Melco N1 Flagship Music Library

Melco N1 flagship music library has been designed to offer the best possible music storage and sonic performance and is the culmination of everything Melco has learned in the company’s history, distilled into a single high end flagship design.

Like Melco’s other music libraries, the N1 is a large capacity purist device designed for music storage only, with high performance and intelligent operation. It does not have a built in DAC and is designed to be used either via USB with an external DAC or DAC equipped amplifier – or via Ethernet with a suitable streamer.

N1 is a full width design with an option of Black or Silver finishes. Due to its ultra-fast, silent operation and greater potential for long term reliability, N1 is only available with an SSD (Solid State Drive).

SSD platform

The N1-S38 uses a brand new SSD-based platform. This has been designed from scratch and has a new chassis and casework. The electronics are also new, as is the power supply. The power supply uses a high-capacity power transformer as well as local regulators. An audio specific custom 3.84TB SSD is used. These have no moving parts. However, the drive is mounted by Melco’s own layered rigid SSD mounter. The SSD is connected directly to the data path and does not have a controller in the way. The onboard memory of the unit has also been increased.

Quality steel construction

The new chassis features a 3mm stainless steel base-plate. This acts as a shield and prevents vibrations from reaching the sensitive electronics. Moreover, the two-tone aluminium casework is accented by teal LED lighting. For track information, there is an OLED display, and illuminated control buttons. Finally, there is a front mounted USB port, for convenience.

Top quailty USB ports

Melco have developed Amphenol USB ports. This is more robust type of plastic that provides a better connection and longer lasting performance than standard USB ports. There are dedicated ports for the DAC, as well as Import and Backup. This means that you can leave the backup drive permanently attached.

Network connectivity

The Ethernet LAN connection uses a Neutrix RJ45 connector, that has been upgraded. Notably, this is the only Melco library with a switchable external 10Mhz clock input. For the ultimate in network connectivity the N1 also has an SFP fibre connection. This enables the unit to be used with a fibre network. You can connect to a suitably equipped network switch such as the Melco S100 Mk2 or S10 (available separately).

What is SFP?

SFP is an acronym for Small Form Factor Pluggable and is used to connect devices such as a transceiver, that converts Ethernet to optical. The optical cable then plugs into the transceiver, while the other end goes to the player or network switch. Once converted to light, the audio signal is not susceptible to electrical interference.

About networks

You may also need to upgrade your home network, to get the best out of the Flagship N1. Digital audio can be as fragile and needs a clean signal path. However, Ethernet networks are noisy places, with many devices connected to them. All that cable acts as an aerial dragging in all kinds of noise. Digital signals are affected by noise and can suffer from dropouts and loss of data. This is caused by the edges of the data pulses becoming blurred leading to timing errors and jitter. However all is not lost, Melco makes dedicated network switches (available separately), designed to create a clean audio specific network.

Ideally, the N1 is used in conjunction with a Melco switch, along with the Melco D100 disc drive for CD ripping. Connect the N1 to a suitable high end DAC or high end streamer for a sensational digital storage front end.