Melco Audiophile NAS

[beckphotonik]

(10-01-2015 18:48)Fritz Wrote:  

(13-12-2014 21:48)DavidHB Wrote:  

(13-12-2014 20:03)beckphotonik Wrote:  I was considering an SSD loaded Qnap that would have set me back £1100!

... and the Melco SSD device costs £6,200. You can buy a lot of hi-fi for the difference, so the Melco has to be special to stand out to that extent in the market place. Simon is making the point that it is a bit special. I'll go along with that assurance, as we all have reasons to trust Simon's judgement on these issues, but I'd want to understand a bit better what is going on before contemplating a purchase of that kind.

(13-12-2014 20:03)beckphotonik Wrote:  Even so it would not be as elegant as the Melco solution.

I think the point about the Melco solution is not so much that it is elegant (though it is), but that it is different from what has gone before. We have seen a variety of attempts to improve performance by creating a dedicated or isolated network, and by putting the music system on a different subnet. What seems to be happening with the Melco approach is that the NAS (or rather its networking component) is not isolated in that way, but 'cleans up' the part of the network that connects to the player.

Simon's experiments suggest that it doesn't matter so much where the stream originates (which is good news in regard to sources such as internet radio); what matters is that the player is connected to the specially configured and powered network port on the NAS. I cannot think of any other device that takes this approach (though would be glad to be corrected if there is one), and it does seem from the product description and specifications of the Melco that the audio-oriented work on the networking components has been rather thorough. This is what one would expect from a company which (Simon told us) has a respectable history in both audio and networking - a somewhat unusual pedigree, I think.

Be all that as it may, enjoy the QNAP ...

David

I agree with Simon that the Ethernet is "bit-perfect". If not I stop Internet banking immediately ... :-) .

So I understand that the underlying copper technology could have an impact on the sound through the streamer's Ethernet circuitry. Question: To test this shouldn't a piece of optical fiber and pair of media converters be enough? Checking at amazon that would be somewhere in the 50€ range. Interesting discussion and I am tempted to test ...

If you do, please let us know how you get on. I suspect it is more than just electrical isolation. My guess, and it is a guess, that the Melco does some form of IP filtering too so the streamer gets only the audio and control packets it needs and nothing else. How and why that should make a difference I don't know but from what Simon has reported, something interesting is definitely going on.