The QNAP you have is more than powerful enough. While there is a learning curve, I didn’t find it too difficult with my Synology NAS because the Synology operating system is quite user-friendly; I don’t know how QNAP compares in this regard. I can tell you that once I got it set up, I have hardly touched it since – just one major upgrade to the Synology operating system. If you’d like to try again, let me know and I maybe I can help.
Thanks Magister! QNAP softwer is quite user friendly but I faced several issue (and I´m pretty good with this stuff). If my dealer doesn´t get it back I will proceed on this way and I would appreciate your help a lot! thankssss
Guys – If your Melco is feeding a Bridge II then you can use an iPad or iPhone app to stream TIDAL. The Bridge II is the renderer in this setup, not the Melco. I do it with the mconnect and mcontrol family of iOS apps. See screenshots of mcontrolHD for iPad playing TIDAL through my Melco to my DS/Bridge II. Just be sure to go into TIDAL settings in the app and set the streaming quality to HiFi.
Hello Bootzilla, I saw your setup looking throgh the forum and I think it can be also my situation.
The only point i don´t undestand is the difference btw mconnect and mcontrol and why I don´t see on my IPAD app mcontroll the tidal source. If I´m not wrong the former is a player and don´t need a server and the latter is a control point and needs a server.
Can I ask you if:
Could I use mconnect hd player + bridge 2 to stream Tidal without any Melco
is it possible to use roon on melco?
is it possible to stream from Tidal app directly to melco via airplay using some kind of wireless AP (e.i. airport extreme)
sorry if it´s not totally clear but I´m not an english speaker champion!
Hi @psycofear. I asked ConversDigital about the mconnect vs. mcontrol distinction. Here is their response:
"mconnect Control" finds only mconnect compatible devices powered by ConversDigital.
"mconnect Player" is the App for standard DLNA/UPnP devices.
As for the TIDAL setup in mcontrol, I am at work and do not have my iPad with me, but as I recall, you touch the gear icon in the upper left-hand corner and then touch “Cloud Setup.” Then hit the radio button to turn TIDAL to “ON.” Then exit out of that sub-menu and go to BROWSER near the top right. Once you are in BROWSER, you should a Library choice for TIDAL. Go into TIDAL, touch the three lines, select Settings, and input your account info.
Regarding your other three questions, please see my responses below:
Could I use mconnect hd player + bridge 2 to stream Tidal without any Melco: YES.
is it possible to use roon on melco? NOT AS FAR AS I KNOW.
is it possible to stream from Tidal app directly to melco via airplay using some kind of wireless AP (e.i. airport extreme) I DOUBT IT, BUT I NEVER TRIED.
Could I use mconnect hd player + bridge 2 to stream Tidal without any Melco: YES. There is any difference btw with or without Melco?
is it possible to use roon on melco? NOT AS FAR AS I KNOW.As far as I know DCS network bridge is roon ready, Tidal native and support airplay…but it costs too much…
@psycofear: To my ears in my system, TIDAL sounds better with the Melco feeding the Bridge II versus the Squeezebox 2 that I use as a wireless bridge to bring Ethernet to my listening room. In my opinion, this is a not a reason to buy a Melco, but it was a nice surprise Melco benefit I discovered.
As far as Roon is concerned, if you already have a Bridge II, and I gather you do, you probably know that it is Roon Ready. So you can have Roon and a Melco in the same system. And I suppose it would be possible to have Roon play the files stored on your Melco. Of course, you would need another computer to serve as the Roon “core.”
I am in the middle of a one-year Roon free trial that ends in October, but I hardly ever use it To me, Roon is more trouble than it is worth. With a Melco and TIDAL HiFi, I have more than enough music and system enjoyment to go around!
Speaking of Melco, you are lucky because Melco just announced their new v2 models. (I bought my N1ZH60 about three months too soon!)
I too don’t like using a Mac or Windows machine for audio playback. That’s why I ended up with a NAS.
Agree 100% on all the aspects you mention. I've had a similar Synology NAS for 3 years. I found it easy to set up using the instructions and help provide online. Very low maintenance with the occasional system updates being trouble-free to install.
The OP might like to search out the reviews of Melco servers published in HiFi News. Andrew Everard found that the SQ from the Melco could be matched by that of his optimised NAS system, with far less expenditure. An important part of his setup was the optical isolation of the ethernet input to the renderer / DAC. As I’ve noted before, details of this are given in his blog:
Mike Marks said
DSD works perfectly via USB, can't comment on how it works via Bridge 2 until I've installed it in a couple of weeks, but my understanding is that it works fine, but is restricted at DSD64.
That is correct. When B2 was in beta testing, some of us asked about 2x DSD. Paul explained the reasons why it couldn't be done at that time. I can't reproduce his exact words now, but the gist was that supporting 2x (or 4x) over ethernet was harder than one might think from a technical perspective.
Bootzilla said
Of course, you would need another computer to serve as the Roon “core.”
A computer or a high-powered NAS running Linux. If the OP is interested in Roon, he should check the specs on the Roon site for the Linux version. The QNAP he has might be powerful enough, if he has room in the case for an additional SSD that Roon says is necessary for satisfactory performance of the core (music can be stored on spinning discs).
Bootzilla said
Of course, you would need another computer to serve as the Roon “core.”
A computer or a high-powered NAS running Linux. If the OP is interested in Roon, he should check the specs on the Roon site for the Linux version. The QNAP he has might be powerful enough, if he has room in the case for an additional SSD that Roon says is necessary for satisfactory performance of the core (music can be stored on spinning discs).
Hi MAgister, yes Magister I bought qnap (i3 and 4gb ram) ssd hd and 4t hdd, that´s what Roon suggest, but I would like to give back everything and play another game. I would like to use roon without Nas or Pc but using a server audio where you can install a roon core on.
@bootzilla I saw the new melco but it seems there is no a huge difference… what do you think? it´s worthy…?
@psycofear: Did you select the Bridge II in the apps as the renderer? The free versions of the apps do not remember your renderer choice after you close them. Go to “Play to” and select the Bridge II at the beginning of each listening session (yes, it is annoying to have to do this each time, but it takes two seconds).
@bootzilla I have not the free version, I bought the apps.dennis from psaudio said me that current firmware of th bridge does not support tidal streaming… people from conversdigital told me that I should check dns setting and network parameters…
@psycofear: Not sure what to say at this point. I use the free mconnect and mcontrolHD iPad apps to stream TIDAL HiFi to my Bridge II in the DS. In post #45, above, I thought you wrote that it was working. If you see TIDAL in the Library and you see the Bridge II as a renderer under “Play to,” the apps should work. If you do not see one or the other, then something is wrong, but I am not sure what, unfortunately. Good luck.
After appointment visited a dealer in my neighborhood and auditioned the Melco N1ZH60 and N1ZS10 on my own DS (Audioquest Diamond > Bridge II). My interest was mainly pointed at if Melco would better the music worthwhile streaming Qobuz and Tidal, in which case the audible profit will count for all sorts of streaming
After starting by internet ‘straight out of the wall’ and following with the N1ZH60, which indeed and without a doubt betters the sound in terms like more fluid, ease, transients, holographic…a very positive experience and now eager to hear if the -at first glance- too expensive N1ZS10 could better this. Immediately just after hearing a few notes I was very very surprised, never thought it would make that much of a difference! All of before mentioned improvements even at a clearly higher level and more…
the dealer started laughing, saying he did have the same unexpected experienced the day before. On behalf of my appointment he asked the Dutch importer for the N1ZS10 model, never had it in store before…
However knowing Melco is coming with new mark II models I took my chance and that day I ended up driving home with my DS and the N1ZS10 demo unit almost at the price of the N1ZH60
Integrated the Melco in my own setup leaving my NAS in place and VERY HAPPY this machine does the same magic to my music at home
Congrats on your purchase, @wijber! If the N1ZS10 beats the N1ZH60, it must really be something!
On a related note, I corresponded with Alan from Melco the other day and he confirmed that the SQ improvements on the upcoming Mrk.II models are on USB only, and that for streaming via Ethernet any SQ improvements are firmware based-only. “I suggest that for streaming pretty much all the benefits are seen in the FW. The HW difference really only affects USB-DAC,” he wrote.
Since I do not use my N1ZH60’s USB output, I think I will sit tight with the Mrk.I.
Just set up my Melco N1A feeding my Bridge II. This replaces a mac mini with an SSD drive and 16 gb ram with all extraneous programs removed according to Mojo Audio recs. The improvement in SQ is impressive!
Congrats and welcome to the club, @Goetzfam! If you play DSD files (or even if you don’t), I recommend taking a look at installing MinimServer on your N1A. See my post in #31 above.
Looks like I spoke too soon. I can’t get DSD to work. I’m contabout the transcoding. Is that something I set before installing minimserver on the Melco or do I use minimserver on my computer which I have yet to install. Any help for this technically ignorant audiophile would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, sorry if my post #31, above, was not clear. In addition to installing MinimServer on your Melco, you should install MinimWatch on your computer. See this link for download and installation instructions: http://minimserver.com/installing.html
Once you install MinimWatch, you can set the transcoding settings on MinimServer. To get DSD to play, you would set the “dsf:dopwav” command as described here.
Good luck, and please let us know how you make out.
