What is immediately striking about the new Melco Audio N10/2 Music Library is its setup of two separate cabinets.
According to Melco, their brand new N10/2 is the best performing Music Library ever. You can choose from two variants. The one with suffix -H50 features a traditional hard drive, while the model number with suffix -S38 contains an SSD. The latter version also immediately replaces the previous SSD flagship N1Z/2EX. The new N10/2 is made up of two separate enclosures. As you might suspect, Melco has chosen to separate the power supply from sensitive other electronics. The power supply is linear, which should guarantee low-noise operation.
Ripping
The Melco N10/2 has two Ethernet ports, one of which is specially designed to connect directly to a network streamer. In that case, no switch needs to be placed in between, which takes care of a correct timing. In total, the N10/2 has three USB 2.0 ports on board, one of which is on the front and a dedicated one for connecting to a DAC. Or active speakers, if you like. It’s also possible to connect an external hard drive, an SSD or a memory stick to one of the USB ports. Or go for a USB CD drive. In that case, ripping is one of the possibilities. Melco’s Intelligent Music Library includes MinimServer and SongKong. In addition, the N10/2 is Roon Ready, DSD compatible and various well-known music services are supported. The hard disk version costs £6999 and the SSD variant £8999. Where in both cases you can choose from black or silver.