February 2016 HiFi News issues, Paul Miller did the measurement of Melco N1A with Chord Hugo and got excellent result via USB (he even compared the Aurender N10 vs Melco N1A and Melco N1A measurement is better). When I purchase HiFi equipment above USD1000, I need both good audition and at least some kind of published measurement before I buy. Melco N1A passed both, so I decided to purchase it.
 
Now the Chord Hugo is very sensitive to transport and I have tried:
MacMini (tweaked with HDPlex LPS, UptoneAudio MMK, no wifi, no bluetooth, OSX optimization, basically almost all tweaks recommended in Computer Audiophile forum) -> this is such a waste of time and money and I'm quite surprised a lot of people still want to pursue this course.
My Android phone via UAPP -> this is better sounding and much cheaper solution compare to mac mini. Hence, my suspicion that Chord Hugo performs better with low power transport compare to high power transport such as PC or mac.
Single board computers: I have tried BeagleBone Black, Cubietruck, and Banana Pro with various linux distros: Volumio, Rune Audio, and Archphile. These are better than mac mini or android phone. My favorite from this bunch is Banana Pro using HDPlex LPS running Archphile as OS.
I have tried USB/SPDIF converters too, Gustard U12 and Melodious Audio MX-U8 and my favorite is Melodious Audio MX-U8.
 
Suffice to say, Melco N1A tops all the above. It's a NAS (I never owned a NAS before), a UPNP renderer, able to stream Qobuz, has a good USB implementation, and an excellent sound quality with Hugo. Plus the price is reasonable, I paid around USD2300 in my country, and I think it is cheaper in USA around USD2000.
 
Here's couple of forums discussing the Melco:
 
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=431
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=1994
http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=214799.0

Excellent write up, thanks!  I've always been curious about this unit.  It looks like you were on an earnest search for quite some time before you found the Melco.  I agree, it doesn't take much to beat a Mac Mini but it's saying a lot if this unit competes against an N10, especially at that price point.

 

[REXNFX]

   
The first time I heard Melco N1A was in a hifi show where it was connected to Chord Hugo TT with Raidho C1.1. as speaker (I forgot what they used for amplifier, though. If I'm not mistaken it was something from Symphonic Line). I was so impressed, so I came back on the second day early in the morning to audition thoroughly, and luckily the room was empty and I had my music on my cellphone. It was easy to stream my own music to Melco N1A via BubbleUPNP. I own Chord Hugo so more or less I'm quite familiar with Chord Hugo and Chord Hugo TT sound. My music collection never sounded this good . Right there, I knew that I need to investigate Melco N1A further.
 
In August 2015 and February 2016 HiFi News issues, Paul Miller did the measurement of Melco N1A with Chord Hugo and got excellent result via USB (he even compared the Aurender N10 vs Melco N1A and Melco N1A measurement is better). When I purchase HiFi equipment above USD1000, I need both good audition and at least some kind of published measurement before I buy. Melco N1A passed both, so I decided to purchase it.
 
Now the Chord Hugo is very sensitive to transport and I have tried:
MacMini (tweaked with HDPlex LPS, UptoneAudio MMK, no wifi, no bluetooth, OSX optimization, basically almost all tweaks recommended in Computer Audiophile forum) -> this is such a waste of time and money and I'm quite surprised a lot of people still want to pursue this course.
My Android phone via UAPP -> this is better sounding and much cheaper solution compare to mac mini. Hence, my suspicion that Chord Hugo performs better with low power transport compare to high power transport such as PC or mac.
Single board computers: I have tried BeagleBone Black, Cubietruck, and Banana Pro with various linux distros: Volumio, Rune Audio, and Archphile. These are better than mac mini or android phone. My favorite from this bunch is Banana Pro using HDPlex LPS running Archphile as OS.
I have tried USB/SPDIF converters too, Gustard U12 and Melodious Audio MX-U8 and my favorite is Melodious Audio MX-U8.
 
Suffice to say, Melco N1A tops all the above. It's a NAS (I never owned a NAS before), a UPNP renderer, able to stream Qobuz, has a good USB implementation, and an excellent sound quality with Hugo. Plus the price is reasonable, I paid around USD2300 in my country, and I think it is cheaper in USA around USD2000.
 
Here's couple of forums discussing the Melco:
 
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=431
http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=1994
http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=214799.0

Congrats on your new toy! How is your music stored now, on the NA1?

 

[alubis]

Excellent write up, thanks!  I've always been curious about this unit.  It looks like you were on an earnest search for quite some time before you found the Melco.  I agree, it doesn't take much to beat a Mac Mini but it's saying a lot if this unit competes against an N10, especially at that price point.

I'm not saying that Melco N1A is superior to Aurender N10, since I have not audition Aurender N10. However, Paul Miller measurements showed better result on Awtd S/N and jitter with the Melco N1A (you can read this on the Feb 16 Hifi News). It took me about 2m to decide on the Melco: auditioning, reading reviews, searching available measurement, and reading users opinion on the forums I posted above.

 

[romaz]

I'm not saying that Melco N1A is superior to Aurender N10, since I have not audition Aurender N10. However, Paul Miller measurements showed better result on Awtd S/N and jitter with the Melco N1A (you can read this on the Feb 16 Hifi News). It took me about 2m to decide on the Melco: auditioning, reading reviews, searching available measurement, and reading users opinion on the forums I posted above.

Understood.  Like you, I knew almost instantly (about 30 seconds) once I heard a source that was truly superior.

 

[alubis]

Congrats on your new toy! How is your music stored now, on the NA1?

Thank you. I've only played around for 12 hours on the Melco and I haven't moved my music libraries to it yet. But I can stream my music files stored on a pc to Melco via BubbleUPNP. I have also tried Qobuz streaming to Melco via the same app and so far I'm very happy with the sound quality.

 

[REXNFX]

Thank you. I've only played around for 12 hours on the Melco and I haven't moved my music libraries to it yet. But I can stream my music files stored on a pc to Melco via BubbleUPNP. I have also tried Qobuz streaming to Melco via the same app and so far I'm very happy with the sound quality.

Cool, one more question re the Chord DAC's, I found the Hugo too laid back and the TT too forward, tried with Sony Z3c and UAPP player using FLAC. Is there something I can try to get better SQ?

 

[alubis]

  Cool, one more question re the Chord DAC's, I found the Hugo too laid back and the TT too forward, tried with Sony Z3c and UAPP player using FLAC. Is there something I can try to get better SQ?

 
Hmm.. I don't really feel Hugo too laid back, but what I notice so far by experimenting with different transports is that Hugo is capable of great sound, and the better the transport, the better the details and the dynamics especially on the frequency extremes. It is more easy to hear bass and treble definition with better transport. I think this is due to lower noise floor and jitter as shown on Paul Miller measurements.
 
I'm thinking of using Intona USB isolator with Android/UAPP (need some savings to do first after I bought Melco), since I think the galvanic isolation will help Hugo USB input.
 
Hope these guys posted measurements of the Intona soon http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?19326-Intona-High-Speed-USB-isolator!/page5. 
 
Intona is interesting because it is made not for audio but for industrial use and the people behind that look very serious about galvanic isolation. I usually do research on the companies behind the products before buying. My speaker is ATC (which is a company well known for accurate speakers in the pro audio world), DAC is Chord Hugo (I trust Rob Watts capabilities in DAC design and his technical posts on Hugo forum have improve my understanding of DAC), and lastly, my choice of transport is Melco which is a Japanese company under Buffalo (a computer peripheral company rather than a HiFi one).

 

[REXNFX]

Thanks, may try a different transport then...

 

[bmichels]

Has someone used  Microsoft Surface Pro + ROON as a source ?  
 
With ROON installed on it, the 1Tb version of Microsoft Surface Pro 4 could be the ultimate "transportable" source when attached to a HUGO or another portable DAC or even a DAVE. . . as long as the USB-out is clean of jitter and sound good ?
 
Are there a lot of windows's tweaking needed to optimize it for best SQ ?  Audiophile Optimizer ?
 
1Tb Microsoft Surface Pro 4  + ROON + HUGO = very exciting...
 
Can this set-up be MQA compatible (at least when doing TIDAL streaming) ?
 

 

[REXNFX]

Has someone used  [COLOR=222222]Microsoft Surface Pro + ROON as a source [/COLOR][COLOR=222222]?  [/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]With ROON installed on it, the[/COLOR] [COLOR=B22222]1Tb[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]version of[/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]Microsoft Surface Pro [/COLOR]4 [COLOR=222222]could be the ultimate "transportable" source when attached to a HUGO or another portable DAC or even a DAVE. . . as long as the USB-out is clean of jitter and sound good ?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]Are there a lot of windows's tweaking needed to optimize it for best SQ ?  Audiophile Optimizer ?[/COLOR]

1Tb [COLOR=222222]Microsoft Surface Pro[/COLOR] 4  + ROON + HUGO = [COLOR=222222]very exciting...[/COLOR]

[COLOR=222222]Can this set-up be MQA compatible (at least when doing TIDAL streaming) ?[/COLOR]

Your DAC has to be MQA ready which the Hugo is not and according to Aurender, Roon does not provide the best SQ. Would also be interested if a Windows device can match a good streamer.

 

[vert]

Your DAC has to be MQA ready which the Hugo is not and according to Aurender, Roon does not provide the best SQ. Would also be interested if a Windows device can match a good streamer.

 
I'm hoping MQA can be decoded on the server end. Something like the DSD update for the Naim streamers. I'm currently spinning CDs, but I would jump on a Naim streamer in a heartbeat if they come out with an MQA update.

 

[REXNFX]

   
Hmm.. I don't really feel Hugo too laid back, but what I notice so far by experimenting with different transports is that Hugo is capable of great sound, and the better the transport, the better the details and the dynamics especially on the frequency extremes. It is more easy to hear bass and treble definition with better transport. I think this is due to lower noise floor and jitter as shown on Paul Miller measurements.
 
I'm thinking of using Intona USB isolator with Android/UAPP (need some savings to do first after I bought Melco), since I think the galvanic isolation will help Hugo USB input.
 
Hope these guys posted measurements of the Intona soon http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?19326-Intona-High-Speed-USB-isolator!/page5. 
 
Intona is interesting because it is made not for audio but for industrial use and the people behind that look very serious about galvanic isolation. I usually do research on the companies behind the products before buying. My speaker is ATC (which is a company well known for accurate speakers in the pro audio world), DAC is Chord Hugo (I trust Rob Watts capabilities in DAC design and his technical posts on Hugo forum have improve my understanding of DAC), and lastly, my choice of transport is Melco which is a Japanese company under Buffalo (a computer peripheral company rather than a HiFi one).

You may have seen this article where the reviewer compares various transports (optical disc, dedicated server, streamer) into a Marantz SA14SI SE SACD Player/DAC. I took two conclusions from it, firstly physical CD's don't sound as good a 16/44 files and secondly he preferred the Cyrus X Streamer as a transport. A very interesting and comprehensive review. 

 

[REXNFX]

http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/marantz-sa14s1-se-pm14s1-se-sacdcd-player-integrated-amplifier