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Melco Audiophile NAS
16-08-2020, 17:07
Post: #641
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Reserving the address at the router is a good idea. The reserved router address should be be same as the static IP address that you have set at the Melco end. This is helpful because if you ever need to initialize Melco settings, the Melco will start up in DHCP mode and will automagically choose the correct address instead of changing to a different one. It is then simple to set the Melco back to using a static IP address without needing to change the address itself.
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17-08-2020, 03:52 (This post was last modified: 17-08-2020 06:27 by maikeru.)
Post: #642
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Great insight Donuk & Simon, thank you!

I am liking what I am hearing as well - surprising on many fronts. I just changed to a fixed IP via the N1A menu, assigned DHCP reservation on the router, and am using the S100 instead of player mode. Fantastic! I did't 'get' the S100 when used with a Synology and a LUMIN but now with the N1A this is something else - quite pleased. Never would have gotten these settings correct w/out this forum btw - bravo.

I'd be curious if anyone who has the flagship Lumin player (X1) and has tried the fiber connection on the S100?

(16-08-2020 12:07)Donuk Wrote:  I can confirm Simon's comments above about the sonic improvement by configuring the S100 with a Melco N/1 as above. (Not using the player port at all).

Also, I have found in my own system that, in effect, the only thing one can connect to ports 1-4 on a Melco S100, is - in my case - my Linn Akurate Katalyst streamer. Even connecting the Melco N/1 to ports 1-4 can cause buffering problems especially on hi-res files. But the S100 certainly brings a lot to the party. A significant (and surprising) upgrade for me.

Also I too have experienced a slight improvement by fixing the Melco network address, eschewing the DHCP process. There is also a far more tangible advantage of using a fixed address. Periodically in my experience, one's router has a fit, or something else is changed in the network and DHCP in its wisdom decided to allocate completely new addresses to everything.
By making the Melco fixed by address in the network, one's playlists are preserved. Playlists need of course to record the exact location of each music file. Changing address is just like moving one's music library to another hard disk!
There is also the probability that by fixing the address, control points may behave less eratically.

Donuk beautiful downtown York
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18-08-2020, 08:33
Post: #643
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Just a note to thank both Donuk (& Simon) for alerting me to fixing the Melco address - and whilst at it fixing the address of my Linn KDSM at the same time. Not only is the network obviously more stable but the sound quality has taken a solid step forward. More natural, better timing and more in tune. Interestingly, I can also reduce the volume and still follow what is going on. These sq improvements are not slight in my system, and worth the exercise in themselves. It feels like a system upgrade. I had previously shied away from touching the network as I had thought it a magic box of tricks not to be tampered with but it was not so difficult to do having taken the plunge. I would be interested to know if anyone else has had the same experience? Fortunately it is easily reversible if you don't like the results. Thanks again.
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19-08-2020, 16:16 (This post was last modified: 19-08-2020 16:17 by maikeru.)
Post: #644
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
New question here:

I’ve just noticed that while playing DSD 512 files I’m getting skips and stutters.

Playback of these files over the Lumin T2 had hitherto been smooth.

Is this perhaps due to now using the 100 mbs port through the S100?
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19-08-2020, 18:22
Post: #645
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
It would be easy to find out by plugging the LUMIN into a gigabit port on the S100. Smile

DSD512 stereo requires substained throughput of 50 Mbps, which is probably at or close to the limit for a 100 Mbps connection.
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28-08-2020, 03:57 (This post was last modified: 28-08-2020 05:21 by maikeru.)
Post: #646
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Thanks Simon.

The 100Mbps was indeed too slow. I've switched my (very very few) DSD512 albums to DSD256. My SSD is less stuffed now ;-)

New issue:

DXD files sometimes (randomly, but somewhat regularly) skip. It is hard to replicate.

Do DXD files also require high sustained throughput? They are substantially smaller files than DSD512. Am I correct that DXD should only need 8.4672 Mbit/s (per channel)? These are stereo recordings btw.

One of the vendors I use suggested that the problem might go away if I used an AIFF DXD file instead of FLAC. And that indeed did fix it for that album (that particular album stuttered every time, on every track).

But most of the DXDs I have are only available as FLAC only.

Do you think this is a N1A issue, a Minimstreamer conversion issue(I convert FLAC to WAV), or maybe the S100 again?
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28-08-2020, 07:12 (This post was last modified: 28-08-2020 07:14 by simoncn.)
Post: #647
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
The Melco N1 has a slow processor compared with most other server devices. Transcoding DXD to WAV in real time is pushing the limits of the capabilities of this processor and I think this could be the cause of the stuttering you are hearing.

You could convert your FLAC DXD files to WAV offline using a converter program such as dBpoweramp (this is likely to sound slightly better than AIFF) or you could try converting them to compressed FLAC with a lower compression level (level 2 is a good choice) or you could try converting them to uncompressed FLAC (level 0). The default compression level is 5.

If you have not already set the Melco display to dark mode, try doing this. This will reduce the load on the N1A processor and might just be enough to solve the problem. Dark mode also sounds better. Smile
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28-08-2020, 07:22 (This post was last modified: 28-08-2020 08:55 by maikeru.)
Post: #648
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Thank you Simon. ‘Dark mode’ meaning Display set to off? (if 'yes', then I am already on that setting)

Also - is there a way to instruct Minimserver 2 to only transcode flac files under a certain KHz?

(28-08-2020 07:12)simoncn Wrote:  The Melco N1 has a slow processor compared with most other server devices. Transcoding DXD to WAV in real time is pushing the limits of the capabilities of this processor and I think this could be the cause of the stuttering you are hearing.

You could convert your FLAC DXD files to WAV offline using a converter program such as dBpoweramp (this is likely to sound slightly better than AIFF) or you could try converting them to compressed FLAC with a lower compression level (level 2 is a good choice) or you could try converting them to uncompressed FLAC (level 0). The default compression level is 5.

If you have not already set the Melco display to dark mode, try doing this. This will reduce the load on the N1A processor and might just be enough to solve the problem. Dark mode also sounds better. Smile
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28-08-2020, 09:37
Post: #649
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Dark mode and display off are the same thing.

To limit transcoding to certain audio resolutions, you can use input type filters (see this section).
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28-08-2020, 10:59 (This post was last modified: 28-08-2020 11:09 by maikeru.)
Post: #650
RE: Melco Audiophile NAS
Excellent. In your opinion would I get the better audio quality from limiting the transcoding so that it won’t touch DXD? Or, rather, changing the format beforehand using dbpoweramp?


(28-08-2020 09:37)simoncn Wrote:  Dark mode and display off are the same thing.

To limit transcoding to certain audio resolutions, you can use input type filters (see this section).
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