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Sound Matters 5

15/4/2020

2 Comments

 
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Edition 5 - April 2020

Welcome

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Welcome to Sound Matters – Melco Audio’s newsletter, designed to keep you updated on Melco news and industry insights.

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I am delighted to have taken on the role of General Manager at Melco, whilst Alan Ainslie moves to manage distribution of Melco in the UK, North America and parts of Europe.

Melco offers the world's first audiophile-grade source components to access, store, deliver and play Hi-Res digital music without the use of computer hardware and peripherals. Our uncompromising digital music libraries are the talk of industry awards and are regularly used by leading audio manufacturers to showcase their devices. 

We want to make sure this newsletter continues to be a valuable read for you, so please send ideas and suggestions for future content you’d like to see to
: hello@melco-audio-masters.com
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Happy reading and stay safe,

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Daniel Raggett
Melco Europe General Manager


Trial Melco in your home via our UK retail network

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We’ve unveiled a new initiative to help locked-down music lovers get the most from their collections. Melco dealers are currently not able to adequately support customers new and old due to government restrictions, so our UK distributor, Audiophile Digital Music Masters (ADMM), will be working closely with retailers to offer its own demo stock to anyone who wishes to evaluate products in the comfort of their own homes, with their own systems.

With shows, exhibitions and events currently on hold due to nationwide restrictions, we have a pool of demonstration units available for audition and with retailers’ physical stores closed for a period, our retail network has both the time and capacity to help arrange logistics.  

We have most models available on a first come, first served basis and will endeavour to cater to all requests for home demonstration samples. Our dealer network will also be able to advise on part-exchange opportunities and for existing Melco users, updating libraries to the new EX specification.
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Please contact your local Melco Master Dealer to discuss options. 

If you’re unable to get hold of your dealer, please contact Daniel Raggett - 
Melco Europe General Manager, at draggett@buffalo-technology.com 

Enjoy the music!


Meet the Melco Master Dealer

In each edition of Sound Matters, we’ll be focussing on one of our Melco Master Dealers.  Melco has a training program dedicated to creating a network of skilled Master Dealers who have been assessed in respect to Melco features, installation and support, as well as advanced Hi-Res Audio techniques and network infrastructure for hi-fi devices.

Our high streets are of course closed with the Covid-19 pandemic, but our dealers are available via phone and email for support.

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In this edition, we speak to Paul Bird -
​Sales Manager at
Hi-Fi Corner

Which brands do you sell? 

We sell everything from lifestyle Bluetooth speakers and systems, to high-end systems and A/V products, including the best quality solidstate and valve-based systems - Naim, Linn, Ayon Audio and Quad, amongst others, utilising all sources, including vinyl from Linn and Avid, plus streaming to hard drive-based sources, such as Melco and dCS.
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We also have a considered range of the bestknown speakers, something for all - we have ported and non-ported cone-based speakers from Wilson Audio, Harbeth, DALI, KEF, Spendor, PMC and Bowers and Wilkins, horns from Klipsch and electrostatics by MartinLogan and Quad, plus active systems from Linn and ATC.

Why do you do what you do? 

If there is one thing we all share at Hi-Fi Corner, it’s passion. We all have a passion for music, whether live or recorded and, of course, we all share a passion for making sure our customers are delighted with the service and advice they receive, and ultimately, that the system allows them to enjoy their chosen music for many years.

We pride ourselves on treating all customers equally and offering the best advice - it doesn’t matter what customers are looking for, it could be an inexpensive stylus, a pair of headphones, or full systems and component upgrades.

Our customers comprise the full gamut, some with limited budgets, others limitless, but each one is made to feel we are working to get them the very best, because we feel we have the same passion as our customers.  They keep coming back for many years and are considered as much as friends as clients.

What do you enjoy about Melco? 

We decided to stock Melco as it really is all things to all men when it comes to managing your online and offline digital music files - whether streaming via your favourite streaming service, or ripping and managing a large database of files stored locally on the Melco itself, or your wider network and all seamlessly.

Given Melco is part of Buffalo, with their industry-leading hard-disc systems, this means that you know the Melco units utilise the best hard disc drives to optimise sound quality and you can hear it in the performance.

Even if you don’t own a Melco hard disc-based system, you can still benefit from Melco’s products - their new S100 network data switch is an audiophile’s dream. Adding it into your network will result in improvements across the board, no matter what your brand of streamer is.

But, don’t take my word for it, pop along and we will happily demonstrate this and let you try the product at home in your own system – something we’re seeing a lot more requests for in the current climate

Do you have a recent customer success story? 

We have many customers who heave raved about what their Melco has done for their listening. We have one client, who now has all his music in one place, over 3 TB on his Melco N10 and his music files are now not mixed up with his data files, and he no longer needs his computer to listen to his music. And, as a bonus, he can stream music directly via the Melco.

We are also currently installing another Melco N10 for a customer with files on his Naim NDX2 (now full) and another off-board hard drive. We will be transferring the files on his Naim onto the Melco N10 digital library, leaving him plenty of space on both. Once that is done, we will be attaching his standalone hard drive with many more terrabytes, into the Melco N10 via USB, meaning all his music will be easily accessible and all available from one remote UPnP client.

As a retailer, having a range of products that can be adapted to suit customer needs is a dream come true and makes us look like superstars in the eyes of the customers.
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Guest Blog:
An introduction to MinimServer – one half of the Melco Intelligent Music Library system
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Simon Nash -
Founder at MinimServer

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MinimServerminimserver.com provides a better experience for browsing your library and playing music than other servers such as Twonky. With MinimServer, you can browse your library by tags such as composer, work, ensemble, performer and conductor in addition to the traditional genre/artist/album hierarchy. You can browse by any tags in any order, so you could (for example) either start with composer or work, or start with ensemble or performer and continue with other selections depending on what you see. MinimServer makes it easy to do this by automatically adjusting how the results of each browsing step are presented, based on the contents of your library and your previous browsing selections. This approach is known as Intelligent Browsing and is a unique feature of MinimServer.

MinimServer is ideally suited for classical music butit also works well with rock/pop and jazz. The Melco Intelligent Music Library (MIML) includes MinimServer Starter Edition with preconfigured browsing profiles for classical, rock/pop and jazz. You can use the Melco front panel to select any of these profiles and switch between them. If you want to customise these profiles further, you can upgrade to the full version of MinimServer and use any of the advanced configuration features that MinimServer provides.

To make all this possible, the files in your music library need to contain rich metadata that MinimServer can use to provide the Intelligent Browsing experience. Downloading or ripping a music file creates metadata in the file, but this is often incomplete or inconsistent. To solve this issue, Melco Intelligent Music Library (MIML, which forms part of the Melco EX Series, also includes SongKong, an application that uses online databases to find accurate metadata and adds it to your music files. 

This combination of MinimServer, SongKong and the proven qualities of the Melco product line, provides you with everything you need to get the most from your music.

Guest Blog:
JThink – The company behind SongKong, the other half of the Melco Intelligent Music Library system
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Paul Taylor -
 Founder of JThink

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JThink is an independent software business based in Dorset, UK, specialising in providing music meta management for digital music fans.

Out first tool was Jaikoz Music Manager, offering unparalleled control and automatic identification over many years, but with SongKong, we take this further. We combine 100% automatic song identification with full user control over how the identification and metadata is applied to create a consistent music library. By providing SongKong integrated with Melco, you can now organise your library without the need for a separate computer - the changes are made directly on the Melco, avoiding the need to copy files over a network and can be controlled with any device that has a web browser, such as a tablet or smartphone.

SongKong provides acoustic identification, album-based matching, proper classical music metadata, removal of duplicate songs, high-quality album and artist images, bpm and mood metadata. Metadata is supported for all major audio formats including FLAC, WAV and DSF. Modifications are not just stored in the files, they are also stored in a database and can be undone at a later date. Browsable web and spreadsheet status reports provide an accurate record of your music library.

SongKong for Melco has been designed to provide optimum metadata for use with MinimServer, now also available for Melco as part of Melco Intelligent Music Library (MIML) via the EX Series models.


In the press

Here’s the hi-fi news we’ve been featured in recently:
Hi-Fi Plus magazine - Melco Audio under new management in the UK
What H-Fi? - Melco home trial during lockdown
Gramophone magazine – Melco EX Series and Melco Intelligent Music Library
What Hi-Fi? 5-star - Melco N100 - ‘Best Music Streamer of 2020’!
Bristol Show – Hifi Pig’s show report
Hi-Fi World 5-globe ‘Outstanding’ review - Melco Intelligent Music Library
Hi-Fi Choice magazine ‘Hi-Fi Choice Recommended’ - Melco N100 - in their 2019 Yearbook
Hi-Fi Choice magazine – Melco N100 - recommended each month in the magazine’s Buyers’ Guide

Customer feature

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Thanks to Melco customer Paul, for sharing a photo of his hi-fi system, including a Melco N1AH/60-EX Series music library – what do you think? Melco and Naim make a great match!
“I should admit I’m a vinyl addict who has always had high-end streamers as well! I run a Naim ND555 streamer with a 252/300DR amp combination and have been delighted with the results - although I always felt that the vinyl slightly bettered the digital listening experience.

About six months ago, however, several friends in the industry persuaded me to try a dedicated media streamer as an add-on storage device in place of my trusty networked NAS drive. I tried the three main industry competitors at my budget level on home demo and the minute I plugged in the Melco between the Naim streamer and my network, the decision was made. The sound stage opened out, instruments were clearer and suddenly there was air and space around the instruments. Since then, Melco have loaded the new firmware upgrade and I’ve changed media server to MinimServer - the results have been stunning.

I would also add that the guys at Melco are really down to earth and the support has been fantastic. They are always happy to have a chat and treat customers as friends rather than someone who has just bought a box from them.

I think it’s also essential to have a dealer one can trust and who is an expert in the digital world – I used Audio Therapy in the North East and their MD, David, has been superb in after-sales advice, helping me master some of the nuances of networks, media servers and the dark arts which can be a feature of digital music.

Having lived with the Melco for the last six months, my music has never sounded as good. I can anticipate many late-night listening sessions ahead!”

If you’d like to feature in Sound Matters, please send a photo of your kit with a breakdown of models to: hello@melco-audio-masters.com or DM us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter

Let’s get social 

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2 Comments
Rob Atkinson
15/4/2020 01:12:54 pm

I had been running a windows based DIY server based on plans over a website known as Computer Audio. Windows has always given me headaches and this was no exception. A couple years ago, decided to bite the bullet and find a built for purpose server. Melco was getting great press at the time and I was able to find a local dealer in Denver where I lived at the time. I went in thinking I was gonna evaluate for reliability and usability. Upon first listen I realized servers DO make a difference in sound quality as well. I was hearing finesse and detail I hadn't heard before in familiar recordings. I was sold and continue to be impressed every time I fire up my system. I admit to being an audiophile and, like many of us, I do suffer from audionervosa. My Melco N1 helps keep me sane by being the rock that all my critical listening builds on. If I hear something amiss, I never need question that it is doing anything but providing the rest of my system with accurate music in all its tonality and detail.

Reply
Melco Audio
15/4/2020 05:53:45 pm

Hi Rob, thanks so much for sharing this comment with us! We're so pleased you enjoy your N1 and that you understand the hype it receives! A high-res server really does make the world of difference - and not a computer in sight!

Reply



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