Top five tips to getting the best from your Melco digital music library​

Melco digital music libraries are designed and built in Japan, and we are extremely proud of our heritage. Being a Japanese business also comes with extremely high expectations: the Japanese are some of the most discerning audiophiles in the world and demand the highest quality sound reproduction.  Melco products are not only built and designed to meet these expectations, but also to surpass them.

If you own a Melco music library, here are five key tips to getting the best performance:

1. Ethernet cable
   
   It is most important to directly connect your Melco to your router with a good-quality CAT7 Ethernet cable.  You need connection to the router to have access to streaming services (such as Tidal, Qobuz and Roon), but also access to high-quality metadata which SongKong provides for your stored music, and to be able to use a smart device to be able to control playback; the very powerful MinimServer acts as the UPnP server. Ethernet-over-mains, mesh networks and Wi-Fi dongles cannot give the same stability as hard-wired to the router.
   
   
2. Melco and streamers 

If using a Melco with a streamer/network player, note the second, dedicated Ethernet port on the back labelled ‘PLAYER’. Use a good-quality CAT7 Ethernet cable between the Melco and the streamer. This provides a good sound quality upgrade and means music can go direct to the streamer instead of back up to the router and over Wi-Fi.  By having the Melco in the middle of the chain, it can help improve the quality of the music data-packet and remove any unwanted noise from the router.

        3.USB cables

In addition to streamers/network players, Melco also supports direct connection to USB DACs. Use a good quality USB-A to USB-B cable that complies to USB 2.0 standards.

        4.High-res music

Melco supports high-res audio (24-bit/192 kHz PCM and DSD — best sourced from NaitveDSD), plus we have implemented direct download support for highresaudio.com and very recently, Qobuz. Melco libraries sound phenomenal with high-res music.  It really is simple: search for music, purchase and your login details can be saved in the Melco; downloads will be stored on the hard drive.

         5.Melco settings 

Finally, here are some settings tips (which maybe you didn’t know about), to push the sound quality that little bit further:

• Disable SMB share service (removes the service). SMB allows users to log into the Melco library from a PC to delete files etc.  NB: if you do turn this off, please remember to turn back on again, should you need to log into the file structure.

• Select ‘DIRECT MODE’ if you are using a USB DAC. Once you have the metadata required for your music, you can control the Melco and access your music from the front panel with TwonkyServer; there is no need for a connection to the router in this mode — see ‘1’ above.

• Select Dark Mode (disables UI processor). To disable Dark Mode completely, the user will need to initialise settings on the Melco.  This does not affect any of the stored music.
  
  • (N10/100 only) Disable the ‘PLAYER’ port – if using with a USB DAC, the player port, in this instance, is not needed.
  • (N1 only) Disable Ethernet lights 

We hope these tips help. Let us know if there are any you really like. 

If you have any questions, please comment below or speak to your Melco dealer.