As we featured in our Bristol Sound and Vision coverage, Melco have updated their original N1 series with their new MkII range which reflects both technical improvements and feedback from owners, with the aim to further improve sound quality and also to add ‘innovative new functionality previously not possible with this type of Audiophile Source Component’.

Melco told us more:”The flagship N1ZS20/2 builds on the immense talents and reputation of its predecessor. Two new 2nd Generation 1TB Audio Grade SSD, built for the application by the Buffalo memory division and totally unlike any IT industry SSD (conventional IT SSD have been proven, in a high performance environment such as the Melco, to be audibly inferior to SSD built specially for the purpose), are mounted on a massive non-magnetic anti-vibration platform. These are supported with a dedicated power supply, with additional capacitor banks using audiophile grade Film capacitors, just for the SSDs, ensuring absolute purity at the start of the signal chain. At this level of performance, even the drive configuration becomes audible and the default setting is now RAID0 – with immediate musical benefits”

“The N1ZH60/2 takes the highly rigid vibration damping casework of the flagship and pairs it with two 3TB SFF HDD drives, which are configured by default to give a 6TB internal library. Using small form factor drives in conjunction with a dedicated HDD power supply, high data integrity is ensured at the start of the dataflow as in the flagship, but at a lower price point.”.

“The N1AH60/2 is the entry point to the range but the improvements to the specification are no less significant. As well as adding a Neutrik Dedicated USB port and the improvements to the playback and control software common to all three models, the internal capacity has grown to 6TB (with the same options for adding external drives on the EXPANSION port to boost this). For the first time, a capacitor bank derived from the N1ZS20/2 is used to ensure that the feed from the power supply is as quiet and stable as possible.”

Prices

N1ZS20/2 £7,700.00

N1ZH60/2 £4,299.00

N1AH60/2 £2,099.00

Melco have also announced that the Melco N1 series has become the first approved server for RAVENNA. This advanced professional audio distribution protocol from ALC NetworX offers a method of audio transmission and distribution that is ‘almost unlimited in scale and bandwidth‘ but that makes use of existing network hardware to do so. This development has been a joint engineering effort by Merging Technologies and Melco to develop a fully networked solution. The partnership with Merging Technologies means that digital audio from a Melco device can be made available to multiple RAVENNA-compatible players. The high bandwidth ensures that formats up to DSD256 can be handled with accurate clocking, high resistance to packet loss and very low latency. RAVENNA already meets the demanding requirements of the broadcast and professional audio sectors and ensures that audiophiles have access to a system ‘able to handle any requirement they are likely to have in the foreseeable future. The system is an emphatic demonstration that the audio industry is not content to sit and ‘make do’ with legacy systems but has the resolve and engineering prowess to push on and develop solutions that combine higher performance with further improvements to the user experience‘

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