Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library – The Most Powerful Music Library

It is the second generation of the Melco M10 Series, which is now available in the form of the new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library. The flagship comes in two versions: the Melco N10/2-H50 with hard drives, or the Melco N10/2-S38 equipped with an SSD.

Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library is the new flagship from Melco Audio. The supplier of storage systems specialised solely for use in the hi-fi environment is presenting the second generation of the proven Melco N10 Series. According to the manufacturer, this is the top model in the so-called two-box design and is the most powerful music library the company has developed so far.

This solution is offered in two versions. In addition to the version equipped with hard disks, the Melco N10/2-H50, there is also a version equipped with an SSD, the Melco N10/2-S38.

Architecture of the Melco N10 45th Anniversary Limited Edition – Replacing the SSD model of the Melco N1Z Series

The architecture chosen here is already known from the Melco N10 45th Anniversary Limited Edition presented in October 2021, according to the manufacturer, whereby this in turn was based on the Melco N10-H30. The new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library in the Melco N10/2-S38 version is to replace the previous flagship from the Melco N1Z Series equipped with an SSD.

Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library with “Two-Box Design”

A very important aspect of the new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library is once again the design that has been chosen, because, as already described in the introduction, it is a so-called two-box design, as the manufacturer himself describes it. The system consists of a head unit and a power unit.

This design offers the great advantage that the particularly sensitive electronics of the signal processing, but also the connection panel, can be separated from the power supply. For the power supply, a particularly high-quality solution is also possible, since the additional housing provides the necessary space. Thus, one trusts in a powerful and low-noise linear power supply based on a toroidal transformer.

New high-performance main board as a basis

According to the manufacturer, the heart of the new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library is a new high-performance motherboard, which was first used in the Melco N10 45th Anniversary Limited Edition and has now found its way into the series products.

This should provide sufficient performance for the provision of data, but also for the use of the solution as a stand-alone player.

The head unit of the new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library is based on the same extremely low-noise, high-precision circuitry as the existing solutions from Melco Audio, although it was designed from the ground up as a pure audio device. One should not compare Melco Audio solutions with a commercial NAS, a so-called Network Attached Storage solution, such as those offered by the parent company of Melco Audio, the network and storage specialist Buffalo Inc. It is explicitly emphasised that solutions of the Melco Audio brand do not use standard IT components.

Special attention to the storage system

The manufacturer emphasises the use of particularly high-quality components, especially with regard to the storage system, because regardless of whether it is a hard disk drive – HDD – or SSD, it relies on “hand-picked” special drives for exceptional audio reproduction, as the manufacturer itself describes.

Specifically, the model with hard disks, the Melco N10/2-H50, uses a hard disk with a storage capacity of 5 TByte, the solution with SSD, the Melco N10/2-S38, uses an SSD with 3.84 TByte.

Separate network connection

It is essential for use in the hi-fi environment and for achieving optimal results that the solutions offer two network connections. Thus, in addition to an RJ45 Ethernet interface as the actual LAN connection, a second such interface is available, which is marked as a player and is thus designed for direct connection to a network streaming client. According to the manufacturer’s description, this should make it possible to do without an interconnected switch in order to maintain timing accuracy.

Separate USB port for DACs

The manufacturer also differentiates between the USB ports for storage media and one for the connection of external converters. A total of three USB 2.0 ports are available, one directly at the front, which is also intended for storage media, as well as a second one at the rear, and the USB DAC output.

Via USB, you can not only import audio data from storage media, you can also connect a corresponding USB CD drive to rip CDs directly and expand the capacity. Furthermore, data backup should not be neglected, which can also be done via external USB drives.

Proven software architecture

The new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library also relies on the proven software architecture of Melco Audio’s previous solutions, guaranteeing simple, convenient operation. This includes the Melco Intelligent Music Library Suite consisting of MinimServer and SongKong. On the one hand, the system can be used as a pure data provider, but also as a stand-alone player.

Thus, it relies on UPnP and is dlna-certified, can access TIDAL, Qobuz and vTuner directly via the Melco Music HD App, and has a Qobuz Downloader as well as a download option for HIGHRESAUDIO, so that you can also purchase music downloads and download them directly without having to use a PC or Mac. Of course, the new Melco N10/2 is also designated as Roon Ready.

As a stand-alone hi-res audio streaming client in conjunction with a USB DAC, it can play back audio data in all relevant formats in Linear PCM format with up to 32 bits and 384 kHz as well as DSD with up to DSD256.

Prices and availability

The new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library is expected to be available from retailers from March 2022, with a choice of black or silver finish. The recommended retail price for the Melco N10/2-H50 version is € 7,499 and for the Melco N10/2-S38 you have to budget € 9,999.

Getting to the point

Of course, the conception of the Melco N10/2-H50 as a HiFi solution speaks for itself, so that these systems can be placed in any HiFi rack without any problems and can be used not only as a pure storage solution, but also as a Hi-res audio player in combination with a USB DAC. With the new Melco N10/2 Digital Music Library, the second generation of the Melco N10 Series is available, whereby the new flagship is offered in two “flavours”: Melco N10/2-H50 equipped with HDD, and Melco N10/2-S38 equipped with SSD.