Setup
Contents
Initially the source was a NAD M50.2 digital music player, operating as a NAS for a Metrum Ambre Roon endpoint controlled from a NUC. The Ambre is linked to a Metrum Pavane DAC over I2S. The amplifier combination consists of an Audia Flight Strumento No.1 front and a Pass Labs X250.5 power amplifier. Two PMC fact.12 speakers on Townshend Podiums and with super tweeters connected on top of Townshend.
A Synology NAS is available, with a copy of all the music on the NAD. For listening, the NAD has already been compared to the Synology, and the NAD plays back files nicer, even under Roon where you wouldn’t expect a difference.
The Melco N10 is first filled with music, the backup pulled from the NAD, and then simply put into the network via the LAN port. The first step was to play music from the NAD, Synology and Melco without using the Player port.
Step two, send music from the Synology and the NAD to the Melco LAN port and connect the Metrum Ambre to the Melco’s Player port. Finally play files stored on the Melco N10 to the Ambre over the Player port. The most ideal setup. A second system elsewhere in the house, Metrum Ambre/Adagio/Forte with Falcon LS3/5a, cannot benefit from that port, therefore the Melco N10 is ‘just’ a NAS.
Power, Ethernet, I2S cables, interlinks, the rest of the sets have been given a lot of attention.
Listen and enjoy
We cannot clearly explain why files played from a Synology NAS and from a NAD differ in quality. We can think of all kinds of things such as noise from the processor, jitter, transport over one or two switches, the disks and the software, but we are still talking about files that can be played digitally. Sent from storage over a NUC with Roon Rock and then on to a network player. T
oh it is the NAD storage that brings more tranquility, sharpness knows to remove, a larger stereo image offers, details stabbing forward and especially calmer plays. Less listening fatigue after a long session. We get the same difference when we choose the NAD storage for the Melco storage. A clear step forward in these respects, with the bonus of a greatly improved stereo image in which the music is more easily detached from the reproducers. This applies equally to both systems. So Melco must indeed have found the egg of Columbus in control of the hard disk, in processing and especially in the food. The N10 power supply would not be out of place in an audiophile amplifier.
If we go to a situation where the music in the main system runs through the Player port on the Melco then the result is a similar improvement. In other words, you get about 70% of the total possible improvement in display by exchanging your NAS or in our case a NAD 50.2 for a Melco N10 for storage. Ditto you get 70% of the profit by playing files from a NAS through the Melco LAN port and then through the Player port to your network player. The bridge in the Melco acts as a transmission hatch where all clutter is stopped galvanically, data is re-clocked by a wordclock and music data is delivered in a continuous stream of packets in the right order to the network player.