Features
| Warranty length | 2 Years |
|---|---|
| Brand | Melco |
Tech Specs
Optical disc support
- CD (CD-DA disc-read only)
- DVD/BD (DVD/BD data disc read only)
USB ports
- USB 3.0 Type A x 1 ‘TO DEVICE’
- USB 3.0 Type B x 1 ‘TO HOST’
Compatible equipment
- Melco N1, N10, N50 and N100 series.
- Windows 10 PC. Mac High Sierra OS
Power supply
- DC 12 V (48 W AC adapter)
- Size 215 x 61 x 269mm (W H L)
- Weight 3.5 kg
Product Description
Melco D100 optical disc drive is an audiophile quality, optical (CD) disc drive, designed and optimised to read and rip CDs with great accuracy. It is designed to be used with a Melco music library and is available in black or silver.
Highly accurate ripping
When connected to a Melco music library, it will rip CDs as slowly and carefully as possible for the best possible quality rip – and the best possible ‘archive quality’ stored file on your Melco music library for later playback and enjoyment. Files can be ripped as either WAV or FLAC files – although we recommend FLAC which also has the benefit of also storing metadata such as track information.
The D100 can also be used as a CD transport to play discs when paired with a Melco music library.
Purist design
The unit is built around a 2mm thick under-chassis support for high rigidity. This is a very well built unit and weighs 3.5kG, almost three times what a usual optical drive would weigh.
Melco PCB
The D100 features a custom PCB designed by Melco that is optimised to deliver the best performance for ripping CDs. The D100 is a simple purist design built and optimised for accuracy.
The drive mechanism is made in Japan and uses Melco’s Highly Stable Storage System mounts, to reduce vibration. The power supply PCB is separate and uses audio grade capacitors. Finally, the clock generator is of a high quailty to reduce jitter.
Connectivity
D100 uses USB ports to connect to your music library and is compatible with the Melco N100, N50, N10/2, N1 and will likely be compatible with any future music library models. There is also a 12v input for the external power supply and there are power supply upgrade options from PliXiR (available separately)
How does an optical drive work?
An optical drive reads the data on a CD using a laser beam. The CD rotates at a constant speed, and the reflective surface is made up of “pits” and “lands”. The different reflectivity results in a data stream of 1’s and 0’s. The actual data is encoded as a PCM or Pulse Code Modulated signal. It is sampled at 44.1 kHz with a 16-bit word length.
There are also various servos used to focus the laser and track the data on the disc. The laser is mounted on a sled, driven by gears, that move it across the disk surface. Around 700Mb of data can be stored on a CD and it is not compressed. A photodiode recovers the data. The D100 is designed to carry out all of these functions as accurately as possible.
File formats for saved, ripped files
For archiving at the best quality, it is recommended that you save in WAV or FLAC formats. WAV files can store linear PCM audio in uncompressed form. You should get a bit-perfect clone, although there is no metadata or track information stored. FLAC on the other hand, stores track information. FLAC is a lossless audio codec that can encode PCM data with no loss. The file size is also smaller than WAV.
About Melco
Melco was founded in Japan in 1975. They made the finest audio components of the time and established themselves with a turntable that set new standards in the industry. Later, they moved into computer peripherals and were the largest peripheral manufacturer in Japan. Today they have combined their knowledge and experience for design into purist hi-fi components optimised for digital music ripping and storage.
