Media Server Reviews

Sidebar 1: Streaming with the Melco N50

I've long been curious about Melco's music libraries, so after Kal had submitted his review, I asked him to send me the N50. Then I read his review and saw his note about its limitations from its streaming "Player" output. I was determined to try it for myself.

The note at Apple's app store says that, while the Melco app doesn't support streaming to an Ethernet-connected DAC, an Ethernet-connected "Music Player" should be able to see the Melco and play music from it via its own app. So I tried it with the CH Precision C1 DAC that I still have in house after the CH Precision D1.5 review. The Melco showed up immediately in the CH Precision app. It worked right away, and the sound was excellent.

Then, to prove to myself that the Melco app can't see network-connected DACs, I installed the Melco Music app on my iPad mini. No matter what I did, it couldn't see the CH Precision DAC connected to the Melco's Ethernet "Player" port, or any other network-connected DAC, although it could, as Kal indicated, see every device on my home network with music storage. It was then I noticed a note in the quick-start guide indicating that, when playing files from the N50 to a network-connected player, "the N50 will be used as a NAS (network-attached storage) device."

That's the last piece of the puzzle I needed to understand exactly what kind of component the Melco N50 is. With a DAC connected directly to the Melco's dedicated USB output, the N50 is, or can be used as, an audio server. In a Roon or JRiver context, with a direct-connected USB DAC, it can serve as an endpoint. But when a "Music Player"—Melco's word choice—is connected to the networked "Player" port, the N50 functions as a network-attached storage device with an optimized Ethernet output.—Jim Austin