![]() We load the same music files (hi-res and CD quality) on both the N100 and Uniti Core and listen through our reference system, which includes a Burmester 088/911 Mk 3 pre/power combo and ATC’s SCM 50 speakers. If you use an Apple or Android phone, you’ll have to use third-party alternatives, such as mconnect Player or similar, which work well enough. Melco has a dedicated app, but it currently only works for the iPad. Network audio set-ups normally use a dedicated network switch, but the N100’s arrangement makes things cleaner and more direct. There is no provision for going wireless here, and that’s fair considering the additional stability hardwiring gives. There are two ethernet ports, one of which is used to hardwire to your network and the other connects to a stand-alone streamer. We partner the N100 with Chord’s excellent Qutest (£1195/$1895) for this test and it proves a good match. This Melco doesn’t have a built-in DAC, so if you want to use it as a streamer, playing music from its internal storage, for example, you’ll need to add one. The third is intended for use with an external DAC. There are three USB 3.0 sockets and two of these can be used to connect the N100 to external storage in the form of sticks and hard drives or optical drives for ripping CDs. The supplied manual deserves a mention for being well laid out and easy to understand.Ĭonnectivity is limited but covers all the essentials. The front panel control layout is simple, but together with the small but clear display, the N100 is easy enough to set up. It just gets on with its job quickly and without fuss. We’ve used a number of music servers over the years, and the Melco is probably the slickest and least obtrusive we’ve come across. I have a RPi as my main source in a 'state of the art - cost no object' (by my standards at least) main system, but also run a a RPi zero with an amp hat as my patio table speaker - all synched - so, today for example, I listened to an album in the lounge in stunning quality, then moved to the patio for a G&T in the sunshine, and the same music was playing on my table speaker, then I plugged in my headphones and enjoyed pretty much flawless quality (and some parametric EQ to lift the bass of my 'phones, as my main system is flat to 20Hz) - I can airplay from my phone, play tracks from my ripped collection, and anything from Tidal, Radio Paradise at FLAC 16/44.1 - I tried Roon for a few days - likes: All albums in the same place irrespective of where they were coming from, dislikes: Really poor Radio Paradise (50% of my day) support, and radio in general was a bit like hard work, and I'd have to pay for it.Streaming services supported Qobuz, Tidal LMS - definitely the way to go - supported by a fabulous community (and Logitech - the original software was open source), the clients run on RPi and lots of other low cost hardware, developers react to changes with amazing speed (we weren't cut off by the BBC changing their streaming strategy for more than a few hours) - you can run it on a NAS, a RPi, or as I do, on a serious spec windows server, makes no difference, the code is solid and constantly updated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |