Does anyone here have any experience running Aurender ACS10 or ACS100 with dCS products ?
I have a Rossini Apex DAC with a Rossini Clock (and Rossini Transport). Aurender says that ACS10’s USB output is better than ACS100’s. But I was wondering whether ACS100/ACS10 feeding into dCS Rossini, would that difference will matter at all?
Secondly, does the search function of dCS Mosaic work for ACS100/ACS10’s UPNP ? (It does not work for my existing Naim Uniticore).
Regards,
Sourav
I had a home loan of an Aurender n20 into a Rossini apex and found the sound via usb connection to be no better than a usb thumb drive directly into the DAC. However I am told that Aurender into dcs DAC via aes / ebu yields very good results although I never tested this connection.
Ok. But I don’t want to use Aurender Streamers at a price of $ 15k- $ 20k.
In my mind, dCS Rossini apex streamer is good enough for me.
I’m planning to move to ACS10/100 primarily as a better metadata manager for my music database compared to my existing Naim Uniticore.
So, to me, the USB output from ACS10/100 is an added bonus. Mostly I’ll listen through Roon accessing the ACD10/100 database.
So I’m wondering whether it is worth spending the $7.5-8K for ACS10 vs $4K for ACS100.
Regards,
Sourav
My 2cents….
Suggest you to check how Aurender presents music in your planned setup again. Afaik Aurender doesn‘t support upnp. Aurender app with a connected USB or AES/EBU works. Roon may work but you can not use Mosaic for streaming. I had the Aurender N10 on loan with USB and find it not optimal (way to soft/rounded presentation imho) Melco and Innuos did a better job.
If you want a server, I highly recommend Melco and Innuos…
Thanks for this input.
How are Melco and Innous for metadata management?
Regards,
Sourav
Melco is tricky, Innuos is very easy. If you store music, you can use the internal edittor mode for Metadata. F.ex. Genre, album cover, artist etc. It depends how many data you would like to use. If you add a cd drive (f.ex. Dela D100, Rose audio CD ripper via USB ) the system does auto ripping or manual ripping. Much easier than Melco …
Does not seem to me either of them are convenient in metadata tagging.
Also not sure if they support/applies standard ID3 metadata tags when someone edits it.
Today with my Naim Uniti core, I am happy with convenience of cd ripping and its automatic pulling of metadata from MusicBrainz, FreeDb and Rovi.
What I am not happy with is any custom changes I do, it does not store it in standard ID3 tagging format. So those data are not available to other softwares are Roon or Mosaic.
In my understanding Aurender ACS 10/100 takes care of that issue.
Regards,
Sourav
My 2 cents:
Use the Rossini for streaming and add a NAS (e.g. fanless from QNAP) into your LAN (connected via Ethernet).
dCS say:
*If the third-party streamer or server offers a choice of UPnP servers, MinimServer should be chosen for a consistent user experience.
The reason for this is that the protocol for UPnP is “loose” in some aspects leaving detailed interpretation to a third party. The outcome being that commands from Mosaic can be misinterpreted with the result that you don’t get what you asked for from time to time ( a “consistent user experience”). dCS accordingly sonly upport MInimServer as they developed Mosaic using it as a standard.
MinimServer make a version specifically for Melco units when used as servers. In brief ,this is downloaded to a thumb drive. This data can then be loaded to Melco. It works without fault ( this is what I use).
Innuos does not have this facility and has used various pre-installed server software solutions over time. i do not know what is currently in use.
Based on your inputs, I did do a research on Melco.
Indeed, it seems to me that the Melco N50/N5/N1 are a much better choice for dCS.
But it looks like they have now been taken over by Dela. And the lowest model is N5 (with HDD) is $10K.
Just wondering whether it is worth spending $10K on a music server. I’m so far happy with my Naim Uniti Core, except for its proprietary way of storing the metadata.
Regards,
Sourav
Just to clarify, Melco have not been taken over. They are a Japanese company and have simply rebranded to use the Japanese title of the company, DELA, throughout the rest of the world.
The local price to you of the current range seems about right in $. I am in the UK and my N5 was around £7K a couple of years ago. Worth it ? Obviously I thought so.
Ok.
Is N5 being HDD-based a problem?
I always preferred to use SSD. In the current version, they have discontinued N50-S38. Now, SSD is only available in N1, which is $16K USD.
Regards,
Sourav
I have the melco n1s38 and use it as a server into the Rossini via direct connection ( so all internet traffic passes through the melco before reaching the dcs ). Control is via mosaic and the melco appears as upnp . I’m very happy with the sound quality . The melco has minimserver and songkong built in . I’ve owned 3 melcos and to my ears the improvement to sound quality is evident moving up the range . However I’m not sure that your use case justifies the price
No ( or they wouldn’t make it). The N5 is also silent which may be an important consideration if the server has to be in the same room that you listen in.
AS for cost , they cost what they cost. I agree with Stockholm1973 that the current Melcos have better sound than earlier units but I would not anticipate significant differences between N5 and N1 sonically as electrically they are more or less the same. Incidentally historically Melco/DELA have written that they prefer HDDs though exactly why is obscure.
If Melco seems beyond what you wish to spend I warn that purchasing the server itself may not be the end of expenditure as many N5 or N1 owners will replace the supplied SMPS with a linear type and there is also the question of adding a switch such as the Melco S100.
If, however, you need a cheaper option MinimSever make custom versions of their server software for IT NAS units such as Synology or QNAP.
Thanks @PAR and @Stockholm1973 for your inputs.
@PAR my main concern was the sound of hdd as this will seat in my main music rack. Right now I have Uniti Core with ssd which is soundless.
Other concern is hdds are prone to failure. So in few years I hv to send this unit back for repair.
Qs - is using D100 with N5 recommended ? Or any other cheaper optical drive for cd ripping is fine ? (I have lots of CDs to rip and still buy CDs. If I buy N5/N1 I plan to re-rip all my CDs again)
Regards,
Sourav
A QNAP or Synology NAS will work, can use SSD and are relatively cheap. If you’re into Roon a Roon core such as a NUC would work fine too.
My older Melco units were HDD and ran near silent . The newer n1s38 is silent .
I ripped all my CDs using a very old MacBook cd drive onto a laptop using dbpoweramp and then drag dropped the files onto the melco . You can also attach a usb drive and the melco will extract the files directly . The melco d100 seems a bit pricey in comparison although I understand you can play CDs when it’s connected to a melco server .
HDD or SSD are storage media and have no sound themselves. They just hold the data.
Everything is subject to failure. I have been using Melco HDD based NAS for 8 years so far with never an error. SSDs can also fail but have a theoretical disadvantage. If the failure is such that recovering data from the drive is necessary it is not possible to do with SSD. Or so I am told ( I am not an engineer).
The subject of failure is a valid consideration whatever is used. This is why it is necessary to create backups and to refresh them as your collection expands. I always suggest making three backups ( use USB HDDs for this). Two to be kept by you as if you have a failure if you only make a single backup when used you have no backup. I suggest the third is kept off site e.g. with a friend. So if you suffer a fire, flood or burglary you will not have lost your collection.
Ripping simply requires a cheap USB optical drive ( Amazon etc. under £30 ($50?) - I have a couple of Samsungs but I don’t think they are still available) and good ripping software. No need for the costly Melco drive which also has disarranges especially when compared to dbpoweramp plus PerfecTunes ( bundled). With the latter you get a perfect, verified rip plus metadata ( results from <4 databases are offered) and cover artwork. All is editable as well so you can pick versions of the artwork that match your CD originals.
I took the lid off a N50 to see what SSD drive it had in it. They try to hide the make, but I found it and it wasn’t anything expensive, especially for the huge hike in price.
I still have the pics on my phone
HDDs do have moving parts. They internally have a disk with the data, motor, arm and read/write head. The data is read/written when the head moves like a vinly player. Hence the sound.
Understand that everything breaks. And surely data backup is must. But with the design of melco/Dela units I cannot change the broken hdd/ssd my self which I can do withother music servers (like Uniti Core or Aurender ACS). I am worried about that inconvenience.
On the D100, I thought it actually does error correction while reading the disk and gives bit perfect rip.